Examining 'Global Education Policy': Understanding the Origins, Impact, and International Diffusion of Teach First

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My research focuses on Teach First and bigger questions regarding how programmes and policies in one place travel and appear in other contexts and how those ideas are reinvented in the process. In my PhD, I examined the launch of Teach First and explored how influential individuals outside of government, or policy entrepreneurs, used their social networks to shape and develop policy. Teach First, which was an idea imported from the U.S. and launched by such policy entrepreneurs in 2002, is a prestigious fast-track teacher recruitment and 'leadership development' scheme in the UK. Its aim has been to raise achievement among pupils in under-resourced schools by turning 'top' graduates into effective teachers for two years while developing them into leaders who pursue a variety of careers but stay involved in improving education.My doctoral research explored how policy entrepreneurs lobbied, launched, and implemented their idea for the programme between 2001 and 2003 by interviewing 50 people and collecting data from related documents, media accounts, and websites. Through careful analysis, I combined the different types of data to write the policy 'story' of how and why the programme came about. The story revealed how the original American-based idea for the scheme was significantly changed at three critical points to overcome some people's resistance to the idea and gain the approval of others. The study also uncovered the strategies policy entrepreneurs used to build influential networks to transfer policy.I will move the research forward by sharing it with others through my Fellowship in ways that will make it useful to others and develop my knowledge, skills, and career as an academic researcher. First, I will adapt and publish my doctoral research as a book. This will make it available and interesting to wider audiences. In addition, I will publish three journal articles focusing on valuable insights from my research to inform other researchers in education and policy. In this way, I will share my research with a wide range of audiences and establish a publishing record on which to build my career. The publications will also expand the very limited research on Teach First. To extend my research further and make it meaningful to practitioners, I will explore Teach First's impact in education from the view of those who partner with it - a perspective that has so far been neglected. To do this, I will run five workshops for middle leaders in schools working with Teach First and two roundtables for university-based teacher educators who train Teach First teachers. In these sessions, attendees will share their experiences and views on Teach First in creative ways. To effectively achieve this, I will first take three courses teaching researchers how to design activities that enable people to express and exchange their views in collaborative and creative ways.Through these events, I will collect data to understand the impact of Teach First in schools and teacher education, enabling me to plan for future research projects. Those attending these events - and later, others who read my report on their outcomes - will also benefit by gaining a new understanding of Teach First offered from the perspective of those who are experiencing it.During the Fellowship, I will also build professional networks and share my research by contacting researchers in other countries where a Teach First-inspired programme has been launched. In this way, I will begin develop a research network focused on Teach First-type programmes worldwide and how and why such programmes are rapidly spreading internationally. To share our preliminary research, I will organise a symposium at an international academic conference and arrange to have our work published as a special issue journal.Finally, I will take additional courses to develop my professional knowledge and skills in conducting different types of studies.