The teachers

This was the best known and most successful of G W Target’s books. Set in a tough South London Primary school it is the description of one eventful day. It is written in a semi-stream of consciousness style which works very effectively here and is part of the reason for its success. It is an acutely observed study of a school and its staff and children seen mainly from the perspective of a remarkable young woman teacher who is unfailingly positive and realistic in her dealings with both her colleagues and the children she teaches. She is a Christian, a Protestant and presumably a seventh day Adventist as was G W Target. She is a gentle yet assertive advocate for justice and truth as she sees it and seems to embody Christian values in a way the reader finds totally convincing and inspiring. She is unafraid to confront bullying and bigotry yet also understanding and forgiving of such behaviour. She deals with broken relationships, dishonesty, and corruption at the very heart of the school and although traumatic the day seems to finish with a ‘clean out’ of the hidden scandals and skulduggery going on at both a personal and professional level. She operates as an unacknowledged agent of good with the tacit approval of the headmaster who although aware of the problems he is facing seems unwilling to deal with them directly.