Hapless Teacher's Handbook, The

Description:
When Phil Ball left university with a workmanlike English degree to his name and no discernible ambitions, he wasn't entirely sure what to do next. So like many before him he thought he'd giving teaching a go. Why not? This is the comic story of one man's painfully slow metamorphosis into a teacher at an everyday comprehensive and his encounters with other remarkable teachers and pupils along the way. The good, the bad, the violent, the victimised and the clinically insane: from his first teaching practice nemesis, Alan Plant, who knows his dark secret, to the pupil who believes he is a reincarnation of the poet Andrew Marvell. It is a tale of the highs and lows of attempting to teach: from the joy of really making a difference to young minds to being physically set upon by a teenage horde. And that's just what happens in the classroom. Beyond it is the real world of teachers behind staff-room doors: desperate lives, unseemly professional competition, a diet of cigarettes, alcohol and cold coffee, casual sex and general social dysfunction. Not a great example, but the truth.

Author Biography:
Phil Ball has lived in San Sebastian in the Basque region of Spain since 1991 where he is still involved in education. He had previously earned a living teaching English in Oman, Peru and Hull. He has written for the Guardian, New York Times and Financial Times. His previous books include the William Hill long-listed and GQ Sports Book of the Year Morbo - The Story of Spanish Football. He is married with two children.