A teaching diploma doesn't mark the end of learning. It is just the start.When a nervous Henry Dowden is selected for his first teaching placement, he innocently thinks that being a good teacher is all he needs to succeed in his career. But, combatting cynical teachers, an incompetent head and disinterested students proves challenging.In a bold but desperate move, Henry applies for a position in a more established grammar school and is rewarded by a learning environment more suited to his talents and enthusiasm. But being a new teacher means making mistakes, and some small explosions within the Chemistry lab make him a strangely unlikely hero...Neville Hatfield's novel, Before the National Curriculum, is an insider's tale of the English school system before the prescription of curriculum content and the banning of corporal punishment. It is a humorous but poignant story which makes the reader consider what really is important; both at school and in life.