Why are you applying to join our Leadership Development Programme?

We recommend that in your answer you consider:

● The Teach First vision
● The unique and challenging nature of the programme
● Our ambassador community

Children from lower-income families in the UK are under more pressure than ever before, with
school spending under the current government predicted to fall by 2.8% per pupil between 2016
and 2022. These changes are likely to hit the poorest children the hardest.

In my current position as an Assistant Language Teacher in Japanese elementary and junior

high schools, I see everyday how a passionate, dedicated teacher can inspire children when
finances fall short. I believe that teachers who regularly go above and beyond to help low-
income children are the best tool we have in the fight against educational inequality, and I would
like to join their ranks.

I have been teaching in my current job for two years, which has given me the chance to see
first-hand what a full-time teaching job involves. No two days are ever the same, and I find the
various challenges of day-to-day school life enormously satisfying to overcome. My favourite
teachers at secondary school were those who were enthusiastic about meeting those
challenges head-on. I believe I can emulate those teachers.

Finally, it is clear from the website that Teach First offers a comprehensive support programme
throughout the entire journey. This was hugely influential in my decision to apply. I am extremely
keen to develop my teaching abilities, and the idea of six weeks of teacher training is immensely
exciting.

You will need to be an effective leader in order to have a positive impact on your
students and in your school.
* When and how have you taken personal responsibility and exceeded expectations to
ensure success for yourself and/or others?

Last year I was called to a junior high school that I had never worked at before. A team of
students were preparing for an English speaking competition and the Japanese Teacher of
English wanted a native speaker to check their pronunciation. However, it was clear that there
were other areas of their performance that required attention.

I took personal responsibility in highlighting the issues and helped the Japanese English
Teacher address them. I took the students into the school gym to help them work on volume,
and used my theatrical training to help them become more expressive. As I was working with
another teacher, I wanted to ensure effective team teaching was deployed. I took it upon myself
to prepare some activities that allowed for this. I also stayed at the school for an hour after I was
supposed to have finished in order to make sure the students could reach their full potential.

The students came second place in the speaking competition, which saw participants from
twenty junior high schools from the same board of education compete. Thanks to the team
teaching, I also developed a positive working relationship with the teacher I was assisting, and
we remain in contact despite working at different schools.

Preparation competency

My current job involves regular substitution duty. If another teacher is sick, I go to their school
and cover their lessons. These assignments are extremely short-notice and I usually have under
an hour to prepare for class and travel to the school, but it's important to make a good
impression every time. I don't always receive a lesson timetable or curriculum until I reach the
school.

To counter this, I have printed a library of my own flashcards and resources that can be
photocopied, so that I have the security of being able to teach any class. This also helps as the
school resources are sometimes extremely limited. I created several lesson plans that can
easily be modified for all age groups and can be taught in various settings. Finally, I learnt some
formal Japanese so that I could introduce myself to the staff in the correct way and put everyone
at ease.

Because the start of the school day is extremely busy, thorough preparation is essential to
ensure I don't take up too much time asking people unnecessary questions, which always leads
to a positive relationship with the staff. Additionally, when I am confident in my materials and
lesson plans, I am able to relax and deliver the best possible learning experience for the
children.

OR

In 2015, I obtained a CELTA qualification from International House in London, which is focused
on developing skills related to teaching English as a foreign language. The four-week intensive
course remains the biggest challenge I have ever undertaken, involving theory assignments
every morning and practical examinations every afternoon. During the evenings, we were
required to do additional research and lesson preparation. We were working from 9am until
10pm or 11pm everyday.

I realised that vast amounts of preparation would be required to deal with this extraordinary
workload. During the weekends, I read up on teaching theory and practised the new techniques
and scenarios we had learnt that week on friends and family. I felt this was necessary because,
if I had problems understanding something during the week, there wouldn't be much time for me
to get to grips with it before it was assessed, as we were tested on what we had learnt almost
every day. In addition, we needed to be extremely self-evaluating as we were required to
complete a self-evaluation sheet for each lesson.

As a result, I managed to succeed in the qualification and the additional preparation also
allowed me to be more relaxed when training. This meant I was able to bond more effectively
with my tutors, fellow trainees, and the students we were teaching. A strong relationship with
them was highly beneficial as we were working extremely closely for the duration of the course.

Are there any other experiences you have had which you feel are relevant to our
competencies and would like us to be aware of?

Between 2013 and 2015, I worked as a travel writer for a London-based online news agency.
We were required to write content according to specification for various clients in the travel
industry.

One of our clients had requested a standard allocation of generic travel-related news articles,
but they had expressed an interest in more adventurous content. In order to secure the upsell, I
decided to organise a proposal in addition to their usual monthly requests, which I completed in
my own time. As I was living in Barcelona, I wrote a comprehensive guide to the city, including
blog content, a phrasebook and photo diary.

The head of advertising was extremely impressed and we immediately secured an upsell that
involved flying our writers out to various locations in Europe and writing similar articles, which
was something the travel department hadn't done before. It was also beneficial for the client in
question as their new content proved much more popular with readers.