Jamie Feilden
Studied: History – Edinburgh University
Joined: 2003
Taught: History at Haling Manor High School, London
Now: Senior Graduate Recruitment Officer, Teach First and founder of charity taking inner city students to expereince life on a working farm.
I had always been more interested in international development but I realised that, really, I didn’t know that much about the problems at home in the UK and I could do with some more experience. Teach First appealed to me because it combined a worthwhile goal with the opportunity to develop a set of leadership and business skills – the opportunity to ‘put something back’ and gain some useful skills and experience along the way.
The first two weeks were a bit of a honeymoon – the students were settling in and still in summer mode. Then it kicked in and everything became so much harder – I’d have kids from two other classes just wandering in to talk to their mates and telling me to ‘f*** off’ when I tried to stop them. The real problem at that stage is that you have no confidence, no respect and you don’t even know their names yet. But that’s also when you have to show your commitment and prove yourself. There’s so much aggression in their challenges and they are constantly answering you back. You quickly become aware of this massive sense of injustice they feel – that they are entitled to a caring and sensitive teacher but that there is no requirement on them to reciprocate, or that you have a duty to anyone in the class but them, let alone beyond the classroom. But that’s where you really have to try and start to work out where all this anger and frustration is coming from – and usually it’s coming from their home lives and the deprivation they face outside of school.
The way around it is that you start to build positive contact with a few and the quality of that different relationship begins to be appealing to a wider group. I started a rugby team at my school and that changed my relationship with some of the boys. Those that weren’t on side with it began to feel they were missing out. Quite quickly you find that they start wanting to please you and are prepared to do a lot to achieve that.
For me the rugby was a natural route. I played for Bath and at university and it seemed a great way to access some of those disaffected boys and give them a positive physical outlet. I tried to emphasise the strict boundaries for behaviour and talk it up as a game for gentlemen and it was a great success. The parents began to get involved and we had staff preparing a match tea when we played other Teach First schools.
Looking back the first four months were very tough but you just have to step up and meet the challenge head on. You have a lot of self-doubt and your self-esteem takes a battering – I think my girlfriend had to put up with a lot from me. Most Teach Firsters are used to success – they’ve achieved a lot and find it very hard to deal with the initial setbacks. It’s very hard on the spirit to spend three hours preparing a lesson and then they don’t even get to open their books.
One thing that I did that really seemed to change things at the school was to set up a small farm. I brought in some very young lambs and the kids bottle reared them. Interestingly it seemed to reduce the number of playground fights. Instead of kicking each other the kids would spend a lot of time watching the animals. The following year I took nine kids to my family’s farm near Bath for a week. They got involved in mucking out the animals, collecting eggs, digging the veg patch, riding, log splitting and long walks – it was amazing. They really seemed to love it and there was a real transformation in their attitude and behaviour. I’ve done it several times since with kids from my school and other Teach First schools and each time it’s worked really well. The feedback from the schools has been really positive. We hear that the kids who’ve come to us feel a connection with agriculture, their behaviour is improved and they have a different outlook. In fact, with schools lining up to send their kids, I’m hoping to formally establish a charity and take it forward.
After the two-year programme I stayed with Teach First for a year working in recruitment and then went travelling. I cycled from Kampala to Cape Town, which was great, although contracting malaria wasn’t so good. Now I’m back at Teach First managing the campus recruitment teams and I love it.
What I think makes Teach First so special is the opportunity to really do something amazing. If you want something that will test you and demand your total commitment then it’s hard to imagine a better option. And it was so much fun. I’ll always remember the laughter – the kids are so witty and funny – when you get it working you can have a really good time with them.
