Customer Reviews
Fab for those unsure of whether to go into teaching - By: Loopy Lou, 17 Jul 2005 
i got this book yesterday & can honestly not put it down! i havent started any training & find its great - it goes into all the details of the training & even applying for the course - everything leading up to the actual result of being a teacher, plus some great insight into the aftermath too. I also found the case studies & questions she asked teachers & trainees extremely useful. So glad i got this, dont let it put u off that its not specialized into primary or secondary (which i nearly was) as it goes into each anyway & is just an easy & informative read. thanks so much! 5/5!
Excellent book by an excellent authority on teaching. - By: , 03 Nov 2004 Sue Cowley is an excellent author on teaching & classroom control, & this book is an impressively comprehensive guide on all aspects of teaching, including but not limited to planning, teaching, assessment, finding your first job, career progression & ICT. Cowley includes the transcripts of extensive interviews with all different types of people workingin education, from student teachers to managers & representatives from teaching unions, which makes it realistic & very practical.
The book is split into clearly defined sections, comprising questions & answers from Cowley's own experience, interviews & bullet pointed lists which make it easier to dip into. There are detailed case studies of planningin both primary & secondary schools, containing actual examples of the planning used by teachers, examples letters of application & blank planning sheets for you to adapt. Finally, a directory of contacts & websites for all subjects, teaching resources & supply agencies make it the most complete guide I have come across for those startingin teaching or those already involvedin education.
Some of the material is not new, the sections on behaviour management are the same as can be foundin Cowley's Getting the Buggers to Behave & her website, but this is much much more than just a behaviour manual. After the first read it becomes an excellent guide to keep on the shelf & dip into when the need for specific advice arises, & the insights offered by experienced professionals surely cannot be found elsewhere & would take years for a new teacher to discover for themselves
Excellent Resource for Overseas Trained Teachers - By: , 28 Aug 2003 I am an American citizen & have 14 years' teaching experiencein the US. I got a job teaching high school Englishin the UK last November, & it was very difficult for me at times because the system here is quite a bit different, & there are roles (such as form tutor, head of year, etc) that do not existin the US. This book carefully explains all aspects of what you can expectin an average UK school & gives tips on how to handle the various roles you may be assigned. For a native who grew up attending UK schools & therefore learned about them by osmosis, this may be a simplistic no-brainer, but if you are a foreign-schooled person who will be teachingin England, I urge you to get this book. If I had had a copy of it last year, it would have made life much easier, but unfortunately for me, it was just published recently! :)
The book contains information about teaching as a career, teacher training, teaching practice, job hunting, anatomy of a school, lesson prep, behaviour management, extracurricular responsibilities, pay, & things like pensions & unions. It really is a good resource for basic, general information, & NQTs & OTTs particularly should investin a copy.
