08/07/2026
My next co-authored book comes out on July 18th, and this is a personal one.
The Teenager's Guide to Taking Control of Your Education.
It's a self-help guide for teenagers for whom school isn't working or who are being educated out of school. It tells them that the problem isn't them, and that there is hope for the future. I interviewed seventeen teens for the books, and they all told me about the different ways and things that they learn. It's a practical book, showing teens that there are different ways to learn and suggesting ways to start.
So why is it personal? Because it's the book I wish I had when I was fourteen. For I had years of 'school refusal' or 'school phobia', as they called it then.
I thought that I was the only one. I knew no one else who felt ill when they went to school. No one else who wanted to do well, but found school to be a hostile environment. I sat at home, convinced that I must be the only person. There was no internet, no way to find others. I watched rubbish daytime TV and wished things were different.
It was such a lonely place to be and it was made worse by the way that my peers treated me when I did get to school - like a pariah. I felt deeply ashamed, that there must be something wrong with me. No one wanted to be my partner in P.E. They'd move away from me in the lunch queue. I learnt to apologise for my very existence.
This book says to teens, it's not your fault. There are others like you. You can have a future too, and school isn't the only way to get there. You can learn out of school and take control of your own education.
I'm doing a free book launch and tickets are going fast. For the first time, I'll be talking with my son, Abel Fisher-Cavell (18), about his own experience of learning outside school.
Please share if you know parents and teens who might need to know that there is a future beyond school.
