ABSTRACT
One of the potentially controversial policy developments over the last few years has been the active encouragement by government of closer links between education and business. Until recently these links have had little impact on teacher education. Now one innovative project, directly focusing on the values and methods of a successful international corporation, may be about to change teacher education forever. This initiative, branded ‘Teach First’, has gained support from a number of businesses and organisations who offer mentoring and training to participating recruits. These include:
McKinsey and Company Citigroup Corporation of London Capital One Canary Wharf Group Deloitte and Touche Freshfields KPMG Yahoo! Deutsche Telekom Mellon Bank Sainsbury’s Morgan Stanley Walkers UBS Warburg WHSmith
(www.teachfirst.org.uk)
In practice, Teach First combines the expertise of corporations, schools, education agencies and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to train and develop teachers for challenging London schools. After describing the origins of the Teach First programme, it will be argued here that corporate involvement in initial teacher training and continuing professional development in schools will provide new opportunities for those academics and practitioners engaged in school practice.
