'Teach First' 職場的進修學校
When Tom Ravenscroft left Oxford university with a degree in economics and management in 2007, he wanted to be a management consultant. He even had a job offer from Oliver Wyman, following an internship. “I had no career vision beyond going into business. It was a very hazy concept,” he says.
當湯姆•雷文斯克羅夫特(Tom Ravenscroft)在2007年拿到經濟與管理學位離開牛津大學(Oxford)的時候，他希望當一名管理顧問。而且他也在實習後收到了奧緯諮詢(Oliver Wyman)的錄用通知。他說：“除了進入商界，我對從事什麼職業沒有任何想法，職業在那時候還是一個非常模糊的概念。”
At the last minute he opted instead for Teach First, the educational charity that has become the UK’s biggest recruiter of new graduates. Rather than parachuting into companies that needed restructuring, Mr Ravenscroft started teaching business and economics at Cardinal Pole School, which serves 11-19 year old boys and girls in Hackney, east London.
他在最後一刻選擇了教育慈善機構Teach First，後者如今已經成爲英國招聘新畢業生最多的機構。雷文斯克羅夫特沒有空降至需要重組的公司，而是開始在波爾主教學校(Cardinal Pole School)教授商業和經濟學，該校主要招收倫敦東部哈克尼區(Hackney)11歲至19歲之間的青少年。His strategic shift away from corporate strategy was in spite of the fact that his own school had deterred him from making a career in education, even though he had worked as a private tutor.
他做出了不從事企業戰略工作的戰略性轉變，儘管他自己的學校曾經建議他別從事教育方面的職業，雖然他擔任過私人教師。
“I thought teaching wasn’t a proper career option. My teacher said I’d need to have a high boredom threshold if I wanted to become a teacher,” he recalls.
他回憶稱：“我曾認爲教書不是一個合適的職業選擇。我的老師告訴我，如果我想當一名老師，就得有很強的忍耐力，不能輕易感到厭倦。”That Teach First was able to overcome such conditioning is testament to the power of a scheme that has become both a rival to UK private sector recruiters and a finishing school for them.
在Teach First當老師能夠不受此類條件束縛，體現了該項目的優勢——該機構不僅是英國私營部門招聘企業的競爭對手，也成了它們的一所精修學校。Funded partly by firms and companies, the charity places top graduates in schools serving low-income communities for at least two years, knowing full well that many of them will leave the profession at the end of this period.
部分在企業界的資助下，該機構將一流畢業生派到面向低收入社區的學校至少兩年時間，而且也完全知道，其中許多人將會在這一時期結束後不再從事教學工作。What Mr Ravenscroft liked about it when he was choosing his graduate career path was that it offered the best of two worlds. He would be fast-tracked into the classroom, earning a salary, being mentored by an executive from the private sector and making contacts with business; in return, he would commit to teaching for two years and complete a teacher training qualification.
在選擇畢業後的職業道路的時候，雷文斯克羅夫特青睞Teach First的原因是，它兼具兩個世界的好處。他能夠快速當上教師，領取薪水，接受私人部門高管的指導，並與企業接觸；相應地，他將承諾任教兩年，完成教師資格培訓認證。The reality turned out to be tougher than he imagined. “I saw it as a two-year opportunity,” says Mr Ravenscroft. “The grinding reality is that it’s a slog.” Moreover, his mentor worked at Lehman Brothers, the bank that collapsed in 2008. “It wasn’t quite as long a mentoring relationship as I’d hoped,” he laughs.
但現實遠比他想象的艱難。雷文斯克羅夫特表示：“我曾以爲這就是一個機會，要花掉兩年，但現實是嚴峻的，因爲這活不好乾。”此外，他的導師在雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)工作，這家銀行於2008年破產。他大笑着說：“這段指導關係持續的時間沒有我希望的那麼長。”Mr Ravenscroft ended up leaving teaching to found Enabling Enterprise, a body that seeks to bridge the gulf between schools and business by taking pupils out of the classroom and giving them practical projects and visits to businesses, including UBS, the bank, and Freshfields, the law firm.
雷文斯克羅夫特最終不再從事教學工作，他創辦了Enabling Enterprise，這是一家尋求減輕學校和企業脫節現象的機構，它讓學生走出教室，從事實踐項目並實地探訪包括瑞銀(UBS)和富而德律所(Freshfields)在內的企業。But he sees his time in the classroom as invaluable, crediting it with having given him a resilience that he now draws on in the latest phase of his career.
但他認爲自己任教的經歷非常寶貴，可以讓他很快適應新的職業階段。When it was set up in 2002, Teach First’s aim was to encourage more graduates to try teaching. Amid worries that the best brains in the country were being lured into the City of London, accountancy and law, the idea was to tap some of their brain power for state schools, in an attempt to tackle educational inequality.
Teach First在2002年創立之初的目標是鼓勵更多的畢業生嘗試教學。由於擔心該國最優秀的人才都被吸引至倫敦金融城、會計和法律行業，它希望爲公立學校培養一些人才，以解決教育不平等問題。Since then, Teach First has put 5,000 graduates into schools, working with more than 1m pupils in low-income areas, helping to raise standards in classrooms, particularly London.
Teach First自成立以來將5000名畢業生送入學校任教，與低收入地區的逾100萬學生合作，幫助提高了教學質量，尤其是倫敦地區的教學質量。Recruits are expected to have a decent degree result — a 2.1 or above. While academic credentials are important, Teach First also looks for personal skills such as humility, respect and empathy. Applications to join the scheme outnumber the places available by seven to one.
