Ministers join fight to save Teach First from Whitehall red tape 'madness'

Battle to stop charity that sends high-flyers into deprived schools from being swallowed up by bureaucrats

- Rachel Sylvester Political Editor

Ministers will this week step in to save Teach First after the government was accused of trying to scrap the education charity that sends top graduates into schools in deprived areas.

Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and Georgia Gould, the cabinet office minister, will summon officials to discuss what is needed to ensure “unnecessarily bureaucratic rules” do not harm the scheme.

On Friday, The Observer revealed that the Department for Education planned to stop Teach First using its own name to recruit and train high-flyers as teachers. A document inviting organisations to bid for a new contract to deliver the “high potential initial teacher training programme” specifies that the work must be delivered by a “supplier neutral brand”.

Whitehall sources said this meant the charity could apply to continue receiving funding but that the name of the graduate recruitment scheme would no longer be Teach First. Outsourcers such as Serco and Capita will also be able to bid for the contract to run the programme.

One insider said the charity would in effect be abolished, if the proposed change went ahead. “If you can’t use the Teach First brand you are no longer Teach First,” they said.

McFadden and Gould are determined to find a solution that means the charity can continue operating under its own name if it is chosen.