Reviewed: To Miss with Love - Katharine Birbalsingh

Had Katharine Birbalsingh not been thrust into the media spotlight as a result of her speech at a party political conference it is hard to gauge whether her book, “To Miss with Love” would have attracted as much attention and hype. This is not to say that it is not a good or easy read. It is.

Penned as a factually-based depiction of a London secondary schoolteacher’s school year, there is much within the semi-diary format that will resonate with anyone who has taught within a challenging social context, and not necessarily in London, despite the author’s view that the grass may be greener outside the city.

Snippets of exchanges between teachers and pupils or teachers and parents remind you of the often unexpected challenges and frustrations that pepper a school day or week -alongside the extraordinary commitment to education of those who work in schools, determined to raise aspirations and achievements, often giving of their own time voluntarily to extra-curricular activities, in addition to the demands of a time-constrained workload.

Working at Ordinary School, “Snuffy” records her thoughts, frustrations and delights across the year and particularly the challenge of ensuring that students meet their grades in GCSE examinations. This, against the background of a mismatch between teacher /student expectations and repeated comparisons between state and private education opens the debate about who is more concerned about outcomes, students or teachers. An underlying hankering for societal change and its view of education and particularly for the achievement of black students permeates. (This is curiously matched against her experiences from brief visits to schools in Jamaica and India – where she feels that learning is so much better).

In some ways this is a monochrome account of school life from an egotistical standpoint. You never really get to know the characters, fictional composites named in Buynanesqe style: Mr Goodheart, Ms Sensible, Ms Alternative, Ms Magical, Mr Cajole and Mr Hadenough alongside students with names such as Furious, Seething, Deranged, Cavalier, Stoic, Wholesome, Munchkin, Stoic and Beautiful.

If you expect to read the book with a particular political ideology you may end up feeling uncomfortable – because although the author holds strong views – they shift inconsistently across the pendulum of opinion. Indeed the flow of the “story” is often interrupted by this and no real conclusion is achieved at the end of the year. Whilst you become aware of the author’s frustrations with the current educational system, it is obvious that she loves teaching.

A recurrent theme for teachers, even and especially those who are successful and effective in their careers, is the level of anxiety and fear generated through Ofsted inspection, its ever-imminent arrival and the expectations required in preparation. Ofsted grades schools from 1 to 4. To be graded 3 is to be "satisfactory" and, as Hadenough remarks, "Only in teaching is 'satisfactory' unsatisfactory". The positive outcome at the end of the year comes almost as a unexpected surprise.

Threading its way through the diary are anecdotes about Snuffy’s relationship with her husband Liberal and the pressures they face meeting the demands of her job through the choices that she makes. We hear of the long hours, workload, pressure and stress that she experiences and he patiently endures. But these issues are not unique to teachers in inner city schools.

One is left wondering whether many of the staff at Ordinary School would have benefitted from the judicious use of an Employee Assistance Programme like Worklife Support for you. Exchanges between the author and colleagues repeatedly express anxiety about inspection, the frustrations of the long hours culture, time management, supporting colleagues through difficult times under pressure, the continual emotional drain of managing student behaviour and disaffected student attitudes. These run alongside the harsh messages about the realities of some schools – violent fights between pupils, theft of personal property, the bureaucracy around student exclusion and the oft-sensed perception of powerlessness.

An Employee Assistance Programme would offer so much to staff, offering objective support and guidance to help establish a feeling of control, to offer practical strategies and perhaps a different way of managing their own inner voices that seem to eat away at energy levels.

An EAP may not be able to change society but it could help increase capacity to manage the emotional impact of the school year. And at the end of this you have to remember that although this may have been drawn from one teacher’s experiences – it was after all, just a fictional story!