'I've worked as a primary school teacher in Sheffield for 40 years - my tales from the classroom show there's never a dull moment'

Generations of South Yorkshire pupils have been taught by the 71-year-old during his 40-plus years in the classroom – and yet, he also remains a familiar face with the cohorts of children still coming through Arbourthorne Primary School today.

Steve joined the school in 2006, after two decades in the teaching profession. Eleven years ago, he made his official departure but he’s been back every year since to work with the children on drama - and is the writer and, often director, behind the school’s annual productions.

"Being around kids I think is fun, it keeps you young and it keeps your enthusiasm up,” Steve says. But these days he has a golden rule (or two). “Nothing to mark and no meetings to attend.”

It was during Steve’s own schooldays when he first took an interest both in writing and in drama and over the years he has written short stories, pantomimes and plays.

These days he’s involved in community theatre in Grenoside, Stannington and with The Dilys Guite Players, known to take on roles on the stage, as well as write scripts behind the scenes.

For many years, however, the bulk of Steve’s writing was as a columnist for TES, formerly known as the Times Educational Supplement.

At the peak, he would contribute fortnightly musings for the trade magazine, which is aimed at education professionals, all drawing from his time in the classroom.

“It was great because it helped reflect on your own practice to a certain extent. You can’t take yourself too seriously as a teacher because the children certainly won’t," he laughs.

“Things that happen in classrooms, there’s always something funny on a daily basis, something that’s worth writing about, and it was a case of selecting really.

"The same with staff and the things they would do…It was always a case of having too many things to write about rather than too few.”

Steve has pulled together a collection of his funniest, favourite and most heart-warming stories for his debut book, Tales Out of Class, recently released by Troubador Publishing.

The book encompasses 80 published columns, all of which are based on real-life experiences from his long teaching career, though the names, of course, are changed.

From casting the school nativity to classroom insect invasions, it aims to capture the essence of what makes teaching young children special and how you never quite know what might happen on any particular day.

"As these tales demonstrate, what happens in a lesson plan does not always happen in a classroom,” Steve writes. “But then, that’s what makes the job of teaching what it is: scary, exhausting, funny, irritating, satisfying, hilarious, draining, distressing, entertaining, sad and rewarding.

"And because, where thirty children are concerned, you can experience all of these emotions and more in the space of ten minutes, there’s never a dull moment.”

Teaching wasn’t an obvious choice for Steve, who grew up in a working class Sheffield household, the son of a steelworker.

At 16, his father helped to get him an apprenticeship in engineering, but it was “definitely not my cup of tea”. “I was never great at it and to be quite honest I hated it,” Steve recalls.

After studying for A-levels, he found himself instead following in the footsteps of one of his friends, enrolling at university to study a social sciences degree. Then, it was on to study for a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) qualification.

When Steve then first entered a classroom in 1984, he had two young children of his own. “I think I have an affinity with young kids, being daft, and I really liked working with them,” he says.

“I find it very rewarding. It’s an exhausting job but you never get bored. Even now, when I only go in to do a bit of drama and the school production, I get a buzz walking into a school because there’s so much life there. Kids are so lively all the time and you feed off that energy yourself.”

His first teaching role was in Wath-upon-Dearne before then moving to a primary school in Longley, Sheffield. He later dabbled in supply work for a number of months before joining Arbourthorne as a permanent member of staff.

“Doing supply is great because you’re teaching and that’s it, you’ve got nothing else, no other baggage with it,” Steve says. “But what you gain in freedom you lose with knowing the kids. And I think it’s important at primary school in particular to know your kids, their parents, the staff, build up those relationships.”

Steve started writing for TES almost by accident. A former colleague had submitted a number of articles for consideration and after she asked him for help writing one, he decided to give it a go too. Initially, the columns were ad-hoc but Steve eventually became a regular writer for the publication for many years.

His mum would cut out each one of his pieces and collect them together in a folder. A few years ago, that got Steve thinking.

“I thought, I’m not getting any younger and when I eventually disappear off this earth, they’ll all go in a skip somewhere. So I thought I’ll put a selection into a book form and force them on family and friends, whether they wanted them or not. Now, a little part of me will live on, for a while at least.”

- Tales Out of Class: The chronicles of a primary school teacher, is written by Steve Eddison and published by Troubador. Out now.