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Cargando... The Things That Matter Most (edición 2023)por Gabbie Stroud (Autor)
Información de la obraThe things that matter most por Gabbie Stroud
Ninguno Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro.  shelleyraec | Aug 29, 2023 |  sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
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The staff of St Margaret's Primary School are hanging by a thread. There's serious litigation pending, the school is due for registration and a powerful parent named Janet Bellevue has a lot to say about everything. As teachers they're trying to remain professional, as people they're fast unravelling. There's Tyson: first year out of Uni and nervous as hell, Derek the Assistant Principal who's dropped the ball on administration, Bev from the office who's confronting a serious diagnosis and Sally-Ann who's desperate for a child of her own. Thank goodness for kids like Lionel Merrick. Lionel is the student who steals your heart and makes the whole teaching gig worthwhile: he's cheerful, likeable and helpful - and devoted to his little sister Lacey. But Lionel has a secret of his own. As his future slides from vulnerable to dangerous, will someone from St Margaret's realise before it's too late? No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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3
From Gabbie Stroud, the author of Teacher and Dear Parent, nonfiction titles that address the current challenges of teaching within schools, comes her fiction debut, The Things That Matter Most.
A moving and thought provoking novel, The Things That Matter Most is set in a small primary school in country NSW. It’s a new school year for the staff of St Margaret's Primary, and there are professional and personal challenges ahead. With morale waning under the increased burdens of an administrative registration review, pending litigation from a disgruntled parent over fees, and a sensationalist media exposé, all while managing issues in their private lives, the staff begin to question their roles.
The Things That Matter Most illustrates the issues in the education field that Stroud raises in her nonfiction books including, teachers overwhelmed by administrative paperwork, the ‘consumer’ expectations of parents, the reductive notion of statistics, and the commodification of caring. These valid concerns, among others, are shown in context, as the staff of St Margaret’s struggle to reconcile the demands made on them. Though my time teaching within the Education Department was brief and some time ago, I have had at least one child in public school continuously for the last 23 years (my eldest graduated in 2013 while my youngest graduates this year) so I’ve been witness to the increasing pressure teachers have come under, and empathise.
The story unfolds from the perspectives of Assistant Principal and teacher Derek; Tyson, a new graduate teacher; Year One teacher Sally-Ann; and Bev, the indispensable, if irascible, ‘office lady’. Fairly typical representatives of the profession- passionate, dedicated, overworked and undervalued; they are believable, well-rounded characters whom I had compassion for. I felt the extent of their personal drama’s were perhaps unnecessary additions to the plot though, pulling focus from the main theme.
The key character in The Things That Matter Most is a student, Lionel, an eager, charming 12 year old boy with a secret who reminds us what matters most.
Insightful, poignant and instructive, The Things That Matter Most is an important and powerful read. (