Those who can, teach

This book shouldn’t work. A memoir written by a 40-year-old, who has never written a book before, hardly sounds promising. The topic, education, moreover is death to good literature: barely has a book been written about the subject that is not dull beyond belief. Yet, against all the odds, this book turns out to be an enthralling read.

Teach First is one of the most inspiring ideas around in 21st-century Britain. The book tells the story of its first decade, from 2002-12. Rising from nowhere, it has become one of the top graduate employers in Britain and is slowly achieving its mission of transforming opportunities for socially disadvantaged young people. The idea is simple: inspire top graduates with the challenge of spending a minimum of two years teaching in Britain’s most socially disadvantaged schools, motivating their students to transform their lives through educational achievement. Even if Teach First graduates leave for other careers after two years, the idea is that they will still be so fired by zeal for improving the lives of young people that they will provide leadership to achieve it in whatever careers they choose to pursue.