Becoming a Teacher (The legal, ethical and moral implications of entering society's most fundamental profession)

Accessible, readable and engaging, Becoming a Teacher draws on Alan Newland's decades of professional work and academic study in education to set out the key principles for developing and understanding the professional values essential to becoming a good teacher.

The book features a constructive examination of the Teachers' Standards and shares a series of illustrative scenarios, exemplar strategies and practical resources that will equip trainee teachers with easy-to-understand but justifiable rationales to deal with a range of contentious and sensitive issues that they are likely to encounter during the course of their career.

It also explores a series of searching questions relating to the philosophical nature of teaching, the definitions of legal, ethical and moral responsibility as a teacher, and what it means- objectively- to be professional. Becoming a Teacher therefore serves as a professional studies course reader for trainees and early career teachers, as well as a core text for tutors, lecturers, mentors and CPD leads delivering both the compulsory aspects of the ITT Core Content Framework for all qualified teacher status (QTS) courses and Early Career Framework CPD.

An inspiring and motivating guide to embarking confidently on a career in teaching and, above all, acquiring and developing the essential character traits and values to flourish in it.

I very much enjoyed the interactivity throughout this book, where the reader is encouraged to reflect upon and consider a variety of issues as well as draw lessons from the personal experiences of Alan himself. This offers a personal touch and makes the book easy to relate to. Alan highlights the pressures of teaching, but not to the point that it would put off any aspiring trainees; if anything, it will give them a sense of purpose and an understanding of the challenges that lie ahead. Ultimately, we as teachers are role models - and that's something, as emphasised by this book, that I am proud to be a part of. I will certainly be keeping a copy for use in my career.

Daniel Strachan

What I love about this book is that everything is presented from authority and experience, not merely opinion. When Alan tells the story of the troubled child and the father who beat him in front of him, he doesn't waste time stating 'obviously, this was wrong' but instead allows us to process how we, as teachers, might respond in this situation. I was initially terrified of the numerous pages of appendices, but Alan clearly states how to approach them and why. I therefore enjoyed the debate on 'Britishness'. This was introduced during my secondary school days and I remember we hated how it was presented; however, Alan provides a very good argument for how 'British values' should be explored in schools - and now I will take his insights on board in my own teaching.

Nathan Alexander Kennedy

I was hooked from the start - the tone, the way it sets out exactly what the book aims to do, how it is structured to enable the reader to dip in and out, and much more. There is great use of further and recommended reading per chapter too. I particularly enjoyed the section on teaching and theory, as I found myself drawn into the question of whether we are reliant on the theory to underpin practice. I also enjoyed reflecting on the incident of children climbing high up in the tree and what the teachers were trying to achieve. This engaged my whole household in an interesting discussion! A thoroughly thought-provoking read and a pleasure to engage with.

Amelia Shimells

At university we tend to focus on specifics with relatively little time for aspects such as ethics or morality, so this book helps to develop a teaching philosophy and to determine what defines you as a teacher. Becoming a Teacher is incredibly insightful for both ECTs and more experienced teachers, and will help develop wider perspectives on teaching.