Making it as a Teacher: How to Survive and Thrive in the First Five Years

by Victoria Hewett

Teaching is a delightfully rewarding, wonderfully enlightening and diverse career. Yet, at present, teacher recruitment and retention are in crisis, with some of the most at risk of leaving the profession being those in their early years of teaching. Making it as a Teacher offers a variety of tips, anecdotes, real-life examples and practical advice to help new teachers survive and thrive through the first 5 years of teaching, from the first-hand experiences of a teacher and middle leader.

Divided into thematic sections, Making It, Surviving and Thriving, the book explores the issues and challenges teachers may face, including:

Lesson planning, marking and feedback

Behaviour and classroom management

Work-life balance

Progression, CPD and networking

With the voices of teaching professionals woven throughout, this is essential reading for new teachers, those undertaking initial teacher training, QT mentors and other teaching staff that support new teachers in the early stages of their career.

Kindle Edition

Published May 10, 2019

Reviews

[Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book really helpful as part of my preparation for commencing initial teacher training in England. I thought it was particularly strong on strategies for managing workloads and effective marking and feedback, and I was comforted by the author’s stance on pushing back against unsustainable workloads and pressures that do not ultimately benefit students.

The book is a bit loose in places. There a number of typos and a few of the chapters felt rushed. I'd have appreciated more on managing behaviour, for example, although I understand the author’s position regarding the importance of a robust, SLT-led behaviour policy which to some extent takes away the need for a fully-fledged chapter on the topic.

On the whole, though, I thought this was a useful primer and I’m sure I’ll return to it in the coming few years.