Cover teacher for Hemel Hempstead schools discusses his experience in new book
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Take Cover - an unemployed drummer goes back to school
A Hertfordshire author has documented his experience as a cover teacher in Hemel Hempstead and surrounding areas in his latest book, Take Cover.
The true story of one man’s unlikely venture into the hazzardous world of cover support teaching.
Spike Webb, from Abbots Langley, has been a drummer, a civil servant, a copywriter in advertising, a published author and a cleaner, then he went back to school.
Having taken a job as a cover support teacher, Spike recounts some of his experiences at today’s secondary schools.
He said: "It’s a non-fiction work based on my experiences as a cover support classroom teacher in a variety of schools in Hemel Hempstead, Watford and surrounding areas.
"As you might expect, it contains a range of highly-charged classroom experiences; from the very amusing to the very moving, some plain shocking and even traumatic.
"The journey charts my progress and development from the nervous but slightly excited adventurer with naïve good intentions of ’making a difference’ to the resigned, cynical and exhausted individual I became after two terms.
"However, the end premise for the book is that my time as a cover teacher is the most educational work project I have ever undertaken; and that I have learned far more from the students than they could possibly have learned from me."
One thing’s for sure, though, whatever you remember from your school days, it’s very different on the other side.
The book also features a backdrop of tales from the author’s other job activities as an evening cleaner - plus more scrapes from jobs he’s had since leaving school nearly 40 years ago.
Take Cover by Spike Webb is available on Amazon in paperback and as a Kindle e-book.