Table Of ContentIntroduction to Teaching
The expectations of what it is to be a teacher are as high as ever. An Introduction to
Teaching, which is the second edition of the well-established textbook Learning to
Teach, provides a fully up-to-date introduction to the process and practice of teaching,
and the personal and professional skills that successful teaching requires.
This comprehensive update of the first edition is written in accordance with Teacher
Training Association and DfES guidelines, and provides in-depth coverage of all the
modules included in the teacher training programme.
Taking into account recent developments in policy and practice, contributors have
incorporated new material covering teaching and classroom management, new
approaches to planning, targeting effective learning, introduction to professional
requirements and continuing professional development.
The book includes comprehensive chapters on the following:
• The National Curriculum;
• Children’s learning;
• The use of IT;
• Planning and preparation;
• Teaching and classroom management;
• Special educational needs;
• Working with parents.
An Introduction to Teaching will be an indispensable textbook and resource for all
students training to be teachers and NQTs whether at primary or secondary level. It is the
generic textbook of the Teaching series, which features a range of subject-based and
issues-based textbooks.
Professor Gill Nicholls has taught in secondary schools for a number of years and is
now Director of King’s Institute of Learning and Teaching at King’s College London.
An Introduction to Teaching
Second Edition
A handbook for primary and secondary school teachers
Edited by Gill Nicholls
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1999 by
Kogan Page Ltd 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN
Second edition published 2004 by
RoutledgeFalmer 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by
RoutledgeFalmer 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of
Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks
please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.”
© 1999 Gill Nicholls
© 2004 Gill Nicholls for editorial material and selection and the
contributors for individual chapters
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-41637-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-43965-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-33531-0 (Print Edition)
Contents
Introduction 1
Gill Nicholls, King’s College, University of London
1 An Introduction to Teaching 3
James Williams, School of Education, Sussex University
2 The National Curriculum—15 years of reform 19
Steve Alsop, School of Education, York University, Canada,
Graham Dock, Faculty of Education, Roehampton Institute, University of
Surrey, and Lyn Leversa, Guildford 6th Form College
3 Children’s Learning 38
Margaret Cox, School of Education, King’s College, University of London
4 Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Pupils’ 57
Learning
Margaret Cox, School of Education, King’s College, University of London
5 Planning, Expectations and Targets for Effective Learning and Teaching 84
Mike Waring, School of Education, Loughborough University
6 Teaching and Class Management 103
Mike Waring, School of Education, Loughborough University
7 Assessment 117
Rita Headington, Reading University
8 Special Needs in the ‘Mainstream’ 135
Steve Alsop, School of Education, York University, Canada and Robin Luth,
Faculty of Education, Roehampton Institute, University of Surrey
9 The Inspection Process 153
Gill Nicholls, King’s College, University of London
10 Working with Parents 164
Tricia David, Faculty of Education, Canterbury; Christ Church University
College
11 Professional Values and Practice 177
Gill Nicholls, King’s College, University of London
12 Continuing Professional Development 187
Carol Morgan, Bath University and Peter Neil, Cardiff University
13 Induction for Newly Qualified Teachers 198
James Williams, School of Education, Sussex University
Glossary 210
Index 212
Introduction
Gill Nicholls
Teacher training continues to go through significant changes, the most recent of which
has been the response to Qualifying to Teach: Professional standards for Qualified
Teacher Status and requirements for initial teacher training [TTA 2002]. This document
has increased the expectations of what it is to be a teacher, and have also set the standards
by which future teachers are to be assessed. School-based training has not changed:
trainees are still expected to spend the majority of their training time in schools with their
mentors. However, the TTA 2002 document gives clear categories and standards under
which trainees have to demonstrate their abilities; these include:
• knowledge and understanding;
• planning, teaching and class management;
• monitoring, assessment, reporting and accountability;
• other professional requirements.
This book aims to help guide the trainee through each category, with the anticipated help
of their mentor. The underlying principle of the book is that teaching is an art as well as a
science. Teaching is one of the most creative and satisfying professions to be involved in.
Yet as in any profession there are key elements, skills, practices and standards that have
to be achieved, if effective and efficient practitioners are to be developed. This book
addresses all the key areas of the TTA 2002. In some chapters this is made more explicit
than others; however, throughout it is assumed that trainees will have their own copy of
the circular and gain, with the help of the book, a good working knowledge and
understanding of the standards required to gain qualified teacher status (QTS).
The book through its tasks and overall design is aimed at helping trainees develop
their skills, knowledge and pedagogic practice so that they not only meet the demands of
TTA 2002 but also develop and nurture their own philosophy of teaching.
Every teacher-training c ourse starts trainees on their way. Learning the art and craft of
teaching is a process, one that lasts a career—from trainee to newly qualified teacher
(NQT) to very experienced teacher. The book attempts to address this learning process by
involving the mentor in the trainee’s learning. It also shows in later chapters the need to
understand what it is to be professional and be involved in continual professional
development. The final chapter is specifically aimed at the NQT—taking the trainee from
‘trainee’ to ‘newly qualified teacher’. It allows the NQT to have confidence in what they
can do as well as prepare them for the challenges ahead.
An introduction to teaching 2
Structure of the book
The book is specifically designed to direct trainees at each stage of their learning. Each
chapter is designated to a specific task aimed at focusing the trainee on key areas of
development. The book is generic in its approach, but all areas and phases of education
are catered for through the tasks.
Trainees are expected to use the text as a means of facilitating their learning, within
their chosen phase of training. The text highlights key development areas and issues that
need to be addressed in order to gain QTS. As such the book can be used as a whole,
working through from start to finish, or as a resource that can be dipped in and out of as
appropriate to the trainee’s learning and development needs. The objectives set in each
chapter reflect the demands set in TTA 2002 as a means of achieving QTS.
The various authors of this text feel that the way the book has been devised allows
creativity, motivation and self-development to thrive, while also meeting the highly
defined legislative standards required of those wishing to join the teaching profession.
1
An Introduction to Teaching
James Williams
Education…is the greatest work of all those which lie
ready to a man’s hand just at present. (T H Huxley, ‘A
liberal education and where to find it’, address to the South
London Working Men’s College, 4 January 1869)
Your vision of what it is like to be a teacher is probably a composite one made up of
memories of your own teachers and the media representation of teachers, with a little bit
of you thrown in. What it takes to be a teacher is dedication, professionalism,
intelligence, commitment, energy and above all else intuition: knowing what is the right
thing to do in any given situation. This chapter is an overview of teaching and introduces
you to the concepts related to effective teaching and learning. In reaching Qualified
Teacher Status (QTS) you will need to demonstrate various skills and attributes, over and
above those listed above.
The Teacher Training Agency (TTA) specifies the standards that all trainees must
reach in order to be awarded QTS. They are set out in Qualifying to Teach: Professional
standards for Qualified Teacher Status and requirements for initial teacher training
(TTA, 2002a). These standards came into effect on 1 September 2002. Your training is
designed to enable you to reach those standards; this book is intended to help to achieve
this.
Objectives
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
• understand the historical context of education in England and Wales;
• identify the key areas you are required to meet to gain QTS;
• understand the relationship between the statutory requirements and your personal
development as a teacher;
• identify the characteristics of good teaching and of effective teachers.
A brief historical context of education in England and Wales
The 1870 Elementary Education Act, recognized as the first Act to regulate schools and
teachers, resulted from a realization that teachers and teaching can only be successful if
carefully structured and regulated. The Act prescribed what should be done in those
institutions designated as ‘schools’. A main feature of the Act was the establishment of
the first education authorities, referred to as school boards, and it set up a countrywide
