Education books for teacher training date when policy moves. The University of Reading's page for its 2026/27 secondary PGCE still links the ITT core content framework, which the Department for Education replaced in September 2025. A York module sets the third edition of a special needs textbook whose fourth, its publisher says, added links to the new Green Paper and the latest Code of Practice.
EdCitation publishes this guide. It draws on York's BA Education modules, Reading's PGCE documents and Southern Utah University's Fall 2026 teacher education syllabi, read on 23 September 2026, and shows how to choose an edition, cite it with EdCitation's Cite a source, and find the books together in the Library.
What do trainee teachers and education students read?
Trainee teachers and education students read fewer textbooks than most subjects and more official documents, as the three programmes below show.
York: a degree about education
York's BA Education is not a teaching qualification, though many graduates train to teach (University of York, n.d.). Researching Education sets Cohen's Research Methods in Education in its 2011 seventh edition (University of York, 2026c). Key Concepts in Education sets How Learning Works and Diane Reay's Miseducation (University of York, 2026a); Psychological Perspectives on Education sets Cline and colleagues' Educational Psychology (University of York, 2026b); the special needs option sets Alan Hodkinson's textbook (University of York, 2026e).
Reading: the documents beside the books
Reading's 2026/27 secondary PGCE page suggests trainees get to know the Teachers' Standards, the national curriculum for their subject, the core content framework and the SEND Code of Practice (University of Reading, 2026b). The history document then recommends Haydn and Stephen's Learning to Teach History in the Secondary School, noting that the fifth edition is the latest, and calls Chris Husbands's What is History Teaching? "the seminal book of history teaching" (University of Reading, 2026a).
Southern Utah: articles and standards instead of textbooks
Sixteen of the 20 undergraduate education, elementary and secondary syllabi we read set no textbook. The curriculum course has students align learning intentions to the Utah Core Standards (Southern Utah University, 2026a). Schools, Society, and Diversity reads classics online: Gloria Ladson-Billings on culturally relevant pedagogy, Luis Moll and colleagues on funds of knowledge, Rudine Sims Bishop on mirrors and windows (Southern Utah University, 2026b). Special education is different: all eight syllabi we read set a book, such as Gargiulo and Metcalf's Teaching in Today's Inclusive Classrooms (Southern Utah University, 2026g).
Which education books and documents do students need, kind by kind?
Education students need five kinds of book and three kinds of document.
| Kind of source | York or Reading, 2026/27 | Southern Utah, Fall 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Theory and classic texts | Mills, The Sociological Imagination; Reay, Miseducation; Husbands | Ladson-Billings; Moll and colleagues; Sims Bishop |
| Subject teaching | Haydn and Stephen, 5th ed. | Methods courses set no textbook |
| Educational psychology and development | Cline and colleagues, 2nd ed., 2015 | Educational Psychology sets none |
| Behaviour and inclusion | Hodkinson, 3rd ed., 2019 | Gargiulo and Metcalf, 4th ed.; Breaux and Whitaker, Seven Simple Secrets, 2nd ed. |
| Research methods | Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 7th ed., 2011 | Glenn and colleagues, Action Research for the Classroom, 2023 |
| Curriculum and standards | National curriculum; Teachers' Standards | Utah Core Standards |
| Frameworks and policy | Core content framework; SEND Code of Practice | Utah's behaviour manual, 2023 edition |
| Research summaries | None listed; England's training framework cites the EEF | None listed |
| Every title, together | EdCitation's Library | Each reference from Cite a source |
Also drawn on: York's social perspectives module (University of York, 2026d) and Southern Utah's other syllabi (Southern Utah University, 2026c, 2026d, 2026e, 2026f, 2026h).
Which documents do trainee teachers cite besides books?
Trainee teachers in England work with the national curriculum, the Teachers' Standards, the training and inspection frameworks, the SEND Code of Practice and the Education Endowment Foundation's reports. Each is dated, and three changed in 2025.
England's documents, and when each last changed
- National curriculum: last updated on 2 December 2014; the government aims to publish a revised one by spring 2027, for first teaching from September 2028 (Department for Education, 2025).
