Growing Up Late by Martin Johnson

Growing Up Late by Martin Johnson

This is an account of the realities of being a teacher in some of the most deprived cities in the UK. 

This account, though, is neither romantic about young people nor pessimistic about the situation. It focuses on the teacher as a human being who experiences the difficulties of producing successful learners, leading to a range of emotions and stress.

This is a memoir which covers much more of the author’s life than his work as a teacher. Later, as a policy adviser in a well-known think tank and major teachers’ unions, it reveals anecdotes about well-known political characters such as Michael Gove, when he was Minister for Education, and his then sidekick Dominic Cummings.

The core of the book is an account of the author’s social and emotional life. Martin Johnson grew up in post-war London in a family which was increasingly affluent materially and impoverished emotionally. He describes becoming an isolated teenager, damaged sufficiently that it has taken 

most of his later life to become a more rounded social being. It also describes how getting married when an immature twenty-two-year-old had repercussions, both the rough and the smooth, for the next forty years. Finally, it goes on to describe finding happiness with his second wife in his sixties.

Martin Johnson, after a conventional education, rather fell into teaching. He worked in schools on Merseyside, briefly in West Yorkshire, but mainly in London, close to where he grew up. Martin was also heavily involved in teacher unions, ending his career in their employment.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781806342495
ISBN 10	1806342499
Title	Growing Up Late
Author	Martin Johnson
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Troubador Publishing
Year published	2026-05-28
Number of pages	264
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.