The author explains the state of the primary school in the UK. Although I think it could be applied to the American school system as well. The overall tone of the book was to look at how things have changed. Where teachers used to be able to structure their lessons to get across the basics while still providing an interesting manner of doing it. I remember growing up, I had an English teacher who structured her class around Greek Mythology. Another English teacher around Native American history. A social studies teacher who had us read the newspaper for the first half of class, then pick out an article to discuss. And guess what! We all learned to read, to write, to be socially accepted, and to top it all off, we learned things that I still remember today (making for a great trivia player). And we somehow all managed to pass the annual "Iowa Basics" tests.! Kent explains that today, the actual teaching journey has been taken over by a plethora of administrators, who insist on teaching to "the test". Good results on the test correlate with more money for the school. I look at the schools today, and their are as many administrators, assistant administrators, curriculum specialists and counselors as there are old school classroom teachers. And they all band together to justify their positions by drowning the teachers in paperwork, documentation, and busy body work. Yet the test scores just keep going down!
While I agree that there should be oversight to make sure the children are being instructed well, this current trend has to stop. The effects on teachers and students are so negative, no wonder students drop out and teachers find other work.
Kent has a, to me, unusual way of writing. Maybe, to me, it just doesn't transfer over to "American" English. He does have a wicked sense of humor though. I would like to sit at a pub with a pint of beer and listen to his stories!

Mark Kent has written a lot about schools & the education system. In this book he gives a tour through education in the last fifty years. This was of interest to me as it covered most of my teaching career. Way back in the mists of time you had your class, you knew what you wanted them to learn, you tried to make the path there as interesting as possible, whilst at the same time expecting that at times everyone just has to go over & over things- like tables & spelling. Teachers were trusted to do the best they could for their pupils & although there were some bad apples on the whole children came out of primary school with the basic skills they may need . But how do we know that ? said the politicians. Enter inspectors, endless form filling , testing, children dreading SATS (along with their teachers) OFSTED resulting in a caring capable head taking her own life. I respect that we need to have certain standards but if those standards do not contribute anything to a child's development & well being, what is it all for?

I found this book at times entertaining but also very sad. It isn't just schools, it seems everywhere seems to have 'targets' even when those targets are impossible- like a school that did not have enough racial diversity. It was a small country school, everyone knew everyone else! Mike Kent writes very well and he is obviously a Head who looks out for everyone in his school. We need more like him. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book (sorry about the personal gripes!)

I appreciated Kent’s anecdotes and experience, and his points about the education system, OFSTED were informative.
His true passion for education, learning, teaching and care are evident.

Sensible, logical and amusing diatribe while showcasing Kent's passion and love for education.

I trained as a teacher in 2002. I read the TES religiously every week, it felt like an essential part of my training, and I read Mike Kent's articles and letters then, and still recognise his name even two decades later, having been unable to 'stick it' in teaching, but still managing to maintain a focus on books, children and learning ever after.

I saw Kent's book and couldn't help but read this, his multiple decades at the chalkface and supporting others who are worth a great deal.

What I read was both inspiring and deeply upsetting, it was unusual to see the last fifty years of changes in education policy and practiced conveyed in one volume like this, and made for instructive reading.

Kent talks about his own experiences in school and with supportive parents, his own errors and good luck in schooling, at then through the decades as he moved into a teaching career and the successive government policies and change in attitudes that the years since have wrought. And how society has reacted.

Behaviour, testing, OFSTED, technology, all of it is covered. And while Kent wryly comments on the 'sucking eggs' situations, it's hard not to feel frustrated and angry on the part of schools, who have had to side step and change direction on a moment's notice and with little thanks.

There's a small amount of repetition, and this is quite a long work, but it doesn't feel preachy and is never anything less than a revealing read that displays the love for education Kent and others like him working tirelessly for our children.

This is for anyone interested in what teachers experience and the history of school policy in the UK.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

A rather mixed review from me; I really enjoyed the way that Kent writes and his anecdotes are engaging. Having looked at his other available works, I will probably search out the more anecdote based ones (which seems to have many glowing reviews) as these parts of the book are interesting, entertaining and informative to read. However, I feel that many of the points he discusses in this book about the current educational climate have varying points of validity but unfortunately, those nearer the beginning of the book seem to fall back to 'It isn't how I did it in my day'. Kent is right in that there is almost definitely too much paperwork and mindless pen pushing in education, but there seems to be a lack of consideration for the external factors of the world we live in now which make some of these changes, however unfortunate, necessary. The chapters often start with a stringent observation about how something had been introduced hastily, or at an extreme cost by the DfE or LEA, which can often be the case. Sometimes he then goes on to belittle the reasoning behind it...even when he seemed to suggest that there probably was that problem in education. In some chapters I found this an astute view, but in others the tone bordered on judgemental. He sounds to have been an inspirational headteacher and to have found an excellent balance for ensuring his staff were happy too, but this isn't the case for every head and that's probably why we find ourselves in our current educational climate.

I'm unsure who the target audience for this book is, as a teacher I find most of it interesting - particularly reflecting on the bits about education from times where I was a pupil, not a teacher however there is then quite aarge section that is in direct conflict to what I've experienced in the past 11 years I've been a qualified teacher. I'm not naive enough to think that my experience is the only one but nor do I think it is the only right one and, at points in this book, that's what comes across...that there is only one right way to do things. Reading this book as a parent, there are fundamentals I absolutely agree with - supporting schools, the.implrtmsce of music and creativity in the younger years for example - but there has been a cultural shift in how we parent and that doesn't mean it's a bad one, but there's much more understanding of how our relationships form our latter years. Also, as a slight side note judging a mum for having a phone in her hand and a baby in the pram is uncalled for... That's a snapshot of a moment, as Kent says Ofsted inspections are unfair for being so short how can they be a true reflection of a school - let's consider that for that moment about the mum he mentions too!

There's no denying Kent's passion and he definitely has wisdom to impart. It's a thought provoking read and has made me very happy to be working at the school I currently work at and knowing the education and experiences that we provide for our students.

I related to a lot of content in this book. Even though I teach older children and I do not teach in the UK, much of Mike Kent’s writing will resonate with any educator or school administrator. I liked that each chapter was organized around a topic. The book offers genuinely good advice about how to make school engaging and effective for children and staff; this is not surprising given Kent’s many years of experience.

Though the book was sometimes less amusing and more severe than I expected, perhaps my sense of humor is just different than most Brits’. I also felt the book could have been more concise. Overall though, Kent’s work will have school employees nodding along in agreement - perhaps laughing so we don’t cry - about the state of education. At its heart, this book recognizes the value of children as unique and curious learners who deserve the best that teachers and leaders can offer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Troubador for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions.