Playground Duty

In the baking heat of February 1973, wearing a purple body shirt and an expression of confidence that belied his nerves, Ned Manning faced a classroom of children in remote New South Wales. It was the start of many years of teaching that would be by turns exhilarating, nerve-fraying, and inspiring. Packed with stories of students both recalcitrant and driven, lesson plans, staff rooms, and drama, this book roams from high schools in dusty country towns to the edgy Newtown High School of the P…