Probation – a word I had always associated with the prison service rather than teaching. In my early naïvety I thought it rather derogatory to use this word to describe my first year as a teacher. A four-year university course was surely enough, I felt, to allow me to remove the learner label and to be fully qualified. But, as I gradually came to realise, the first year in full-time teaching was as much a learning process for me as it was for my pupils.

My training had consisted of a three-year Music and Education degree followed by a one-year PGCE course. I am not entirely certain that PGCE courses are the most effective means of training teachers, because their brevity limits the amount of time spent in schools. However, the system does allow the opportunity of more specialised study first, and I am grateful to have been able to do a teacher training course as well. The breadth of the PGCE studies confused me. At times I wondered whether the study of educational psychology and sociology would be better replaced by more down-to-earth advice on lesson preparation and the control of difficult classes. In retrospect I realise that virtually all the work was useful and, anyway, the music tutorials covered practical matters.