Are schooldays really the best days of your life? Maybe they pale against some of the better features of adult life, like being able to drive a car, go on holiday to places of your own rather than your parents’ choosing, raise your own children, buy a house, get promoted, or take charge of a class instead of being bored in someone else’s.

This collection of short readings about education, from early years up to adult life, has been put together from many sources by Raymond Chapman, former professor of English at the University of London. There are extracts from fiction - some sources well known, others more obscure - alongside accounts of people’s lives, whether as teacher or learner.

Read this review in full innbsp;this week’s TES

Friday magazine returns on September 3