"An experienced teacher can grade anything." ­

An experienced teacher.

Thus begins the poem "Grading" by John Ridland – written in 1984! Yet despite being over 30 years old, his obsession with assigning grades to everything, including his cat and the quality of his sleep, is definitely relevant in our current post-Levels period. If you want to convince someone of the futility and even the potential ridiculousness of grading, show them this poem.

It is just one of 43 essays and extracts in this marvellous little book. Taking in writers such as Plato, Dewey, Matthew Arnold and others, it spans the period 380 BC to 20111.

Every age believes its challenges to be unique, but reading this book is compelling proof that some things never change, including the way teachers are treated by society, the teacher's workload and child-centred education.

Definitely a book you will want to dip into frequently.

You can buy the book via this Amazon affiliate link: Essays on Teaching