Leading brand that trains teachers for most deprived areas of the UK to get reprieve after bureaucrats accused of trying to scrap it
Ministers will this week step in to save Teach First after the government was accused of trying to scrap the education charity that sends top graduates into schools in deprived areas.
Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and Georgia Gould, the cabinet office minister, will summon officials to discuss what is needed to ensure “unnecessarily bureaucratic rules” do not harm the scheme.
On Friday, The Observer revealed that the Department for Education planned to stop Teach First using its own name to recruit and train high-flyers as teachers. A document inviting organisations to bid for a new contract to deliver the “high potential initial teacher training programme” specifies that the work must be delivered by a “supplier neutral brand”.
Whitehall sources said this meant the charity could apply to continue receiving funding but that the name of the graduate recruitment scheme would no longer be Teach First. Companies such as Serco and Capita will also be able to bid for the contract to run the programme.
One insider said the charity would effectively be abolished, if the proposed change goes ahead. “If you can’t use the Teach First brand you are no longer Teach First,” they said.
McFadden and Gould are determined to find a solution that means the charity can continue operating under its own name if it is chosen. A cabinet office source said: “We’re going to make sure there aren’t any unnecessarily bureaucratic rules. If they’re the best bidder and win the contract, obviously we want them to keep using that brand name.”
The meeting will also discuss how to ensure this problem does not arise again with other similar programmes.
The shift in procurement policy comes as the government faces growing criticism over its handling of England’s teacher shortage. A report from the House of Commons public accounts committee said this week that the Department for Education “lacks a coherent plan” to fulfil Labour’s election manifesto pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers by 2029. Almost half of secondary schools reported at least one teaching vacancy during the last academic year.
Teach First, which recruits around 1,400 teachers a year, has transformed routes into the profession. More than 20,000 teachers have been trained and placed in schools since it was set up in 2003.
Around 80% of graduates recognise the charity’s name and last year Teach First was 15 on the list of top 100 graduate employers.
The new specifications, which have been put out for consultation by the commercial procurement team at the DfE, also signal a move away from top tier Russell Group universities and a greater focus on retention as well as recruitment. A formal tender process will be launched later in the year.
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The businessman Paul Drechsler, a former chairman of Teach First, said the decision to try to abolish the brand was incomprehensible. “Teach First in my view is the most significant, successful and positive intervention in the UK education system in the past 20 years. It’s about recruiting brilliant leaders who will change classrooms, schools, communities and society. Why would you undo the best initiative in education?”
Julia Cleverdon, the former chief executive of Business in the Community, said: “I would be amazed that at a moment when we are fighting for every teacher we can get we would not use a brand that means as much as Teach First does on the campuses of Britain and among the many people who have done the programme.”
Successive governments have relied on Teach First to boost recruitment into the profession. Its previous six-year contract with the Department for Education was worth £113m.
King Charles is the patron of the charity. Three former prime ministers – Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May – praised the charity’s work at an event to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2023.
Oli de Botton, the prime minister’s adviser on education, and Josh MacAlister, the Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, are among those at Westminster who joined Teach First after university.
The shift is part of a wider drive to introduce more competition into the awarding of government contracts. Last year the Department for Education cut funding for Now Teach, the charity set up by the former Financial Times journalist Lucy Kellaway to encourage older professionals to retrain as teachers. The social work version Frontline was paid by the Department for Education to create a new brand – “Approach Social Work”.
Unlocked Graduates, a charity that recruits high-flyers to work as prison officers in struggling jails, is also set to close its graduate programme after failing to reach agreement with the Ministry of Justice over its contract.
Natasha Porter, the chief executive of Unlocked Graduates, said: “Schemes like Teach First and Unlocked exist because previous governments recognised that they had repeatedly failed to attract graduates from the most academically selective universities to frontline public service roles. Having a brand that is external to government is a key reason why they have gone on to be so successful. More than 20 years on and Teach First is one of the best known and most valuable brands on campus. It would be bonkers to throw it away.”
A Teach First spokesperson said: “As this is a live procurement process and the tender has not yet been published, we are unable to comment at this stage.”
Photography by Getty
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