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.
当汤姆•雷文斯克罗夫特(Tom Ravenscroft)在2007年拿到经济与管理学位离开牛津大学(Oxford)的时候，他希望当一名管理顾问。而且他也在实习后收到了奥纬咨询(Oliver Wyman)的录用通知。他说：“除了进入商界，我对从事什么职业没有任何想法，职业在那时候还是一个非常模糊的概念。”

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.
他在最后一刻选择了教育慈善机构Teach First，后者如今已经成为英国招聘新毕业生最多的机构。雷文斯克罗夫特没有空降至需要重组的公司，而是开始在波尔主教学校(Cardinal Pole School)教授商业和经济学，该校主要招收伦敦东部哈克尼区(Hackney)11岁至19岁之间的青少年。
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.
他做出了不从事企业战略工作的战略性转变，尽管他自己的学校曾经建议他别从事教育方面的职业，虽然他担任过私人教师。
“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.
他回忆称：“我曾认为教书不是一个合适的职业选择。我的老师告诉我，如果我想当一名老师，就得有很强的忍耐力，不能轻易感到厌倦。”
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当老师能够不受此类条件束缚，体现了该项目的优势——该机构不仅是英国私营部门招聘企业的竞争对手，也成了它们的一所精修学校。
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.
部分在企业界的资助下，该机构将一流毕业生派到面向低收入社区的学校至少两年时间，而且也完全知道，其中许多人将会在这一时期结束后不再从事教学工作。
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.
在选择毕业后的职业道路的时候，雷文斯克罗夫特青睐Teach First的原因是，它兼具两个世界的好处。他能够快速当上教师，领取薪水，接受私人部门高管的指导，并与企业接触；相应地，他将承诺任教两年，完成教师资格培训认证。
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.
但现实远比他想象的艰难。雷文斯克罗夫特表示：“我曾以为这就是一个机会，要花掉两年，但现实是严峻的，因为这活不好干。”此外，他的导师在雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)工作，这家银行于2008年破产。他大笑着说：“这段指导关系持续的时间没有我希望的那么长。”
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.
雷文斯克罗夫特最终不再从事教学工作，他创办了Enabling Enterprise，这是一家寻求减轻学校和企业脱节现象的机构，它让学生走出教室，从事实践项目并实地探访包括瑞银(UBS)和富而德律所(Freshfields)在内的企业。
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.
但他认为自己任教的经历非常宝贵，可以让他很快适应新的职业阶段。
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年创立之初的目标是鼓励更多的毕业生尝试教学。由于担心该国最优秀的人才都被吸引至伦敦金融城、会计和法律行业，它希望为公立学校培养一些人才，以解决教育不平等问题。
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自成立以来将5000名毕业生送入学校任教，与低收入地区的逾100万学生合作，帮助提高了教学质量，尤其是伦敦地区的教学质量。
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.
新职员有望获得一个体面的成绩单——2.1甚至更高。尽管学历证书很重要，但Teach First也希望培养谦逊、尊敬他人和同理心等个人品质。该项目的申请数量是可提供职位的7倍。
The advantages for schools seem clear: they enjoy the benefits of bright graduates who would otherwise have gone straight into consulting.
学校获得的好处似乎显而易见：它们有了优秀的毕业生任教，否则这些学生将会直接进入咨询行业。
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补充称，与企业的合作非常重要，这不仅是因为资金问题，还因为这能帮助学校让学生掌握现代雇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.
英国国家电网(National Grid)的教育和技能主管托尼•莫洛尼(Tony Moloney)表示，参与该项目是国家电网旨在鼓励学校学生学习STEM科目（科学，技术、工程和数学）以及熟悉本领域工作的总体计划的一部分。
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.
在完成该项目的毕业生当中，42%没有继续从事教学工作。但Teach First表示，即便是那些离开教学领域的人也依然认可该项目的价值。
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.
该机构在2014年的一项调查显示，在完成两年教学的受访者当中，86%表示他们通过自己的工作为改变教育不平等采取了行动，65%表示在工作以外采取了行动。
“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.
会计和咨询机构德勤(Deloitte)英国分公司的企业责任主管克莱尔•伯顿(Claire Burton)表示，Teach First出来的人很受招聘人员的欢迎，因为他们擅长团队合作，有很强的领导能力。
Moreover, as some of the firm’s business involves advising the government on education, such recruits’ expertise is invaluable.
此外，由于该机构的一些业务涉及为政府提供教育方面的建议，此类员工的专长是很宝贵的。
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.
该项目的另一个好处在于，它鼓励了职业灵活性，让年轻人对曲折的职业道路有所准备，而后者可能在现代职场中是必不可少的。
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岁的古纳尔•优素福(Gunal Youssouf)是Teach First人，她加入了普华永道(PwC)英国分公司的管理咨询毕业生项目。优素福表示，在Teach First的两年让她有机会在不用花钱攻读传统资格证书的情况下尝试教学工作。
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.
同样，学校暑假期间在普华永道的一个为期3周的实习职位让她有机会体验在一家专业服务公司的生活。她说：“我曾经以为自己参加不了（普华永道项目），因为我没有工作经验。”
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.
企业也在其他方面受益。英国国家电网公司的业务分析经理克雷格•罗拉森(Craig Rollason)表示，他通过指导一位Teach Firste人提高了自己的指导技巧。
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.”
普华永道的校园和学校雇佣主管安德鲁•巴杰里(Andrew Bargery)表示，Teach First的毕业生出类拔萃：“他们已经在专业环境下工作过，拥有专业成熟度，并擅长交际。”
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，一位要求匿名的律师表示，Teach First人从事教学工作获得的经验和自主能力可能意味着，他们会对再次从一家机构的底层做起感到沮丧。
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.”
雷文斯克罗夫特认为，如果他成为一名管理顾问，他的视野可能会相对狭窄。教学工作也有助于他变得愿意承担风险——这来之不易。“如果你曾站在30名会毫不犹豫地指出你的错误的青少年面前讲课，这种体验可能会让你变得愿意去尝试。”