新職員有望獲得一個體面的成績單——2.1甚至更高。儘管學歷證書很重要，但Teach First也希望培養謙遜、尊敬他人和同理心等個人品質。該項目的申請數量是可提供職位的7倍。The advantages for schools seem clear: they enjoy the benefits of bright graduates who would otherwise have gone straight into consulting.
學校獲得的好處似乎顯而易見：它們有了優秀的畢業生任教，否則這些學生將會直接進入諮詢行業。The collaboration with business is important, adds Teach First, not just for the funding but to help schools equip students with more of the skills required by modern employers.
Teach First補充稱，與企業的合作非常重要，這不僅是因爲資金問題，還因爲這能幫助學校讓學生掌握現代僱主所需要的更多技巧。Tony Moloney, head of education and skills at National Grid, says the UK utility’s involvement is part of its broader strategy to encourage school students to study Stem subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and learn more about jobs in his sector.
英國國家電網(National Grid)的教育和技能主管託尼•莫洛尼(Tony Moloney)表示，參與該項目是國家電網旨在鼓勵學校學生學習STEM科目（科學，技術、工程和數學）以及熟悉本領域工作的總體計劃的一部分。Of the graduates to have been through the scheme, 42 per cent have not persisted with teaching. But Teach First says even those who have left the profession remain loyal to the programme’s values.
在完成該項目的畢業生當中，42%沒有繼續從事教學工作。但Teach First表示，即便是那些離開教學領域的人也依然認可該項目的價值。According to a 2014 survey it conducted, 86 per cent of respondents who finished the two years said they were taking action to end educational inequality through their work and 65 per cent outside of their work.
該機構在2014年的一項調查顯示，在完成兩年教學的受訪者當中，86%表示他們通過自己的工作爲改變教育不平等採取了行動，65%表示在工作以外採取了行動。“Teach Firsters” are highly desirable for recruiters, says Claire Burton, head of corporate responsibility at the UK arm of Deloitte, the accountant and consultant, because they are good at working in teams and are strong leaders.
會計和諮詢機構德勤(Deloitte)英國分公司的企業責任主管克萊爾•伯頓(Claire Burton)表示，Teach First出來的人很受招聘人員的歡迎，因爲他們擅長團隊合作，有很強的領導能力。Moreover, as some of the firm’s business involves advising the government on education, such recruits’ expertise is invaluable.
此外，由於該機構的一些業務涉及爲政府提供教育方面的建議，此類員工的專長是很寶貴的。Another positive of the scheme is that it encourages professional flexibility, preparing the young for the career zigging and zagging that might be necessary in the modern world of work.
該項目的另一個好處在於，它鼓勵了職業靈活性，讓年輕人對曲折的職業道路有所準備，而後者可能在現代職場中是必不可少的。Gunal Youssouf, 23, is a Teach Firster who has joined the UK arm of PwC’s management consultancy graduate scheme. She says the two-year programme gave her a chance to taste teaching without the cost of studying for a traditional qualification.
23歲的古納爾•優素福(Gunal Youssouf)是Teach First人，她加入了普華永道(PwC)英國分公司的管理諮詢畢業生項目。優素福表示，在Teach First的兩年讓她有機會在不用花錢攻讀傳統資格證書的情況下嘗試教學工作。Equally, a three-week interning stint at PwC in the school summer holidays gave her the chance to sample life in a professional services firm. “I didn’t think I would get a place on [PwC’s programme] as I had no business experience,” she says.
同樣，學校暑假期間在普華永道的一個爲期3周的實習職位讓她有機會體驗在一家專業服務公司的生活。她說：“我曾經以爲自己參加不了（普華永道項目），因爲我沒有工作經驗。”Businesses can benefit in other ways too. Craig Rollason, business analysis manager at National Grid, says he has improved his coaching skills by mentoring a Teach Firster.
企業也在其他方面受益。英國國家電網公司的業務分析經理克雷格•羅拉森(Craig Rollason)表示，他通過指導一位Teach Firste人提高了自己的指導技巧。Andrew Bargery, campus and schools engagement leader at PwC, says Teach First graduates stand out: “They have already worked in a professional environment and have professional maturity and are good at building relationships.”
普華永道的校園和學校僱傭主管安德魯•巴傑裏(Andrew Bargery)表示，Teach First的畢業生出類拔萃：“他們已經在專業環境下工作過，擁有專業成熟度，並擅長交際。”However, one lawyer, who prefers to remain anonymous, says Teach Firsters’ prior experience and autonomy in a classroom can mean they feel frustrated starting at the bottom of an organisation’s ladder again.
然而，一位要求匿名的律師表示，Teach First人從事教學工作獲得的經驗和自主能力可能意味着，他們會對再次從一家機構的底層做起感到沮喪。Mr Ravenscroft believes he would have had a narrower perspective if he had become a management consultant. Teaching also helped him develop a willingness to take risks — the hard way. “If you stand in front of 30 teenagers who won’t hold back when you’re doing something wrong it makes you willing to try things.”
雷文斯克羅夫特認爲，如果他成爲一名管理顧問，他的視野可能會相對狹窄。教學工作也有助於他變得願意承擔風險——這來之不易。“如果你曾站在30名會毫不猶豫地指出你的錯誤的青少年面前講課，這種體驗可能會讓你變得願意去嘗試。”
