Why Teach?

by Ben Newmark

At the start of his career, Ben Newmark assumed that all the things he was told to do, from how to teach to how to record the progress of pupils, were well planned and necessary. Sometimes things didn't feel right and seemed bizarre but, for first couple of years of his career, he assumed this was because he was not skilled, knowledgeable or experienced enough to understand the rationale. But he couldn't keep this up forever. So he began to ask questions. And then he asked more. And the more he learned, the more confused he became. To his horror it became clear that there wasn't a masterplan. Instead, education was a world full of contradictory thinking, bad planning and unintended consequences. Each chapter of this book tries to answer one of the questions he struggled with, trying to explain the reasons for the oddness and then giving some advice on how schools and individual teachers might manage it. And it is possible to do better than manage it. For all its frustrating weirdness, there isn't another job in the world he'd rather do. When finally he has to retire, he will be begging his closest school to teach two or three classes a week. Including chapters such Why are there so many spreadsheets in schools?; Why doesn't my school behaviour system work?; Why is teaching making me so unhealthy?; and Why won't my pupils work hard?

120 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2019

Reviews

[Matthew Benyohai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots to agree with here but the book should potentially have had a subtitle of 'in disadvantaged schools'. This isn't necessarily a criticism, but the author often directly translates their experiences from disadvantaged to advantaged schools incorrectly.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and a welcome antidote to utilitarian or consequentialist arguments for teaching.

We teach because we must pass on the baton of "the best that has vee thought and said" because it is every child's birthright. Uplifting stuff.