AUTHOR’S NOTES

inspired me to read beat novels, who walked across a frozen pond once to make sure he was there for us, or that we were there for him, or the teacher who gave up breaktimes to talk about religions that weren’t covered on the syllabus.”

Edwards’ own path into teaching began when he took a job teaching in China.

“In Beijing airport, I became intensely selfaware,” he recalls. “I processed the scene in its cinematic horror. I was about to begin a teaching job with no Mandarin, no formal teaching experience and nobody from the new school to meet me in arrivals. It was exhilarating.

“Teaching in Hebei province was the most satisfying work I have encountered – I discovered quickly that the more I attempted to make the lessons enjoyable (for classes of up to 100 pupils), the more satisfied I was gathering my equipment at the end of each period. Each afternoon, after lessons, I’d cycle away from the day, with ample time still to explore a mega-city.

“Before leaving Shijiazhuang, incredulously, I was given an award for my services to the province and, therefore, my first experience of teaching was an intensely confirming one.”

Teaching in the UK seemed like a natural next step and he excelled at it, becoming a winner of Wales Teacher of the Year very early in his career.

“Perhaps, after such immediate recognition, there was always likely to be a delayed period of self-reflection,” he says.

“Perhaps, the routine endured by teachers quickly reduces the need, or just the opportunity, to be celebrated. Either way, half of teachers leave the profession in their first three years and most simply require the type of support they offer their pupils, someone reminding them that they are doing a good job.

“I mourn the freedom of the post in China and the liberating feeling of cycling around a city of 10 million people with the bulk of my twenties before