This book arises from the experiences of staff working over many years in training graduates for their entry into the teaching profession. It has always been axiomatic at King’s College London that teachers in schools have an essential part to play in partnership with university staff in this training.
Further and Higher Education in the UK has expanded greatly in recent years, bringing into education large numbers of young people who present teachers with new challenges. At the same time, there is an immense pressure to improve the quality of learning and teaching and to encourage students to be active participants in the process. This book is aimed at teachers, aspiring teachers and other professionals in upper secondary schools, further education colleges and universities who wish to increase learner motivation and to create opportunities for greater learner autonomy.
The first edition of Teacher Appraisal offered a comprehensive and practical guide to what has become a key area in educational management in the UK. The second edition has been substantially updated to include the regulations as they affect grant-maintained schools and developments in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
This is a book about hope. It affirms the power of personal and collective responsibility to enact heroic changes in our schools. Through a shared vision, purpose, and inquiry--and using the collective wisdom of myth, legend, and metaphor from around the world--we can find the inspiration and courage to face the challenges inherent in transforming schools into authentic learning organizations.
From the Introduction:
Schooling is one of the top domestic policy issues of the day, and testing and the effectiveness of teaching, broadly considered, are among the top issues in education. Nearly all states have developed standards and have begun state testing programs in the last several years. The 2002 federal No Child Left Behind act makes testing and accountability policies even more crucial because poorly performing schools may be closed; already many failing schools must allow and pay for their students to attend successful schools.
