Competency Questions

We are looking for applicants with leadership experience and skills that can be developed on the
Teach First Leadership Development Programme. Here we are focusing on positions of
responsibility, achievements and skills which we believe are an important feature of leadership.

Please note if your application is successful and you enrol on the Teach First Leadership
Development Programme your answers to the following competency questions and academic
information will be forwarded to Teach First partner schools.

Please note that spelling and grammar is assessed in addition to the answers you provide in this
section.

Part One

In this section, you will be asked a variety of questions about two of our competencies. Each
question should be answered in up to 100 words.

Knowledge

The Teach First Leadership Development Programme is an intensive two-year programme

that combines a full time two year teaching position, working towards a PGCE
qualification and a range of leadership development opportunities. All participants
undertake this to work towards our vision - are you committed to helping us?

Question 1.1: Why do you want to work towards our vision?

(Please limit to 100 words)

*the thing I wrote for insight about the far-reaching and cumulative effects of educational
inequality
*being [inspired] impact TF has and understanding the [comprehensive] approach of TF through
my previous engagement (BM & Insight)
^make sure this 2nd point answers the question (why) properly!

Question 1.2: What impact do you hope to have on your pupils and how will you do this?
(Please limit to 100 words)

*raising ambition
*empowering them to [think critically], [succeed academically and non-academically] and [
*I hope they develop their identities (in ways which involve [pride in their achievements? is this
a suggestion they don't have pride?]

I will do this in a few ways:

teaching in an interactive and engaging way, a way which links up different topics to see the
bugger picture and recognises the common patterns and mechanisms throughout mathematics,
perhaps some historical context or the place this topic has within other disciplines

Question 1.3: Why does the intensive and challenging nature of the Teach First Leadership
Development Programme appeal to you?
(Please limit to 100 words)

opportunity to have responsibility and autonomy straight away is exciting because:

--I am no stranger to intensity (peer support training, rowing, academic life at LSE etc.)
--you can have a greater impact that way (why? because the risk gives you an edge? because you
are in there quicker?)
--I couldn't have it any other way? (this is too weak lol)
 Question 1.4: An active network of committed Teach First Ambassadors is essential to
achieve our vision. How would you hope to contribute to this?
(Please limit to 100 words)

By understanding the nature of the problem (educational inequality), the TF vision, having
experience in the classroom etc. I will better be able to tackle educational inequality.
educational inequality is a systemic issue, which has causes and effects which range far outside of
the classroom, so we need to reduce the effects and eliminate the causes both inside and outside
of the classroom.
I'm not sure which direction my [life/career] will take after Teach First, I know though that I [am
eager] to tackle educational inequality in this way either in the classroom or outside of it.

Problem Solving

You will face many challenges and opportunities during the Teach First Leadership
Development Programme; you will need to be able to identify problems and provide
solutions. Think of a time when you believe that you have effectively solved a problem.

Question 2.1: What was the problem?

(Please limit to 100 words)

definitely do the Ecuador Quilatoa hike ("identify" and "solve" a problem!)

Question 2.2: Which potential solutions did you consider?

(Please limit to 100 words)

Question 2.3: What did you do and what was the outcome?
(Please limit to 100 words)

Part Two

In this section, you will be given the opportunity to provide more detailed answers to individual
questions. Answer each question in up to 150 words.

Humility, Respect and Empathy

You will work with a variety of children and adults every day during the Teach First
Leadership Development Programme. It is essential that all of our participants are
respectful and considerate of others.

Question 3.1: Describe a time when you have shown commitment to the needs of other
people. How did you ensure that these needs were met?
(Please limit to 150 words)

Peer Support for sure

--ensured these needs were met meeting with other peer supporters and discussing best practice
(also with a psychotherapist)
--worked with the warden team and student committee to make ourselves as visible as possible
--continued to train and go to supervision

Leadership
You will need to be an effective leader in order to have a positive impact on your pupils
and in your school.

Think of a position of responsibility where you ‘went the extra mile’ to ensure success for
yourself, team or workplace.

Question 4.1: What do you consider has been your most significant leadership role? How
did you lead effectively?
(Please limit to 150 words)

*building the maths soc over 2 years

--consulted others for advice and help
--was organised, reflective and hard-working
--delegated to other committee members and to Eduardo for the programming classes
--self-reflection with the SU over the summer helped us to improve as a society by getting more
organised, realising which demographics we were attracting and which we needed to reach out
to more, and thinking about strategies to achieve these goals, to better execute the coding
workshops and grow the society.

Please use a different example for the following question.

Question 4.2: When and how have you taken personal responsibility and exceeded
expectations to ensure success for yourself and/or others?
(Please limit to 150 words)

*rowing??
early mornings
hard training sessions
teamwork to stay in time, support each other through the difficult learning stage (did this
through socials and training)
the success was that we came 4th in the indoor rowing championships (check this! ad decide
whether to lie)
another success was that we grew the club, next year we have 2 extra teams as we have enough
participation and success that we have secured funding for 2 more boats [and a professional
coach]

Question 4.3: How do you think that the experiences outlined in the previous two answers
will help you to succeed on the Teach First Leadership Development Programme and in
the classroom?
(Please limit to 150 words)

rowing shows commitment, resilience, teamwork

maths soc shows organisation, self-reflection, enthusiasm
these qualities are all crucial to [success/flourishing, you're saying "success" too much] because
they are necessary qualities to... (should I go into detail about exactly when they are useful
qualities? probably not...)

Question 5: Are there any other experiences you have had which you feel are relevant to
our competencies and would like us to be aware of?
(Please limit to 150 words)

*the globalist conference

*BM/Insight
(check through the other competencies which are not covered so much in the rest of the
application, to see if you can get the in here)