Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book for me to enjoy and give my honest review.

"In teaching, the students you meet affect you in countless ways. Some frustrate you, irritate, even enrage, while others motivate and challenge; some amuse, some perplex, some unsettle. You'll find students like this in everyone of your classes, every year".

It is always a pleasure to read from the perspective of an hardworking, passionate Australian teacher. I know it maybe difficult for a teacher to write a "spill all" when there are so may issues and conflicts of interests. I could relate to Murray, teaching at his own high school at coastal hometown. Throughout the year we gain insight into his own school experience, as a teacher and a previous student at this public school. We greatly have the opportunity to hear the stories of students who come from a low socio-economic background ("Every child carries with them the invisible dictionary of their soci0-economic status"). The students are the real stars of this book. All stories were heartbreaking to me as someone who was a student at a school like "The School". I could see myself and my peers within the pages of this book.

I have recently read both of Gabbie Stroud's books - Teacher (5 Stars) and Dear Parents (2 Stars) . As a person who understands the education system, I found Stroud's debut memoir to be more relatable. Murray has a great voice, at times I felt though he was attempting to write from a view point of a stereotypical, teacher in a movie. Maybe it was the English teacher references, usually it is the English teacher in the movies who are the inspiring ones (excluding Dewey Finn).

One thing that really stood out to me was Murray's reflection about setting first year teachers up for success. I think any high school teacher, no matter experience, should take the opportunity to read this chapter about the politics of subject allotments. I also found his insight into standardised testing interesting and slightly differing from Stroud. I really loved this quote "The current problem, then, is not the data fixation itself but the prioritisation of quantitative over qualitive data".

‘So much student learning lies somewhere beyond the documented curriculum, floating outside and around it, often uncontained by the walls of the classroom.’


The teacher in me was eager to read this fellow educationalist's view of working in the classroom - and a classroom none other than in my home town! The School chronicles a year in his classroom, in a public school located in a somewhat disadvantaged beachside suburb. This book is very much a dedication to some extraordinary students Brendan has taught over his career.


‘You will find these pages cluttered with souls jostling for your attention. That is the reality of teaching.’



All up it is clearly a well written book with Brendan capturing the many aspects of working at the ‘coal face’ of the classroom. It is a real and accurate portrayal of the many confronting aspects of teaching in today’s world. It is more than just a straight twelve month tale in one classroom - Brendan revisits his own time at school, takes us to a child escaping their village in Africa, to an adolescent cancer ward.


‘It was a juggling act, as teaching always is. Grace needed one-to-one support, but the rest of the students in the class were just as deserving of my time. I would not let any of them become invisible. I would not let them drift into the land of ghosts.’


There is not a shadow of a doubt that Brenda is a caring person and an exceptional teacher. Who else but such a human being as this would walk side by side with the many injustices and inequalities that confront so many in our world. Personally, I find that school is often a student’s ‘safe place’ where they know once they walk through that gate, they are in an environment that cares and provides support. Brendan expertly captures the very much holistic nature of educating today’s young. From a Kenyan refugee, to cancer sufferer, determined sportsman to those suffering from the anxiety of their final year exams - Breandan considerately covers it all.


‘The current problem, then, is not the data fixation itself, but the prioritisation of quantitative over qualitative data.’


I applaud Brendan highlighting certain controversial aspects of today’s education system - students who ‘just’ miss out on funding and denied support; and its evolution into a bungling bureaucratic system obsessed with data and scores that fails to often see the individual sitting in each and every classroom. The teacher has so many boxes to tick, forms to complete and methods to trial that more often than not, many are slipping through the cracks.


‘Our work gave her a protective standard of literacy, but it was not the standard she deserved or what her parents’ tax dollars should have provided. Wherever she is now, I can only apologise on behalf of a system that let her down.’


Congratulations Brendan on giving such a heartfelt voice to the seemingly many faceless, some of whom become lost in our system. To truthfully portray the absorbing nature of our job when one cares about those under our tutelage and only wants what's best for them - to see them stand confidently in today’s world.


‘So what do I fear? I fear the heart going out of the teaching...’