Case Study Review: Educating Essex

Picture from C4

I don't often feel moved to publicly review a piece of television- it generally just excites controversy (whatever your opinion might have been) and I rarely have anything to say that is worth that much personal exertion.
Educating Essex however has become the recent notable exception to this policy; aside from being a stellar piece of documentary it is a program I consider to be of use and relevance to the aspiring teachers among you.
You probably have seen it but in case you haven't: educating essex is a documentary on c4 about a school in harlow, it's staff  and some of its more... colourful students. Perhaps its most revolutionary aspect is that in the era of big brother, jeremy Kyle and paparazzi hatchet jobs, the program has not been prejudically edited to present the school- and by extension the state education system- as either miraculous or hellish. Instead it is simply a warm, humorous and occasionally sad look at the lives of the staff and students that make up the school. It brilliantly shows the stresses and frustrations felt on both sides of the desk and skillfully uses a series of interviews to allow the inimitable Mr drew to paint a picture of the education system as it is, revealing to the world the problems that teachers have always known but that the government never seems to appreciate.
As a pgce or gtp student this programme could practically serve as a training video on what you'll be faced with in the state education system: the uniform adherence (or lack thereof), the complexity of dealing with claims of bullying, the difficulty of parental intervention and above all the task of keeping kids engaged with the lesson.
Obviously all schools are different, but Passmore's provides a valuable guide to the average school that you are likely to end up at as an NQT- not ghetto, not grammar just a regular school with regular pupils. It is to Passmores' credit then that they have managed to achieve an outstanding ofsted report- an achievement that is no doubt due in no small part to the efforts and presence of head teacher Mr Goddard who's brand of highly involved senior management is one of the school's most unique features.
The only criticisms of the programme that could be made is that there is little footage of actual lessons taking place and none of any lessons being conducted effectively. Clearly a school does not get an outstanding ofsted report without excellent teaching and its a shame that the talents of a broader range of the teaching staff aren't better showcased. That being said I'd take a clip of a heavily made up girl exclaiming 'What...is..pie? Where does it come from?" over one of a teenager accurately calculating the diameter of a circle in terms of entertainment.
So to all you trainee/wannabe educators out there I highly reccommend that you get yourselves caught up on the happenings at Passmores and settle in for the long haul; you could and should learn a few things.