- Teachers' Standards: dated July 2011, with a terminology update in December 2021 (Department for Education, 2021).
- Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework: published in January 2024, it combines and replaces the core content framework and the early career framework from September 2025 (Department for Education, 2024).
- Ofsted's education inspection framework: a renewed framework replaced the one in use since 2019 from November 2025 (Ofsted, 2026).
- SEND Code of Practice, 0 to 25 years: the January 2015 revision, issued with the Department of Health and Social Care (Department for Education & Department of Health and Social Care, 2015).
Research summaries: the EEF
The training framework says its content was "independently assessed and endorsed" by the Education Endowment Foundation, and its evidence lists cite EEF publications more than 20 times (Department for Education, 2024). EEF guidance reports have editions: the second edition of Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning came out on 13 November 2025 (Education Endowment Foundation, 2025).
Which edition of an education textbook should I use?
Buy or borrow the edition on your module list, unless a newer one covers policy you are assessed on; then ask the module lead. Three books York names have newer editions than the list.
| Book | On the list | Newest edition | What changed, per the publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cohen, Manion and Morrison, Research Methods in Education | 7th, 2011 (York) | 8th, copyright 2018 | Mixed methods, internet research ethics, effect size and power |
| Hodkinson, Key Issues in Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion | 3rd, 2019 (York) | 4th, December 2023 | Links to "the new Green Paper", the latest Code of Practice and legislation |
| Cline, Gulliford and Birch (eds), Educational Psychology | 2nd, 2015 (York) | 3rd, copyright 2024 | A new chapter on educational psychologists' work with schools on mental health |
| Sadovnik and Coughlan (eds), Sociology of Education: A Critical Reader | 3rd, dated 2015 (Southern Utah) | 3rd, copyright 2016 | Nine new readings and a new part on policy and reform |
Sources: Cohen et al. (2018), Hodkinson (2023), Cline et al. (2024), Sadovnik and Coughlan (2016). Haydn and Stephen's fifth edition carries copyright 2022 (Haydn & Stephen, 2022).
Why policy dates an education book
A special needs textbook describes the Code of Practice and law of its year, hence the Green Paper among Hodkinson's changes. Policy is still moving: the training framework "now features significantly more content on adaptive teaching and SEND", with a full review planned for 2027 (Department for Education, 2025).
Finding the edition a list names, by ISBN
- Copy the list entry exactly, with any ISBN. Southern Utah's syllabi give them; York's mostly do not.
- Search the ISBN or title in EdCitation's Library, which sets its editions side by side with years and publishers.
- With no ISBN, match year and publisher to a record and take its ISBN.
- Check the publisher's page for anything newer, and ask before switching.
- Put the ISBN or DOI into Cite a source; check the entry against the copyright page.
- Keep the book in My Books until you have a copy.
An ISBN names one format of one edition: Southern Utah's research syllabus gives three for one 2023 book (Southern Utah University, 2026d), all one reference, since APA cites print and ebooks alike (American Psychological Association, 2020a).
How do I cite an education textbook, policy document or EEF report?
In APA 7, a textbook reference gives the authors or editors, the copyright year, the italic title in sentence case, the edition in brackets, the publisher and any DOI; the city is left out (American Psychological Association, 2020a). A government document goes under the department, with its report number in brackets after the title (American Psychological Association, 2020b).
APA 7 or Harvard?
Mostly APA 7. York's library lists APA for Education (University of York Library, 2026), Reading's Institute of Education specifies APA 7th edition (University of Reading Library, 2026), and Southern Utah's research course requires APA 7 (Southern Utah University, 2026d). Teesside uses Harvard as Cite Them Right sets it out (Teesside University Library, 2026). Your handbook decides.
