What Now Teach does

Now Teach is a UK-registered charity (Charity No. 1189146, Company No. 11872096) founded in 2016 by former Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway and Katie Waldegrave. Its purpose is to recruit experienced professionals from other careers, including banking, journalism, IT, law, engineering, and the civil service, and support their transition into secondary school teaching in England. The organization addresses the national teacher shortage, with particular emphasis on STEM subjects, by providing free expert advice on teacher training applications, a structured two-year personalized support programme with one-to-one Programme Manager assistance, wellbeing and subject coaching, and lifetime membership in a national peer network of career-changer teachers.

The core product is the Now Teach Programme, a two-year structured pathway complemented by the Now Teach Network (a member-led community), free teacher training advisory services, and a library of School Insight Resources including articles, podcasts (Now I'm Grown Up), and case studies. Underlying technology is minimal: the charity uses Salesforce CRM for candidate relationship management and cohort tracking, and standard business software for operations, but does not operate a proprietary technology platform. The service is delivered primarily through remote channels (website, phone, email, virtual meetings) with monthly co-working days at the London headquarters and regional hubs in London, Manchester, Cambridge, Norwich, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, and Newcastle.

The business model is non-commercial. Now Teach charges nothing to career changers for its services; instead, it is funded through charitable donations from foundations, philanthropists, and trusts (including AKO Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Julia Rausing Trust, The Rothermere Foundation, Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, and others), supplemented historically by a Department for Education contract that was not renewed in 2024. Pro bono support is provided by Bain & Company, Lexington Communications, and Passion Partnership CIC. The charity distributes its services directly via its own organization and through a partner network of over 100 schools, training providers, and universities across England.

Name

Now Teach

Legal name

Now Teach

Website

https://nowteach.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Now Teach is a UK charity founded in 2016 that recruits experienced professionals from other careers and supports their transition into secondary school teaching in England through a free two-year programme, coaching, and a lifetime peer network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Teacher Recruitment and Career Change Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Instructional Coaching & Teacher Professional Learning (School-Embedded) (EDAJAFAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Training Delivery Providers (In-Person, Virtual, Train-the-Trainer) (BPACANAM)

Keywords

• Career change teaching
• Teacher recruitment
• Teacher training support
• Education charity services
• Career changer network

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Funding: Now Teach operates as a registered charity (No. 1189146) funded primarily through donations from foundations, philanthropists, and charitable trusts. Their supporters include AKO Foundation, Berry Street Foundation, Charles Kirwan-Taylor, Charlotte Hogg, CHK Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Greig Walker, John Armitage Charitable Trust, Paddy Dear, Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, The Hg Foundation, The Julia Rausing Trust, The Rothermere Foundation, The Swire Charitable Trust, and Tony Trapp. The organization also receives pro bono support from Bain & Company, Passion Partnership CIC, and Lexington Communications.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Now Teach is a UK charity that recruits experienced professionals from other careers to retrain as secondary school teachers in England. It delivers a two-year personalised career-change support programme, including one-to-one Programme Manager support, wellbeing and subject coaching, free teacher training advisory services, and lifetime membership of the Now Teach Network community. All services are provided free of charge to participants and funded through charitable donations and grants.

Product overview

Now Teach is an education charity offering a single integrated programme for career changers seeking to become secondary school teachers. The core offering consists of the Now Teach Programme—a two-year personalised support system—supplemented by lifetime membership in the Now Teach Network, a national community of fellow career-changer teachers. Additional services include free teacher training advisory support and School Insight Resources for prospective teachers to understand the teaching profession before applying.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Now Teach Programme Two-year personalised career-change support programme helping experienced professionals transition into secondary school teaching in England; includes one-to-one support from a dedicated Programme Manager, wellbeing coaching, subject coaching and milestone events. Delivered free of charge and intended as the core pathway for candidates accepted into the network.
• Now Teach Network Lifetime national community of career-changer teachers who have completed the two-year programme, offering peer support, knowledge sharing and ongoing professional development events for as long as members remain in teaching.
• Teacher Training Advisory Services Free expert advice on applying for teacher training, including guidance on choosing training options, application processes, qualification requirements, training locations, part-time training routes and government funding/bursaries. Provided directly to prospective career changers considering a move into secondary teaching.

Quantifiable outcome

• Now Teach teachers are more likely to stay in teaching than career changers going it alone

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Bain & CompanycoreOthersPro bono consulting support provided to help Now Teach with strategy, operations, and organizational development.
• Passion Partnership CICsupportingOthersCommunity interest company providing pro bono services to support Now Teach's mission.
• Lexington CommunicationssupportingOthersCommunications consultancy providing pro bono PR and communications support.
• Teach FirstcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew partnership announced to support more career changers into teaching. Both organisations share a mission of addressing teacher shortages and improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged students.
• STEM 600coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiative supported by Now Teach to recruit 600 STEM teachers, addressing critical shortages in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects. Featured at a House of Lords event.
• Schools, Training Providers and Universities (100+)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOver 100 state secondary schools, teacher training providers, and universities across England partner with Now Teach. These partners deliver teacher training programmes while Now Teach provides supplementary support services to career changer participants.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Teacher Development Trust: UK charity focused on teacher professional development, school improvement and CPD programmes. Operates in the adjacent space of supporting teachers' growth and career transitions, overlapping with Now Teach's coaching and network proposition.
• Ark (Ark Ventures / Ark Academies network): Network of education organisations running academies, teacher training and education ventures, and a founding partner of Now Teach. Comparable as a UK education charity operating on a national scale with multiple arms covering schools, training and teacher development.
• Get Into Teaching (Department for Education): The UK government's national teacher recruitment service, providing advice, bursary information and a teacher training search across all routes. It competes for the same career-changer pool as Now Teach and distributes the £26,000 shortage-subject bursaries Now Teach leverages.

Emerging players

• The Brilliant Club: Charity that places PhD researchers and industry professionals into state schools as tutors and educators. Comparable model of mobilising experienced professionals for in-school teaching, with a narrower focus on academic tutoring rather than full career-change support.

Direct peers

• Teach First: UK charity that recruits high-caliber graduates and career changers into teaching in low-income communities. Now Teach and Teach First share the same core proposition of channeling experienced professionals into secondary teaching, and they now have an active partnership (2023), making Teach First the most directly comparable peer.
• Ambition School Leadership: UK charity that helps experienced professionals from industry move into school leadership (and increasingly teaching) roles. Operates a similar free, supported career-change model targeting professionals aged 30+, making it one of the closest direct peer models to Now Teach.
• Future Teaching Scholars: Scholarship programme (UCL/Department for Education) that recruits high-achieving STEM and modern language graduates into teacher training. Targets the same high-caliber, specialist-subject career-changer pool that Now Teach's STEM 600 initiative pursues.

Regional players

• Driver Youth Trust: UK education charity focused on improving literacy outcomes for children with dyslexia and SEND, with a strong teacher-training and resource-development arm. Comparable as a UK teacher-training-focused charity, though narrower in subject focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NowTeachOrg
• Facebookfacebook.com/NowTeach

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Now Teach