Film Class

This week Shain is joined by her sisters Sara and Anisa to discuss the Trojan Horse Affair, in light of the recent Serial podcast series (presented by Brian Reed fellow Brummie Hamza Syed). As three proud Muslim Brummies, Shain and her sisters have been directly affected by the scandal; here they recount their experiences both inside and outside education.  Listen to learn about the complexities of the hijab, the damage done by Prevent, the nonsensical implementation of British Values in schools, and the fact that (sadly) everyone has worked with a Sue Packer.  Sara is a senior science technician in a secondary school and Anisa is a specialist pharmacist in a hospital. 

Our first big 'hero coach' film, this time starring Samuel L Jackson as real life high school basketball coach Terence Carter. Carter earns our admiration fo guiding wayward students towards a brighter future through his relentlessly high expectations, but also troubled us with his implication that these young men must always police their language and behaviour to really be accepted. 

This week's film, starring Mads Mikkelson, has an intriguing premise: would teaching slightly drunk improve our lessons? We discuss teaching ruts, taboos around male mental health, and consider whether education really is better in Scandinavia... 

Alexander Payne's deeply cynical comedy presents teachers as frustrated chumps, whilst also taking swipes at the aspirations of Type A students like Reese Witherspoon's Tracey Flick (still her best role - yeah we said it). We talk the importance of civics education and the horrors of school fridges. 

J.K. Simmons puts in a commanding performance as psychotic music teacher Terence Fletcher, determined to drive Miles' Teller's Andrew to great artistic heights. We discuss his philosophy that praise leads only to mediocrity, as well as considering his somewhat idiosyncratic approach to ensuring a disciplined learning environment. Is such a regimented ideology necessary for artistic excellence, or is it anathema to creativity? All that and Shain helpfully defines the raisinet (turns out that is a thing, despite Sean's scepticism).

'I'm right and you're wrong, I'm big and you're small, and there's nothing you can do about it!' Danny DeVito's Matilda has been one of our most requested films to discuss from the very beginning of the pod, and we finally got round to it (and we think it's one of our best episodes!). We discuss the dichotomy between Agatha Trunchbull and Miss Honey, two extremes of teaching we think are manifest in all practitioners. This leads to us talking about teachers as authority figures, the complexity of school uniform policies, and our own Trunchbull moments (sorry to all fans of whimsical cat ears). 

This week we watch Ken Loach's classic debut film Kes (1969), starring then newcomer David Bradley as Billy, a working class boy from Yorkshire with little hope for the future. Loach captures the low expectations and bleak brutality of schools in the 1960s, leading us to discuss corporal punishment, Thatcher's revolution of the education system in the 1980s, and the cruelty of the classroom in the past. Spoiler alert: PE teachers may want to skip this one, as we have yet another sports teacher who is also an absolute monster. We promise some better representation by the end of this series!

We're back! In our first episode of Season 2, we talk the Jack Black classic School of Rock (2003), in which a dosser poses as substitute teacher Mr Schneebly and insists his pupils learn the hard rock canon. We discuss whether or not leaders can ever be friends with those they manage, the difficulties of substitute teaching and whether teaching children nothing other than rock is any less biased than the national curriculum. P.S. We had some issues with Shain's audio this week, but all will be fixed next week! 

In our last episode of season one, we discuss the darkest Harry Potter films: Deathly Hallows Parts One and Two. We talk Harry's transition to young adulthood, the use of education as propaganda, teachers who scarred us, and McGonagall's fascist turn. (Bloody hell, that all sounds very dark- let's do School of Rock or something next).   We're currently coming up with ideas for Season Two in 2021 so please email or DM us with films you'd like us to discuss next! 

Avid Draco Malfoy fan and university lecturer Dr Lucy Andrew joins us this week to talk all things Slytherin! We discuss Slughorn, Snape's moment of glory as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and whether or not some information is too sensitive to share with pupils. 

We're joined this week by Lucy, Sean's colleague and KS4 lead for English. Listen we discuss the brilliance and terror of Imelda Staunton's Umbridge, confess our Hufflepuff shame, and discuss what makes Harry such a brilliant teacher. 

In this week's discussion of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, we are joined by self-professed gifologist (and staunch Gryffindor) Ele! We discuss Mad Eye's terrifying lessons, Dumbledore's decision to share politically sensitive information with students and, most importantly of all, the terrible hair decisions made by almost every adolescent character in this film.   We also touch on the fact this is the most superficially 'diverse' Harry Potter film due to the inclusion of Cho Chang and the Patil twins, and the gender stereotyping rampant amongst the pupils of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. 

Education legend Ros Wilson joins us this week to discuss the controversial third Harry Potter novel and film. We meet several new teachers: Lupin (clearly the best Defence Against the Darks Arts teacher in the series), Trelawney (who Sean suggests is misunderstood...) and Hagrid, who, bless him, Ros decides just isn't a teacher. Mischief managed! 

This week we are lucky enough to be enjoyed by BBC Bitesize's own Mr Firth! He shares his analogy that the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) typifies the toxic behaviours of your average EduTwitter celebrity. We discuss our Hogwarts houses (with Sean trying to overcome his Hufflepuff shame and overcompensating in the processs...) and the school's appalling safeguarding. Keeping an educational establishment open despite the manifest danger of a deadly hidden menace no-one knows how to mitigate or solve!? Thank god this kind of thing only happens in fiction...      

