Henry Reed’s fine poem “Naming of Parts” came to mind as I read these books. The poem describes the experience of a soldier being taught to name the parts of his rifle and how to fit them together: “To-day we have naming of parts.YesterdayWe had daily cleaningAnd to-morrow morningWe shall have what to do after firing.But to-day,To-day we have naming of parts.”

These books are full of naming of parts, and describe how to make connections between them in order to achieve Qualified Teacher Status and how to survive into the induction year and beyond.

They explain how the initial teacher Training national curriculum) and Circular 498, which concerns the standards for the award of qualified teacher status (both to be updated in September 2002) can be linked to the national curriculum, special educational needs, early learning goals and the national literacy and numeracy strategies in ways which enable you to achieve QTS and face up to the Office for Standards in Education with some confidence.

Certainly, you will find much ammunition here - and, usefully, this is often in the form of bullet points: lists of questions to ask through a literacy hour; sequences of progression in the use of maps and photographs and identifying areas of strength and weakness when analysing a history lesson.

Primary English; Teaching Theory and Practice is excellent. It deals exhaustively with the planning, teaching and assessment of reading, writing and speaking and listening across key stages 1 and 2. There are examples of practical tasks and of children’s work, descriptions of classroom situations and suggestions for responding to practical problems.

Literacy is developed across the curriculum and through play. Throughout, there are summaries of relevant research, references to inspection data and suggestions for further reading. This is a resource that should inspire teachers with the confidence to apply the guidance imaginatively in their own contexts.

It may be that because of the demands of the core subjects of the curriculum, initial teacher training can offer only short taster courses in the foundation subjects. In this case, Teaching Geography 3-11 and Teaching History 3-11 aim to fill the gap.

These books have sections on planning, classroom organisation, teaching approaches, assessment, recording and reporting on children’s progress. Sections are supported by examples from practice and have “reflective questions”, although the claim that they include the Foundation Stage is exaggerated.

Teaching Geography 3-11 achieves the aim of linking generic teaching skills to the skills process and concepts of geographical enquiry. For example, written feedback to a child on a description of a river journey acknowledges understanding of processes and features about which she has been learning. It then extends her concept of “estuary”. Advice on planning a visit has a geographical context, and suggestions for further reading include many references to specific literature.

Teaching History 3-11 is less successful in demonstrating subject knowledge. For example, it is not clear how the descriptive writing about Florence Nightingale or an example of a child’s evaluation of a history topic assesses the key elements of historical thinking. Much of the guidance is generic; suggestions for planning a visit, for instance, would apply to any visit. And in the lists of further reading, there are very few references to any recent literature on history education.

Henry Reed had to learn to survive as a soldier. But his verse concludes:

“Japonica Glistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardensAnd to-day we have naming of parts.”

In the end, teaching is a lot more than the naming of parts.

Hilary Cooper The reviewer is reader in education at St Martin’s College, Lancaster and author of ‘The Teaching of History in Primary Schools’ (David Fulton) and ‘History in the Early Years’ (Routledge).