I founded Teach First – I know how much it has helped children

There were only two policies that the three major national parties agreed on in their 2010 manifestos: that the House of Lords should be reformed and that Teach First had made a strong impact in helping to improve results in schools in challenging circumstances and should expand.

It’s hard to remember what the national consensus was around education in low-income communities back when Teach First started in 2002 but, as Tony Blair famously alluded to in his 1997 election campaign, it was that it was largely broken. There were severe teacher shortages. It was very hard to find leaders of low-income schools who really believed they could change things. The government tried a number of initiatives to change this None of these actually worked.

And that’s because it’s incredibly difficult to build a high-end brand that really changes things. Outside of technology companies, it’s hard to think of new ones that have been built over the past two decades. In the public sector it’s even harder. But, against the odds, that is something Teach First has achieved.

Teach First worked because it has been run with a clear vision: no child’s success should be limited by their socioeconomic background. It has also operated with clear values, brand and a focus on the classic “war for talent” structure. Namely: highly selective; outstanding training and support; belief in the ability to make change happen; and the ability to build lifetime skills.

Some 20,000 participants have joined the Teach First programme, and more than one in five schools in low-income communities have alumni in senior leadership (including more than 150 headteachers). valuations show improved GCSE results and that pupils in schools with Teach First teachers are more likely to go to university. Teach First teachers are an incredible 12 times more likely than others to move into senior leadership positions within four years. Almost all of them stay in schools in disadvantaged communities. And Teach First has consistently been ranked in the top 20 most prestigious graduate employers in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers for more than 22 years now.

Even those who leave classroom teaching mostly stay involved in the mission – starting and running charities focused on this community, moving into policy work or, for the small numbers who move to the business world, becoming school governors and getting their company involved.

London has become one of the world’s highest-performing educational cities. England rose in the global Pisa rankings for maths from 27th to 11th. A number of schools in disadvantaged circumstances are recognised as among the best in the world. Teach First has played an important role in all of these improvements.

After founding and running Teach First for 15 years, I stepped down seven years ago. But its impact continues apace. Children in disadvantaged communities need society’s absolute best leaders in their schools – especially in today’s challenging times. This government should be very careful not to do anything that prevents this from continuing.