ABSTRACT
Student teachers (and indeed many experienced teachers, with hindsight) frequently complain about the content of their initial teacher education courses. Although strong on theory, such courses are often weak in terms of passing on relevant classroom teaching skills. For example, James Cross, a student teacher in the late 1970s, cited his experiences (which we believe to be not untypical) in an article published in The Observer in March 1983.
Discipline was an ugly word at college, although our everyday teaching is affected and possibly shaped by it. Not once in three years was it discussed. How should one react if a child refuses to do as he is told? What if a child swears at you? How do you establish silence? What forms of punishment should be used?
