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On the Edge by Charlie Carroll

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'I cannot count how many times I have been told to f*** off by a pupil.'Charlie Carroll is a successful young teacher in a great school. He loves his job but wants to see the tougher side of British education.So he hands in his notice, takes to the road in a beat-up old camper van and spends a year travelling round England's most deprived areas supply teaching in dozens of the country's roughest comprehensives.Carroll is battered and bewildered by what he finds; pupils threaten to abuse him, deal drugs, flash knives, surf the internet for porn and fight in class. Often, lessons are more about riot control than learning.He's almost broken by the experience, but just occasionally - in the most surprising of places - he comes across inspiring kids who are battling against the odds.This is his frank, funny and frightening story of a journey to the edge of modern education.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

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About the author

Charlie Carroll

4 books16 followers
Charlie Carroll grew up in a small Cornish village. He left to study English and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham and, despite going on to live and travel in various countries around the world, always found himself returning to Cornwall. He is the author of one novel, The Lip (2021), and three non-fiction books: The Friendship Highway (2014), No Fixed Abode (2013) and On the Edge (2010). He has twice won the K Blundell Trust Award for 'writers under 40 who aim to raise social awareness with their writing', wrote the voice-over for the TV series Transamazonica (2017), and is one of the Kindness of Strangers storytellers.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Lisa Martin.
59 reviews1 follower
March 26, 2012
I read this after a friend posted her review on here. Like her, I found the book extremely interesting. I felt it was more than a little on the self-indulgent side, but sometimes a person has to be self-indulgent in order to do something worth writing about.

I told some of the kids I teach the premise of the book today - about how a teacher got bored and decided to work as a supply teacher in a succession of tough inner-city schools. The responses were split between "why on earth would anyone want to do that?" and "you don't need to do that Miss - you teach us!" I have to say it has made me even more profoundly grateful than I usually am that I work in a wonderful, supportive department in a school where the teachers (on the whole) care about the kids and support each other.

Earlier I had a very difficult group of Year 9s, who, unusually, it has to be said, squirreled away peacefully all lesson. At the end of the lesson I said "tuck your chairs under before you go, guys, see you tomomrrow!" They all tucked their chairs under, and left with a cheery "Bye Miss!" This is not because I am some kind of teacher god. It's because kids need stability and people who they know care about them. Some of the schools Mr Carroll visited had a succession of supply teachers. Teaching is all about investment in a relationship with kids. They all, and especially the damaged ones, know when this investment is shallow, and the relationship is meaningless. So many schools, for whatever reason, are not able to recruit and retain staff who are interested in building these relationships for learning, and this is very sad, and so, so worrying.

8 reviews
March 25, 2012
A gripping read, with one earnest young teacher's mission to explore some of the most challenging schools. It is a journey which sees him embark upon an interesting expedition as a supply teacher, with one remit - to see the most difficult schools in the most notorious of locations. He has some shocking tales to tell but also some heart warming ones and I admired both his tenacity and his sense of adventure. It is an eye-opener to discover how teachers are treated at some of the country's toughest schools and also utterly tragic to think about the level of deprivation that blights the lives of some young people. For me, though, I think the grimmest part of Carroll's journey (Carroll is obviously a nom de plume) was the camper van itself, with its mouldy curtains, ice on the inside of the windows and a lack of clean running water. For that alone I take my hat off to Mr Carroll: good job, Sir!
Profile Image for Stephen Bigger.
106 reviews2 followers
October 22, 2017
Interesting account of a teachers travelling the country to teach in challenging schools - brave man
Profile Image for L.I.T. Tarassenko.
Author 5 books10 followers
November 2, 2021
This was a great read. As someone who has taught in both the state and independent sectors, in both permanent jobs and as a supply teacher, I identified with a lot. It made me realise/remember again just how tough and horrendous the state sector can be (especially one particularly disgusting and horrible anecdote near the end of the book). For a while the author looks like he has a chip on his shoulder about the independent sector, but then he admits this is because he is jealous of it. The other axes he had to grind I mostly shared. Fair play, and much respect to him, for going on this crazy adventure and for documenting it so compellingly in this book.
Profile Image for Mick Meyers.
598 reviews2 followers
December 29, 2018
An unsettling foray into the the dark side of education spotlighting those that don't usually have a voice teachers and children.
115 reviews1 follower
October 2, 2021
Having taught in 'challenging schools' for over 20 years, this looked interesting, even if a decade old. Kids don't change. Unfortunately, I don't believe a word of it. Whatever experiences the author may have had, they have been magnified to the extreme. He is a typical middle-class type 'slumming it'. The air of condescension extends to his grandmother who eats tripe sandwiches and reads the Daily Star. He omits a mention of whippets. To compound it all, he's a believer in excluding kids, the type who happily justifies washing his hands of anyone who is difficult. As right wing fiction it just confirms prejudices. As an exploration of schools it belongs on a shelf with Bunter.
Profile Image for Jenni.
64 reviews
December 9, 2014
I have an embarrassing secret, I absolutely love 'reality TV' books, you know the ones, following the life of people doing everyday jobs. They are often trashy and written by cynics disenchanted with their careers but they are the perfect book when you don't want a long detailed plot, just something to read. Monday Books seems to be the preferred publisher of this genre, and I have read most of their books in one form or another.

On The Edge: One teacher, a camper van, Britain's toughest schools appealed to me right from the start, having taught in secondary schools myself and follows the journey of Charlie Carroll, a supply teacher, through a journal style look at his year travelling around teaching in the countries 'toughest' schools. The narrative is well written and you soon feel that your there in the author's freezing cold camper van or in the classroom where the pupils simply don't care. However it lacked the humour of previous books in the genre and only briefly confronted the reasons behind poor behaviour and under achievement in schools. The events recalled in the book are not as shocking as the title might first suggest, and generally it just shows how life really is for supply teachers in comprehensive schools up and down the country. There are some wonderful moments when Mr Carroll connects with the pupils which is heartening to read. It is a must for anyone considering either teaching or supply teaching in the UK to get away from the 'rose tinted' view given during recruitment.

Overall, not what I was expected but a great read and true to life.

[Cross-posted from tomesofthesoul.blogspot.com]
Profile Image for Sandra "Jeanz".
1,253 reviews178 followers
August 3, 2011
This book was about a guy who handed his notice in at a perfectly good school and job to go off in a camper van as a substitute teacher. He covers all different areas of the UK. He signs on with an agency and actually asks to work in the problem schools.
The book covers the funny, the sad, the scary and stupid in our schools....and then it covers stories about the kids too and how they interact with substitute teachers.
It was okay though I think I spoiled it somewhat for myself by reading it so close after the Frank Chalk title.
its a well written diary of the schools, the teachers, and the children good and bad.
Profile Image for Aaron Jacob Jones.
2 reviews4 followers
October 12, 2013
Eye opening and gritty account of a year working as a supply teacher in some shockingly bad schools. Makes you fear for the future and realise that is something doesn't change, many of the next generation will be doomed.
Profile Image for Paul Kane.
5 reviews4 followers
June 19, 2012
Some of the anecdotes are interesting. The travel writing is dull and the opinions limited and predictable.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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