This book supports primary teachers' early professional development and learning, tackling key questions and concerns that new teachers might face in their early careers, such as: How will I get through the first term? When will I feel like a "real" teacher? What can I expect from my first years in teaching? Drawing on the experiences of beginning primary teachers themselves, this is an authentic account of their crucial early teaching experiences, challenges and achievements. As well as providing a research-based context, the book is firmly grounded in the day-to-day practices of education professionals working with young people in schools, and offers valuable practical guidance for new teachers. By illustrating and exploring early experiences in teaching, this book helps primary teachers to understand their early professional development and learning. It also helps them to reflect on their own practice as well as that of others, offering a source of practical support throughout the important early years of their careers. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1, Early Experiences of Teaching, includes the first four chapters: (1) Getting Your First Job; (2) Surviving the First Term; (3) Looking Back Over the First Year; and (4) Early Career Development. Part 2, Key issues and Problems: Moving Beyond Survival, contains: (5) Planning and Preparation: Getting to Grips with the Primary Curriculum; (6) Teaching and Learning Issues: Relationships with Pupils; and (7) Professional Issues: Relationships with Adults. Part 3, Reflecting on Practice: Towards a Model of Professional Learning, presents: (8) Introducing the Model; (9) Understanding Yourself as a Teacher; and (10) Dropping Out and Staying In. Part 4, Looking Ahead, concludes the book with the final two chapters: (11) Career Development; and (12) The Changing Role of the Teacher.