I once caused mild apoplexy in an interviewing panel when I was asked what were my views on discipline. I was unwise enough to say that it was the sine qua non, without which no real learning was possible. Whether they took exception to this belief or whether it was my use of Latin which upset them I did not discover, but I still hold this view, and I am sure that it is evident to all thinking teachers.

So, assuming you have not upset interviewing panels, and have secured that important first teaching post, how do you achieve that hard-working, purposeful classroom? Of course, your teaching practice will have given you many ideas and no doubt you will have learned many hard lessons during that practice. But things are now very different. From now on it is you in charge, there is no “real” teacher on whom to fall back, and you cannot console yourself if things are going badly with the knowledge that you will never have to face these pupils again after the end of term.

Success in helping pupils to learn depends on more than an impressive personality and a good knowledge of your subject. You have to be a good manager of pupils’ learning and of your classroom.

The three most important ingredients for success are preparation, preparation and preparation. You will need to find out as much as you can about the school before you start. Make sure you know what you are expected to teach, and what books and other materials you will use. You should find out as much as possible about the pupils you will be teaching. Read any files or reports on them, talk to other teachers if possible although you will need to be sensitive to the fact that teachers may well be too busy to give you more than a sketchy impression of the pupils. Try to learn as many names as possible. Your discipline will be far more effective when you can issue a quiet rebuke to a pupil by name.

Although it is difficult to fully appreciate all the nuances and hidden assumptions, you must try to learn as much about the structure and procedures of the school before you start. You will need to know what to do if an incident arises which you cannot handle yourself; you will need to know the sanctions and rewards system; and you will need to understand the roles of key members of staff. Pupils will forgive some initial ignorance on your part of minor procedure, but they will quickly take advantage of any hesitation or indecision about serious matters. The more you can discover before you start the more confident you will feel and displaying that sense of confidence is essential for classroom control.

A final point for preparation - find out about the dress code of the school, whether written or assumed. It is best to ask someone relatively senior about this, by the way. In my first job I took the advice of a fellow maths teacher and was duly reprimanded on my first day by one of the deputy heads.

I believe that your clothing and appearance do send powerful messages to pupils. If they feel that you cannot be bothered about such things, they may also feel that you are less likely to be concerned about their standards. In a school with a strict uniform policy for pupils it is hypocritical for teachers to be sloppily dressed.

It is quite possible, particularly in a secondary school, that you will not be allocated a teaching room which is exclusively yours. You might also be unlucky enough to be “peripatetic”, using several different rooms. Some of the following advice will therefore not apply until you have served your time or begged, cajoled, or bribed the timetabler into granting you this status. You must establish from the start that you are in control of your classroom.

Control is a word with which some are unhappy but if you do not recognise that as a teacher you are in the privileged position of guiding children’s learning and that this means you decide how this is best accomplished (within the constraints of the teaching scheme, national curriculum and so on), then teaching is not the career for you. There are many possible classroom layouts to consider, and to a great extent your choice will depend on the teaching methods you employ. An arrangement which allows individual work at times, co-operative work at others is probably best, even if it means some moving of furniture to change back and forth between these modes. Your desk must always be in a position which allows you to see and be seen by everyone.

I would strongly urge you to prepare seating plans for all your classes before they arrive for the first time. If you allocate the places in alphabetical order you will have the added advantage of learning the pupils’ names much more quickly. Pupils may be slightly resentful at first but they will see that you intend to run things your way. You can of course always move pupils after a while if the initial plan throws up problems.

Keep your room tidy and welcoming, changing the work on display regularly. The old adage about never smiling before Easter is perhaps taking things a little too far, but the basic advice is sound. You cannot afford the risk of trying to gain easy popularity in the short term at the cost of losing order in the long term.

You can be reasonably friendly in your approach but never make the mistake of trying to be a friend. You will gain the respect of pupils by showing that you care about them enough to prepare good, interesting lessons, that you want them to succeed, and that you value their work by well-considered advice and criticism.

You will find that by working hard on your organisation, in preparing lessons and anticipating problems that might arise, you will feel more confident and be in a better position to be pleasant. It is clear that pupils need to feel secure if they are to learn well and behave well. Teachers who are insecure or who do not create secure classrooms soon run into trouble.

You must be consistent in your approach if you want to reduce discipline problems. Do not allow pupils to call out answers one minute and then insist on them putting up their hands the next. Have clear and fair rules about such matters, and stick to them. Explain them firmly and in a manner which is not challenging, but which conveys the impression that you do not expect there to be any transgression. Even so, there may be some pupils who want to test you, to see whether you mean what you say. In that case, you must warn them of the consequences of any repetition, and if necessary you must carry out your threat.

It is often better to silently influence the pupil who is misbehaving or about to misbehave, perhaps by a gesture or a firm stare. This avoids the dangers of advertising the bad behaviour to the rest of the class, and of provoking a confrontation. If you issue a reprimand make sure that it is as specific as possible, for example “Please put that pen down” is better than “Stop messing around”.

It is very easy when you have been provoked too far or too often by a difficult pupil to say something which will damage any prospect of you working effectively together in the future. Never criticise him or her as a person; criticise his actions or lack of them as much as you like, but an attack on his character is unwise and unfair.

Praise should be given as freely as possible, although with some difficult pupils it is often better to give it to them privately, with a quiet word or two as you walk around the classroom. You might otherwise be seen as threatening their public reputation as a troublemaker and they might have to say or do something to retaliate. Don’t forget to praise the whole class from time to time, especially for lessons in which a lot has been achieved.

Finally, remember that the first term will be very tiring. Allow time to recover and relax. You will be a better teacher for allowing yourself some time to forget all about the demands of what is the most rewarding of jobs.

Ian Wilson is headteacher of Woodcote High School, Coulsdon, Surrey.