ATL comment on new partnership between NCS and Teach First

“The National Citizenship Service is an interesting programme to support young people to volunteer in their communities and could provide important benefits in developing confidence and life skills.

“While Teach First offers significant support to its participants, we would be concerned about the impact of this partnership on the workload of new teachers, who are already experiencing a huge learning curve as they start their career. It is important that those entering teaching have the time to focus on their learning and teaching, on building constructive relationships with pupils and collaborating with, and learning from, experienced colleagues. 

“The last thing we would want to see is new teachers collapsing under the weight of an additional expectation that they give up precious and already very limited ‘free time’ to do even more work. This could be particularly problematic for Teach First participants with young families or other caring commitments, who will find it difficult enough to juggle their jobs and their other responsibilities.”