What Cite a source returned, and what to change
EdCitation's Cite a source, free with no account, looks each book up in the record instead of writing the entry. Three of our runs:
| Went in | What came back in APA 7 | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| ISBN 9780367183363 | Haydn, T., & Stephen, A. (2021). Learning to Teach History in the Secondary School. Taylor & Francis Group. | Sentence case; add the subtitle and "(5th ed.)"; Routledge, 2022, per its page |
| ISBN 9781529630305 | Hodkinson, A. (2023). Key Issues in Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion. SAGE Publications. | Sentence case, "(4th ed.)"; released December 2023, so check the copyright page |
| DOI 10.4324/9781315456539 | Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research Methods in Education (8th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315456539 | Sentence case; Crossref says 2017, Routledge 2018: the copyright page decides |
The authors were right each time, and so was Cohen's DOI. For Sadovnik and Coughlan's reader the record did not answer on repeated tries: that means "could not be checked", never "not found".
A policy document: the Teachers' Standards
From the GOV.UK address, Cite a source returned:
Department for Education. (2011, July 1). Teachers’ standards. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards
That is when the page first appeared. The page records an update on 13 December 2021 that changed the document, and APA uses an update date that belongs to the content cited (American Psychological Association, 2026). With the full title and reference number:
Department for Education. (2021). Teachers' standards: Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies (DFE-00066-2011). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards
The SEND Code's page was updated in 2024 only to add a link, so it keeps 2015. For the national curriculum page Cite a source returned 11 September 2013; use 2 December 2014, when key stage 4 science was added.
A research summary: an EEF guidance report
Given the EEF's address, Cite a source answered: "That page could not be read. Some sites block automated readers." It wrote nothing rather than guess. From the report:
Education Endowment Foundation. (2025). Metacognition and self-regulated learning: Guidance report (2nd ed.). https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/metacognition
It names no individual authors, so the foundation is the author and is not repeated as publisher.
The same sources in Harvard
In Harvard, Cite a source follows Cite Them Right's 12th edition and wrote Cohen's edition as "8th edn."; Westminster's 13th-edition guide writes ", 8th ed." instead. For the standards it gave the page with no site name, as Westminster's web page example has none (University of Westminster, 2026); with the full title and the 2021 date:
Department for Education (2021) Teachers' standards: guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards (Accessed: 23 September 2026).
More in the Harvard referencing guide.
Copy from the title page, not the list
York's module spells an editor "Guillford"; Routledge gives Anthea Gulliford. Southern Utah lists the sociology reader under Sadovnik alone, dated 2015, where Routledge names two editors, so it needs "(Eds.)". Two syllabi date Seven Simple Secrets 2014 and 2015 (Southern Utah University, 2026e, 2026f). The behaviour course calls Utah's manual the "2023rd ed."; its cover reads 2023 Edition (Utah State Board of Education, 2023). More: citing a book or ebook and citing a textbook chapter.
Where can I find education books in one place?
In EdCitation's Library, the best place to gather an education reading list, because the list is scattered: York's five modules read here name books from at least ten publishers. The Library gathers them into a single catalogue: look a book up by title, author, subject or ISBN, then filter by discipline, kind of book, language and year. Education is one of its 31 disciplines.
What the searches found
Cohen's Research Methods in Education returned York's 2011 edition beside the 2007 and 2000 ones. Hodkinson returned York's 2019 third edition and a 2009 edition written with Philip Vickerman. Sadovnik's reader returned four records, 2006 to 2015. The newest Cohen and Hodkinson editions did not come up; for those, use the ISBN and the publisher's page.
A result gives the cover, the authors, the publisher and the year. The same card offers four moves: buy it if it is a paid book, see which libraries nearby have it, save it to My Books, or cite it at once. Max opens the largest part: over 5 million books, gathered by EdCitation for students and readers, to read in your dashboard or borrow, all in one place.
What it costs, and the tools either side
The catalogue, My Books, buying and finding a copy nearby need only an EdCitation account. Reading and borrowing need Max, which costs $24 a month ($216 if paid for a year) and also brings Theoretics QA (Pricing). For journal articles, Find sources covers about 300 million published works; search by topic, or by the claim one of your sentences has to support. For the finished list, Verify references, free with no account, checks every entry against the record and flags retractions. Other discipline guides: psychology, nursing, medicine, engineering, computer science, business, economics, law and history.
Quick questions
What should I read before starting a PGCE?
What your provider suggests. Reading's 2026/27 secondary PGCE points to the Teachers' Standards, your subject's national curriculum and the SEND Code of Practice.
Which referencing style do education students use?
