Customer Reviews

Becoming a Secondary School Teacher

I found this book covers an extensive range of everyday aspects of teaching.It's straight forward to understand and is really easy to follow. As a prospective secondary school teacher I've found that it gives you a variety of aproaches and allows you to draw up your own conclusions. It has up to date material, relevant to the national curriculum that is currently being taught.The book also introduces aspects of teaching that may not be covered while training, but is still relevant to the profession.The book is a great companion for any teaching course in secondary education field not just a P.G.C.E. Some issues are relevant to primary but is mainly concerned with secondary.

I bought this in advance of starting a PGCE in Biology this autumn. I wanted to get an idea of what I would be learning about and get a head start with some of the subjects.
This book pretty much does that, but no more.
When I first opened it I was a bit daunted. There is a lot of jargon and the book is heavier than it looks.
I decided to try and skim through it to get an overview of what was on offer. But once I started I realised its actually not that in depth and its possible to read it thoroughly and not get overloaded.
Chapter headings include 'Motivation', 'Adolescence', and 'Language Awareness', as well as chapters on classroom management, the national curriculum, and some of the prominent schools of thought in British teaching.
There are cues to self-reflection and action points for students either in college or during classroom experience.
But nothing is too complicated.
This book is not enough on its own to get you through a PGCE, but it is a very good start. I would not hesitate to recommend it to prospective teachers.

Book simplifies all the theory, is easy to read and sets tasks around every topic. Really useful for any trainee teacher!