Teach First Assessment Centre

In this guide, you will be able to learn what to expect, a step by step method on how to succeed in your Teach First Assessment Centre.

Starting-point resource

Download the interview preparation tools and practice tests here to get advices, tips and tricks which will improve your chances of succeeding.

Get a copy of our Ultimate Assessment Day & Interview Guide here. It includes additional insider information, tips and tricks.

So let us get started!

Teach First Assessment Centre – Core Competencies

Before we go into in-depth details, we shall first touch the basics and fundamental information.

This assessment centre uses competency-based assessment process.
The first step in preparing is to learn the competencies of Teach First Assessment Centre.
It is important to understand the competencies fully inside-out and has a grasp of the language they use.

All these could be covered within your online application which makes it very important to learn beforehand.

Competencies

Now let us go into details of what are Teach First’s competencies. Ensure that during your assessment event, try to incorporate and demonstrate it in your answers as much as you could.

Humility, Respect and Empathy – you will need to show that you have the ability to build relationships with other people and with different personalities. Will you be able to help other people achieve goals and at the same time be respectful?

Interaction – will you be able to work and be part of a team? Will you be able to clearly and effectively communicate with others? Are you able to listen to others?

Knowledge – you will need to learn about the company. What are their goals and mission? What their leadership development programme is all about and how could you make an impact in the company?

Leadership – be proactive. Could you work under pressure? Could you take the lead?

Planning and Organizing – prioritize and plan how to tackle your workload. Work under deadline and still have a high standard and efficient work ethic.

Resilience – Could you stay positive under pressure? Even with stress and under pressure could you still stay patient and have the perseverance to achieve your goals?

Problem-Solving – could you handle challenges? Could you deal with situations and create ways to deal with them?

Self-evaluation – learn what your weaknesses are and what are your strengths. Have realistic goals and have the drive to achieve them.

Teach First Assessment Centre Guide – Overview

During your assessment event, you should expect the following:

Provide a sample teaching lesson and self-evaluation
Case study and self-evaluation
Competency based interview

Teach First Assessment Centre – Sample Teaching Lesson

Just like in our other guides, we could not emphasize more the importance of preparing for your assessment. In this section of the assessment, you will receive an email with details of your lesson topic. You will receive this a week before your assessment event.

Prepare in time your lesson. Think of how you will teach the lesson
You will be able to find ideas and templates for your sample lessons here .
Your lesson will last for 7 minutes and during this time, you will have to demonstrate your ability to clearly communicate the topic to your pupils.

Prepare to show your assessors that you could control unruly children who could disrupt your class.

After the lesson, you will be asked to submit a written evaluation of your lesson. You will have to write this in a structured way which you should include your challenges of your performance and highlight your knowledge especially if the class did not go well. Include the things you could improve on too.

Case Study and Self Evaluation

This part of the assessment is a group exercise. In this test, your ability to solve problems, to express yourself and work with a group will be assessed.

For more tips and advices, check our Group Exercise Success Guide here.

Once your group work is done, you will discuss and evaluate your work and role in your group.

The discussion is one-on-one with your assessor. When doing this, remember that this is a group exercise. Hence, it is important put in mind that the evaluation is a group exercise.

Try to leave a favorable impression.

For more ideas and to learn more about this test, read this article .

Competency-based interview

With this section of this assessment, we highly suggest for you to check our interview success section of this site. You will find a guide and tons of resources which could help you pass your Teach First Assessment Centre.

You could also check out Teach First Interview preparation tools and practice tests here.

The interview will last for thirty minutes and is administered one-on-one with an assessor. Before this test, ensure that you brush up on the competencies.

Demonstrate and show your assessors that you have done your research. Mention their mission and vision and information about the job you are applying for.

Review your original application form and provide them some examples and experiences during your interview.

As mentioned above, provide examples based on your experiences. Ensure you incorporate in your examples the competencies. We understand this is a bit difficult. Hence, practice before your assessment event.

Sell yourself in a way that your assessor would want you. Tell them what you could bring to the program. Do not be too modest. The competition is tight at the Teach First Assessment Centre.

If you are asked if you have questions, ask some. This will show that you are very interested and would really love to get the position.

If you do not understand what is being asked, you could ask the assessor to expound and explain the question more clearly.

Practice the interview scenario with a friend or your partner or someone in your family. Rehearse the key messages and sentences. Practice aloud.

Sample Interview Questions

How have you responded to a situation in which your authority was challenged?

When have you had to show leadership qualities?

When have you come up with an innovative solution for a problem?

How have you dealt with failure?

How have you tackled a problem creatively?

Update your CV before your Interview

One of the biggest mistakes when going to your interview is not improving your CV. Here’s why:

Update your CV before the interview event and take with you a fresh, newly and improved version. One that is tailored to the job or role you would want.
In interviews, one of the basis of your interview will come from the information on your CV. No matter the interview is competency based or no. You will have to answer the questions based on your CV.
Your CV is one of the basis in the hiring decision process. It is your CV that they look at when they decide whether to hire you or not.

The CV is the one that reminds the hiring manager of what your skills and experiences are and what happened during your hiring process. Aside from that, your CV is also your first and last impression. With this, we remind you to make your CV as strong as you could.

Another useful resource:

Download interview preparation tools here and practice tests here.

Offer of Employment & Tests

After the interview, if you passed, you will be offered employment with Teach First. However, before that, you will have to complete and pass the Professional Skills Tests too.

These tests are given to all prospective teachers who would want to join the teacher training course. This course is given by Learn Direct and you will need to take the tests in one of their centres. These tests include:

Teach First Numeracy Test- This is a numerical reasoning and mathematical type of test. This test consists of mental arithmetic and written on screen questions. This test is administered through headphones and unfortunately, you will not be allowed to use calculators. You will be allowed to compute by writing the calculations. The second part is computer based and you will be provided with an on screen calculator. For both sections, you will only be given 48 minutes to complete.

For more advices and tips, check out our guide on numerical tests here.

Teach First Literacy test- in this test, you will be assessed on your abilities, skills and knowledge on spelling, grammar, comprehension and punctuation. In this test, you will be given headphones for the spelling test. For this test, you will have 45 minutes to complete and finish everything.

Check out our verbal reasoning success guide and practice test for more information.

Preparing for your Teach First Professional Skill Tests

For you to pass this assessment centre, you will need to get 60 % for both tests and for you to get this grade, you will need to practice a lot and put into mind what you should expect during the assessment event.

Good luck and thank you for reading! We hope this guide has helped you a lot in preparing for your Teach First Professional assessment centre.