This essay briefly traces the history of secondary education, the development of its curriculum and of its teachers, and describes the consequences of these changes for teachers and teaching. This background material allows us to then focus on research concerning contemporary issues and policies in secondary teaching, including teacher quality, the sources of challenges to successful secondary school teaching, and some of the efforts to increase the effectiveness of schools and of teachers.
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Hammack, F.M., Grayson, D.M. (2009). Teaching at the Secondary Level. In: Saha, L.J., Dworkin, A.G. (eds) International Handbook of Research on Teachers and Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 21. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73317-3_53
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