Usually APA 7, as at York, Reading and Southern Utah. Teesside uses Harvard, so check your handbook.
How do I cite the Teachers' Standards in APA 7?
Department for Education. (2021). Teachers' standards: Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies (DFE-00066-2011), then the GOV.UK address.
Can I still cite the ITT core content framework?
Not for current requirements. From September 2025 the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework combines and replaces it.
Where can I find education books in one place?
EdCitation's Library holds them in a single catalogue you can filter by discipline. Save them to My Books; Max adds over 5 million books you can read or borrow.
References
- American Psychological Association. (2020a). Book/ebook references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references
- American Psychological Association. (2020b). Report by a government agency references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/report-government-agency-references
- American Psychological Association. (2026). Webpage on a website references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/webpage-website-references
- Cline, T., Gulliford, A., & Birch, S. (Eds.). (2024). Educational psychology (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Educational-Psychology/Cline-Gulliford-Birch/p/book/9780367339142
- Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315456539
- Department for Education. (2021). Teachers' standards: Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies (DFE-00066-2011). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards
- Department for Education. (2024). Initial teacher training and early career framework. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-and-early-career-framework
- Department for Education. (2025). Government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report-government-response
- Department for Education & Department of Health and Social Care. (2015). Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years (DFE-00205-2013). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
- Education Endowment Foundation. (2025). Metacognition and self-regulated learning: Guidance report (2nd ed.). https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/metacognition
- Haydn, T., & Stephen, A. (2022). Learning to teach history in the secondary school: A companion to school experience (5th ed.). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Learning-to-Teach-History-in-the-Secondary-School-A-Companion-to-School-Experience/Haydn-Stephen/p/book/9780367183363
- Hodkinson, A. (2023). Key issues in special educational needs, disability and inclusion (4th ed.). Sage. https://www.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/key-issues-in-special-educational-needs-disability-and-inclusion/book286519
- Ofsted. (2026, September 18). Education inspection framework (EIF). GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspection-framework-eif
- Sadovnik, A. R., & Coughlan, R. (Eds.). (2016). Sociology of education: A critical reader (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Sociology-of-Education-A-Critical-Reader/Sadovnik-Coughlan/p/book/9781138843004
- Southern Utah University. (2026a). EDUC 2100-01: Principles of curriculum and instruction [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/EDUC-2100-01/
- Southern Utah University. (2026b). EDUC 2400-30I: Schools, society, and diversity [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/EDUC-2400-30I/
- Southern Utah University. (2026c). EDUC 4600-30I: Sociology of education [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/EDUC-4600-30I/
- Southern Utah University. (2026d). EDUC 6030-70I: Principles of practitioner research [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/EDUC-6030-70I/
- Southern Utah University. (2026e). ELED 3570-01: Motivation and the management of diverse instructional environments [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/ELED-3570-01/
- Southern Utah University. (2026f). SCED 3570-01: Secondary classroom management [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/SCED-3570-01/
- Southern Utah University. (2026g). SPED 2010-01: Educating exceptional students [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/SPED-2010-01/
- Southern Utah University. (2026h). SPED 4120-01: Creating and managing behavior in the learning environments [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/SPED-4120-01/
- Teesside University Library. (2026). How to reference: Education and teaching. https://libguides.tees.ac.uk/education/referencing
- University of Reading. (2026a). ITE pre-programme information: Secondary history [Word document]. https://www.reading.ac.uk/education/-/media/project/uor-main/schools-departments/education/documents/offer-holders/secondary-pg-ite-26-27/ite-secondary-history.docx
- University of Reading. (2026b). Secondary PGCE: Welcome and information for offer holders. https://www.reading.ac.uk/education/offer-holders-pgce-secondary
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- University of Westminster. (2026). Harvard referencing: Cite Them Right 13th edition. https://libguides.westminster.ac.uk/referencing/harvard
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- Utah State Board of Education. (2023). Least restrictive behavioral interventions (LRBI): A school-based behavior guide for educators, administrators, and families (2023 ed.). https://schools.utah.gov/schoolsafetyandstudentservices/pdfs/LRBITEchnicalManual2023.pdf