"Crammed with vital information on a spread of issues and                                    potential ‘encounterings’, through which Medwell et al lay a                                    path for the next generation of teachers."

                                   http://escalate.ac.uk/3680

‘Successful Teaching Placement: Primary and Early Years’ is written by Jane Medwell with Mary Briggs, Julie Neale, Nigel Palmer and George Raper. This team has produced a directional resource for men and women who want to teach children up to eleven years of age. Successful Teaching Placement lives up to its claim of being a practical handbook for training-teachers in placement. It is crammed with vital information on a spread of issues and potential ‘encounterings’, through which Medwell et al lay a path for the next generation of teachers.

If I were to sandwich constructive criticism between two layers of praise it would be at this juncture, to say that there are some parts of the book that, at first glance, are skimmed over; one such example is in the chapter on the Challenges of Placement for Early Practitioners, however, this is merely an observation as the handbook usually directs the reader to further resources, where more information can be sought.

The ‘everything you need to know about teaching placement’ handbook covers role and responsibilities of placements and placement preparation, right through to applying for a teaching post.

A copy of the book should be on hand in every staff room as an enlightening coffee time read for existing teachers who arrived at teaching through other avenues. This would facilitate an all round understanding of the journey travelled by new recruits.