Mark. Plan. Teach.
By Ross Morrison McGill
Bloomsbury Education 208pp, £12.99 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781472910875

Ross McGill has established a very high profile and reputation for providing practical, accessible advice for teachers in a bite-size, easily applicable format. Mark. Plan. Teach. is no exception. Indeed, the no-nonsense book title itself gets straight to the heart of the subject. The importance of the ordering of “mark, plan, teach” itself makes a very powerful statement about what teachers need to have a grip of before entering the classroom - something that can easily be overlooked by novice teachers.

It is particularly pleasing that the approach taken by McGill throughout faces, head-on, the complex reality of classrooms and the importance of understanding the many component, interrelated elements involved in creating effective learning experiences.

As an academic and someone who has had a long career in initial teacher education (ITE), I am also particularly pleased to see the emphasis he puts on evidence. I am even more delighted that he takes a critical approach to this. He is clear about the complex variables involved in educational research and the danger of assuming that straightforward answers could be taken from it that would work in every context. Though these points are made very clearly near the beginning, occasionally throughout the book it could be argued that research and evidence is presented as unproblematic.

A small (possibly unfair) example of this is in the mention made of McGill’s own research into a coaching methodology, which he distilled into a one-page summary that communicated expectations to all teachers. It is probably an unfair example because McGill makes no claim on this occasion that this brief mention is a full articulation of what must have been an extremely complicated piece of work. However, new teachers need to be constantly alert to critical reflection on research findings by examining the evidence base underpinning them. It would be good if McGill had used every opportunity to reinforce this.

Some of the issues outlined above are a consequence of the “chunked, bite-sized” approach that is taken throughout the book. On the whole, this is a strength: it makes it very usable as a reference guide. It’s certainly helpful for a novice teacher who is trying to navigate their way through the myriad issues they need to consider as they get to grips with effective classroom practice.

But from a personal perspective, there are occasions when the choppy style interferes with the flow of thinking and undermines the reader’s ability to see the wood for the trees. It may well be a prejudice derived from my arts and humanities background that I like a coherent set of ideas leading to conclusions to build in a more narrative structure. But I recognise that this book is intended to be a source of quick reference - something that can be dipped into and returned to later. As a student teacher, that would probably have been more useful to me than the narrative style I might favour now.

What I particularly like is the way the book manages the interface between practical reality and theoretical perspectives and aspirations. This includes a very genuine acknowledgement of the vital need to reduce teacher workload - a topic close to my heart, as teacher retention is something I’m personally very involved with. The approaches and resources outlined in the book would definitely be a valuable aid to teachers who are juggling priorities and needing some “quick wins” to support effective practice.

There are so many examples of this throughout the book - a good one is the discussion of “live marking”. In this, McGill skilfully relates the techniques being examined to summaries of relevant research and draws on this to suggest some quick, straightforward ways in which they can be applied. He then links this back to the importance of work-life balance and maintaining a realistic workload. This is a theme often returned to, and rightly so.

I would be very happy to recommend this book to novice teachers and would consider it to be a very useful addition to the reading lists for ITE programmes.

Professor Samantha Twiselton is director of the Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University