Our LD Programme

Summer Institute

The Summer Institute is where it all starts. The residential component of your initial teacher training, it’s where you begin to acquire the knowledge and skills that will set you up to teach lessons in your subject from the first day of term in school.

You’ll gain your first experience in a local school, and meet the Teach First team and all your fellow participants. You'll also meet many Teach First Ambassadors – people who have completed the Leadership Development Programme and are now continuing to fight educational disadvantage in their chosen careers. Who better to provide support and assist with your training?

Understandably, you are likely to feel more comfortable with the idea of your specific subject than you are with actually teaching a class. Engaging the attention of 30 people is tough for anyone but when the audience is disenchanted, distracted, tired and possibly hostile – that’s a real challenge. But challenge is what Teach First is all about. Managing a classroom and engaging students is a skill that can be learned and put into practice – we’ll help you learn how to do it.

Building relationships

The Summer Institute is an intensive six-week residential course where you will work and live with your fellow Teach First Participants. It’s your chance to begin building the close relationships – particularly with those participants who will be based in your school – that will help and sustain you through the tough times ahead.

The first three weeks are held regionally, depending on the location of your placement school, and the final three weeks bring all three regions together for the national Summer Institute.

Employment based training

Your journey begins at the Summer Institute with a range of professional and subject training sessions.

Your Subject Studies course, delivered by an experienced tutor, will give you a solid platform on which to base the teaching of your subject, building on the knowledge you have developed through your degree. You’ll learn how to prepare and implement lesson plans in your subject – such as designing science practicals or devising a new maths game to support an area of study.

Your Professional Studies course will provide you with the basic platform of knowledge on teaching techniques and theory, and classroom management – as well as specialised information covering issues such as special educational needs – to equip you as you begin the autumn term.

You won’t be a teacher by the end of the Summer Institute, but you will have many of the tools and behaviours that will combine with practical experience to make you a teacher.