Learning to Teach Mathematics in the Secondary School
It is good to see the second edition of this essential reader for beginning secondary mathematics teachers. The authorship is impressive, as well as a number of chapters by the editors there are chapters written by Candia Morgan, Melissa Rodd, Keith Jones, Maria Goulding, Geoff Wake and Ann Kitchen. The final chapter is on professional development by Christine Shiu and Gill Hatch. Gill’s recent untimely death makes this chapter particularly poignant. The dedication and enthusiasm that pervade this chapter are exemplified in the exhortation: ‘The more interested you become in how you operate as a teacher, the more interesting and rewarding teaching will be.’ P.257.
Developing as a reflective practitioner is a key message in this book and this is particularly encouraged through the carefully designed tasks which encourage synthesis of classroom experience with the theory and research underpinning each chapter. The further reading lists for each chapter are carefully selected and include a brief description of why they might be useful.
The chapters on ICT, special educational needs and post-16 cover these rapidly changing areas well, however it is unlikely that they can continue to be up-to-date given the rapidly changing government agendas in schools: Workforce Remodelling, Every Child Matters and the 14-19 agenda (to name but a few!)
I would particularly recommend this book for students who are studying alone e.g. on the Graduate Teacher Programme or a flexible modular course and encourage their active engagement with the tasks.
Sue Pope, Mathematics Education Lecturer, St. Martin’s College, Lancaster
Learning to Teach Mathematics in the Secondary School 2nd Edition
Edited by Sue Johnston-Wilder, Peter Johnston-Wilder, David Pimm and John Westwell
Routledge, London, 2003
ISBN 0-415-34282-1
