Timely book on teaching

Dear Parents

Author: Gabbie Stroud Publisher: Allen and Unwin RRP: $32.99 Reviewer: Mary Ann Elliott

GABBIE Stroud describes herself as a freelance writer, novelist and recovering teacher. This collection of (fictional) letters to parents from a disillusioned, disenchanted primary school teacher, who left the profession she loved, follows her memoir, Teacher, a critical commentary of Australia’s education system. With the ongoing dialogue on education and Naplan, this is a timely book.

In it, Stroud makes a plea to parents to understand the way their children are being taught, and the results of this process on their development, suggesting that the system offers neither time nor the opportunity for extra-curricular or creative input.

Via the letters, Stroud expresses her thoughts, concerns and ideas about education and teaching in a rather confronting way, with much criticism levelled at parents, teachers and the children.

Her belligerent prose and often harsh commentary are not leavened by a more positive tone and alternatives for better outcomes, while her negative opinion of parents comes across as demeaning and censorious.

While shedding light on many of the problems in primary school education, Stroud’s disapproving and often cynical tone did nothing to draw me in, let alone inspire me.

As a teacher myself, I felt it reflected more about her as a teacher, rather than proposing any positive way forward. She maintains there is a general sense of mutual distrust between parents and teachers. In a word, I was disappointed with this book, given that Stroud is a gifted writer with good ideas that she could have presented in a more compassionate and temperate way.