Brown says: They keep telling us we’re amazing and that we’re

Brown says: “They keep telling us we’re amazing, and that we’re learning to lead It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced before The aspirations are very, very high. But in a way it does help to build your confidence, and if I’d gone in doubting my abilities I wouldn’t have coped.”Wigdortz concedes that many recruits have struggled in their new environment. “These are people who have succeeded their whole life, and we’re putting them into a job where if they have one good lesson a day they’re doing well. “We recruit from the top universities, and look for two main things: people who have the empathy, understanding and commitment to fit into schools, and people whom fast-track recruiters would be interested in interviewing. We can’t dilute that.”The programme is run by a slick business team, many from the management consultants McKinsey, which initially looked into setting it up.

Nick Lovegrove, a McKinsey director who sits on Teach First’s advisory board, says it is “tackling a problem head-on, with creativity, and meeting virtually all its main tests of performance. There’s no reason not to be delighted with it.”And this business leadership has deliberately fostered an American corporation-style esprit de corps among recruits. But Brett Wigdortz, Teach First’s chief executive, insists the scheme must grow slowly to retain its quality image. In this time they get additional training and qualify as full teachers, but keep other options open as well. The scheme plugs them into a network of companies which have said they will look favourably people who have done Teach First.

It also offers them a “mini-MBA” leadership course, and the chance to take up summer internships.The scheme doesn’t aim to persuade people to stay on as teachers, but the American experience shows that even if they move to other careers, they may well volunteer as mentors or tutors, or continue to be involved with disadvantaged communities.Last year, 176 graduates were recruited, and 94 per cent are still in post – a much higher retention rate than other teacher-training schemes This year, 215 have been selected. Hand-picked graduates are given a summer training course at Canterbury Christ Church University College, then placed, in groups, in secondary schools for two years. But school heads say that support and training can actually make Teach First graduates more expensive than other new teachers, and that their main attraction is their sheer availability – filling teacher vacancies in London is a nightmare, particularly in shortage subjects such as maths and science.Teach First sprang out of discussions about how business could be more involved in helping London schools. “They came in young and unqualified but very enthusiastic and committed, and with the support we’ve given them they’ve done very well indeed.”Critics counter that, since these teachers are paid almost £5,000 a year less than newly qualified teachers, the main attraction of these superkids is that they are cheap. They also say that heads of department have often been furious at having such raw recruits foisted on them. But Tim Brighouse, the Commissioner for London Schools, who says he was “dubious” about the scheme at first, now says he would be “devastated to think of it not being there.