Working the System

Working the System provides invaluable answers to all your questions as a concerned parent – with tips and advice about everything from choosing and getting your child into a good primary school through to how to how keep your teenagers motivated.

Via entertaining case studies – such as ‘What could I have done to get more support for my son’s dyspraxia?’ And ‘Can I “do a Tony Blair” and avoid sending my child to the local sink school?’ – and using charts and diagrams to make complex issues comprehensible in a trice, this is the survival guide that every parent needs.

Working the System is the warts-and-all truth, told by an experienced teacher who has taught in the state sector for nearly twenty years and who has established a reputation for himself as a voice of candour and clarity in the world of modern educational doublespeak.

“A fantastic book, a cheeringly horrifying and right on the nail description of the sheer terror of being deep ended into teaching.”
The Independent

“It should be compulsory reading for successive secretaries of state…”
Clare Short, New Statesman

“Gilbert is a natural storyteller. I read this in one jaw-dropping gulp.”
Tim Brighouse, Commissioner for London Schools

About Francis Gilbert

Francis Gilbert has taught in a variety of comprehensives in London, and currently teaches English part-time. He lives in east London with his wife and son. All his pupils think his coolest appearance was on the Russell Brand show.