Authors
Field Richards, John Hattie, Catherine Reid
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Book Review Details
Field Richards, John Hattie and Catherine Reid
New York, NY: Routledge (2021) 175pp., paperback
ISBN 978-0-367-531850
Book Review Authors
Beth McClure, e.mcclure.19@abdn.ac.uk
University of Aberdeen, Scotland
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The Turning Point for The Teaching Profession sets out to grow expert teachers and starts to evaluate how schools achieve student engagement. The authors, Field Rickards, John Hattie, and Catherine Reid start by sharing their personal journey as an educator. The book sets the scene for how effective teachers and equitable school systems enhance students’ academic growth while increasing their involvement. The authors created essential reading for teacher candidates, teachers, teacher educators, school leaders and educational policymakers.
As a reviewer, I highly recommend this book for any educator who has set out to educate every student no matter where they come from and where they are on the ability range. The authors will make you reflect on whether you are developing, have created, or are creating the environment for the expertise required to attend to the needs of each student.
The book is divided into three parts over nine chapters along with an introduction. Each chapter identifies how teachers at all levels and school systems can effectively make good changes in education. Every chapter has a similar structure, starting with a short introduction, giving key points with examples, reflecting questions that enables the reader to reflect on the reading related to her/his own experiences and final concluding aims in the conclusion.
In each part of the book the authors provide relevant research that supports each chapter’s argument. Diagrams and tables are both provided throughout that are engaging for an educator to be evaluative in their skills and thinking. Following this the authors address the attributes of teaching as a profession and give reason for why it is a ‘profession’ alongside medicine and law professions.
This book provides an important perspective on the expertise of teachers and the evaluation of teaching as a ‘profession.’ The authors provide engaging reading in a sequential and clear way that makes for an easy read. It is refreshing to hear that so many are supportive and will confirm that educational expertise is a key trait in the teaching profession that needs further recognition. Anyone who sets out to improve the quality and learning lives of teachers and students should read this book.