REVIEW: Learning the Rules by Tom Matheson
Falling in love wasn’t in the plan.
Mike Beckett has a plan.
Well… he had one.
Once a freelance writer with a steady girlfriend and a comfortable (if unreliable) Ford Fiesta, Mike suddenly finds himself jobless, single, and desperate for a fresh start. So, he dives into teaching: a year of training, a regular income, and maybe, just maybe, a chance to rewrite his life.
What he doesn’t expect is that secondary school will feel like an alien planet.
Welcome to High Stow, where the Headteacher, Mr Palmer, runs the place as if he’s selling vacuum cleaners instead of shaping young minds, and the English department has become Mike’s accidental family. There’s Mrs Nolan, the battle-hardened leader who’s allergic to nonsense; Mr Grace, whose love of sci-fi outshines his love of marking; Mrs Rogers, the mentor who somehow performs real magic every time she steps into a classroom; and Ms Bright, sharp-witted, green-eyed, and absolutely off-limits… or so Mike keeps telling himself.
Then there’s Mitchell: foul-mouthed, furious at the world, and one skipped lesson away from expulsion. Reaching him might be impossible. But giving up on him feels worse.
As Ofsted inspections loom, lessons unravel, and disastrous dates try to be forgotten, Mike must battle his own awkwardness, the politics of school life, and the quiet fear that he’s in way over his head. Somewhere amidst spilled wine, school trips, and a guitar performance he didn’t mean to agree to, he begins learning the real rules of teaching, of love, and of starting over.
Because sometimes the biggest victories aren’t grades or promotions, they’re the people who believe in you before you believe in yourself.
Dear Mr. Matheson,
I was intrigued by the blurb featuring a male teaching trainee. Both my parents were, briefly, teachers and there is another teacher in the family now. No, I was never tempted. After finishing it, there are definite differences I noticed between US and English schools – some of which I need to read a bit more about – but there are so many similarities that it did take me back. As some bystander characters tell the teachers in the story, I could never do that.
Mike Beckett (that’s with two tt’s, he just can’t stop himself from saying this) is having a bad day. His girlfriend has broken things off and trying to patch together enough freelance writing work to pay the bills is getting harder and harder. So he takes a leap in a new direction and applies to become a trainee teacher. He’ll be paid for the year while he’s learning and with more steady income, perhaps he can replace the old (it’s past even vintage stage now) car he has that needs fiddling with to get it started. At least he doesn’t have to worry about it being stolen.
He discovers that teaching secondary students how to parse meaning from Shakespeare and Shelley and to prepare for their GCSEs can be terrifying, frustrating, and satisfying. While learning the behind the scenes staff tips – how to survive supervising the year nine end of school trip or escape a meeting with “difficult” parents and his Headteacher – can make or break him. But figuring out whether or not he has a chance at a relationship with a fellow teacher who keeps her private life close to her vest will be the hardest thing he faces all year.
I had as much fun learning more about English state schools as I did watching Mike learn his way around them from the teaching side. Exams, tests, and mostly the (gasp) Ofsted visits were nerve wracking to read about much less endure. There’s always some government body coming around to poke its nose in your business. It did take me a while to get used to teachers using each other’s last names rather than given ones and to the students calling “Sir” or “Miss.”
Mike soon discovers the “problem child” of year eleven but something about the acting out done by Mitchell makes Mike want to keep working with the boy whose parents are both ghastly and loudly combative. Mitchell doesn’t suddenly turn an academic or behavioral corner nor does Mike become the Teacher Hero but I was glued to reading about their encounters, their standoffs, their tiny breakthrough moments and eagerly waited to see how Mitchell would do on his GCSEs. I also sweated out Mike’s interview for a permanent position at the school.
The romance is where the book lagged a bit for me. Bright, who is head of the Hums department, is pretty, intelligent, and wise but she flashed the “wave off” sign so many times without giving Mike any reason that I got a teensy bit frustrated with her. Several other teachers gave Mike advice but, respecting Bright’s privacy, would also refuse to help him understand what in Bright’s background was making her announce that their ‘not really a romance’ relationship wouldn’t even go beyond its infant stage. Then suddenly and with no explanation, she changes her mind. That was long and drawn out and, again, frustrating.
I enjoyed watching Mike learn to teach and how to avoid Ofsted inspectors. His fellow teachers see his potential and have his back, genuinely encouraging his progression to a full fledged member of the profession. The class trip, apart from the bus ride, was amusing. I appreciate all that teachers do and endure but no, that path was never for me. I’m glad that Mike has found his people and his calling though. B
~Jayne
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