Teach First 2024 graduate opportunities}

• Name: Lena Khudeza
• Role: Retail Bank Manager, HSBC
• University: University of Birmingham
• Degree: Human Biology

I was the first person in my family to go to university and education has opened up so many opportunities for me. It’s what really drives my passion for teaching and for Teach First as well. I wanted to get something more than just a Qualified Teaching Status. I wanted to gain leadership skills and help a fantastic cause and mission whilst at the same time shaping my own future. The Teach First programme seemed like the obvious choice for me.

I think the best days were spent doing ‘practicals’. With science, all the pupils think about is 'practicals'. I also think they’re really important because I’m a visual learner too and I understand the importance of being able to do physical things in the classroom. Some of the experiments we did, like dissections, meant a lot of pupils were quite squeamish at first, but by the end of it they were all digging into the hearts and lungs. I would hear them go around school telling other pupils and teachers "Miss Khudeza’s class does dissections. Why can’t we do them?" That was a really good feeling.

• Name: Gopal Rao
• Role: Physics Teachers and Founder of TarGet More
• University: University of Cambridge
• Degree: Manufacturing Engineering

The absolute pinnacle of my teaching was taking fifteen very bright year 10 pupils down to the Royal Institution in London, most of them had never seen London. One of the pupils said to me, ‘we don’t belong here.’ So I told them the story about Michael Faraday, and what he did around electromagnetism which is all rather geeky. However, the ‘cool’ thing he did was bring science to the masses. He took the work being done about agriculture in London, and brought farmers in to talk about it, so it could be used in the real world. I told them this story and did my best to say, ‘Look, we’re from Birmingham and that’s brilliant. We deserve to be here.’ By the end of the trip all of my pupils were wondering round interrogating the resident undergrads who had just finished their presentations. It was wonderful. The transformation of them was absolutely stunning.

• Name: Stacey McCarthy
• Role: Primary teacher, Tidemill Primary School
• University: University of Oxford
• Degree: History and German

Tackling educational disadvantage was important to me because I had done a lot of work with children from either disadvantaged backgrounds or who had physical disabilities. When I applied to Teach First they offered me a place on the Primary pilot scheme and I thought it was a brilliant idea. It seemed so obvious to me that educational disadvantage needs to be tackled at the earliest stage possible and I really liked the idea of forming relationships with these children so early on.

At primary level, educational disadvantage manifests itself mainly through the ability to read and write and demonstrate independent thinking. I felt that I was able to bring something to every child in my class by giving them targets and making them aware of their own abilities and potential. Never give up on a child. Always say “you know, you can do this if you really put your mind to it.” Celebrate children’s differences. If a child isn’t necessarily good at one subject, make sure they know they are the class expert at another. It can be a really positive experience for the children.