“The Accidental Teacher” by Tim Heath

This honest and informative memoir of the education system in Aotearoa over fifty years is both inspiring and depressing. Inspiring to know that one man worked so hard to enable children to have a positive learning experience, and depressing to know that the current bureaucracy would most probably stifle similar idealism. Surely there is some hope with Kura Kaupapa Māori and Steiner schools. Much of Tim’s career was based in Auckland, and I appreciated the references to familiar places.

The book is a delight to read, with many amusing anecdotes, such as the octopus kiss. Tim states that his responsibility as a teacher is to find a way for every child to excel at something, and he laments how risk-averse, how boring our schools have had to become. He stresses the importance of waiting until a child is ready for whatever it is you want them to learn, including reading. His observation is that schools won’t work for many children, particularly those from non-Pakeha backgrounds, unless we change the structures and values of our schools. Tim says maths is always easier for children who know their times tables, reminding me of how I insisted my daughters learn these, although they were not then part of the curriculum. I discovered last week that primary school children are no longer being taught to write a cursive script, and I wonder how they will then have a distinctive signature. Perhaps all they will need is a strong password.

Tim champions mainstreaming, although he prefers to call it inclusion, saying the influence of other children will raise the expectations of everyone involved, including parents and children. I was interested in his recounting of time spent with the Correspondence School, as I was once enrolled there myself.

Tim is open and honest about both his personal and professional life, and his book would engage anyone who’s ever been at school in any capacity.

His ideas and ideals shine through
to change what happened hitherto