In the first of our festive series on the Harry Potter films, we talk all things Hogwarts! Shain is a staunch member of Team Snape and his no nonsense approach to the classroom, while Sean is all for McGonagall's mastery of warm/strict. We discuss which subjects we'd like to teach and how they correlate to real life curricula, Dumbledore as an ideal headmaster (at least at this point...), and think about Hogwarts as an elitist space (albeit one we really, really wanted to go as kids). Mischief managed! 

We were both surprised by how much we enjoyed Freedom Writers, starring Hilary Swank as real-life English high school teacher Erin Gruwell. Although the film is much more nuanced than the similar Dangerous Minds, it does also make some very unrealistic expectations of what makes an excellent teacher. (No, we won't be taking on third jobs and buying hundreds of dollars worth of books ourselves).   We also talk the pitfalls of condescending pupils with 'relevant' lessons on rap or football, the big no-no of asking pupils to represent their race, and the depressingly common phenomenon of unsupportive male partners. 

In this special Halloween episode, we dissect the 90s teen cult classic The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez. Featuring a panoply of stars (including Famke Janssen, Josh Hartnett, Clea Duvall, Piper Laurie, Salma Hayek, Elijah Wood and -bizarrely- Usher!). We recognise it as one of the first films in the 90s teen pop culture boom to frame high school as a terrible experience, especially in shitty football towns in the middle of nowhere. Our discussion leads us to think about the Columbine massacre, the need for a race-based version of the Bechdel test, and the forgotten struggles of dial up internet. We also discuss the absolutely bizarre way teens take drugs in this film which needs to be seen to be believed. Give us a follow and a like/review if you enjoy it! 

The film that made Matt Damon and Ben Affleck famous got us both feeling reflective: what is the purpose of education? Furthermore, what is the purpose of LIFE ITSELF (yes, we got that reflective). Robin Williams gives ones of his most poignant performances that led us to reflect on the important of pastoral care (while also breaking our OFSTED based ranking system). We also talk about the literal cost of education: Minnie Driver's character calculates her brain is worth $250,000; Sean does the same calculation with surprising results! 

We discuss Maïmuona Doucouré's controversial debut feature, Cuties (or Mignonnes), which led to calls to cancel Netflix after an uproar over marketing many felt was inappropriate and sexualised the child actors involved. We think about what a teacher could do in a situation like the one depicted; Amy, a Senegalese Muslim girl now living in the suburbs or Paris, falls in with the 'Cuties', a daring tween dance troupe. This led us to talking about TikTok, Cardi B's WAP, safeguarding, puberty, the dangers of the internet and the difficulties of parenting in 2020. 

We both LOVED this adaptation of the Willy Russell play. Rita is a working class Liverpudlian who decides she wants a literature degree through the Open University; Frank is a jaded university lecturer who can't stand his middle class students. The film made us think more about the purpose of education, and the ways gender and class intersect in the university. 

You CAN sit with us... while we discuss the evergreen quote machine and endlessly memed teen comedy Mean Girls. We ponder whether all teachers are pushers, and have much to praise in the practice of our first maths teacher Ms Norbury (Tina Fey)! We also talk the lost potential of Lindsay Lohan, the politics of the cafeteria, the tragedy of Noughties fashion, the struggles of being an Asian goth, and imagine what a Brummie version of the film might entail... 

An excellent cast (Issa Rae, Marsai Martin and Regina Hall) encourage us to consider whether or not we would seek closure by returning to school as our thirteen year old selves. We also discuss teacher crushes (thanks to Justin Hartley's Mr Marshall), classroom microaggressions and the joys of the school talent show. 

Cameron Diaz stars as our antihero Elizabeth, a feckless teacher coasting through the job and waiting for a wealthy husband (or Justin Timberlake) to she attain her life's goal: a boob job. Her arch nemesis, the Type A snitch Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), rang a bell with Shain, begging the question: do all teachers have a pinch of Amy Squirrel within? We also talk the forgotten joys of the TV trolley, the millennial obsession with scamming and scammers, and decide what truly makes a 'bad teacher'. 

We celebrate Alicia Silverstone's Cher Horowitz -still one the best depictions of a teenage girl in Hollywood cinema- and the brilliance of Amy Heckerling's eternal classic. Other topics include the rarity of Christian as a comfortably out gay teen in 90s popular culture, the value of debates in the classroom, and the tragedy of 'earning minor ducats at a thankless job' AKA teaching children for a living. 

This one caused our first major disagreement! Based on experiences of teacher Luann Johnson as written in her book My Posse Don't Do Homework, this film was a surprise hit (not least because of the huge Coolio hit Gangsta's Paradise). It also caused controversy for racist stereotypes and changes to the source material. We debate whether the film version of Luann, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, is a patronising white saviour or wonderful educator. Racism, victim blaming, and conservative ideology all come up in our disagreement; we also discuss the Hollywood obsession with depicting thin women eating junk food and Luann's strategy of rewarding correct answers with Snickers!

We discuss the BAFTA award winning, Oscar-nominated Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams as a poetry loving English teacher and Ethan Hawke as a shy pupil. One of the most famous films about teachers and the education system, we critique the emphasis on 'fun' over learning and Mr Keating's approach to introverted students. Other topics of discussion include Hollywood glamorisation of stalking, the downfalls of single-gender schools, feminism and the Bechdel test, and Hermione being the true hero of Harry Potter.

Sean and Shain, both teachers from Birmingham, discuss their love for the 90s classic Sister Act 2. Now a Las Vegas headliner, Doloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) returns to the school of her youth to teach music to a group of disaffected but spirited teens, including a young Lauryn Hill and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Topics of discussion include the use of 'yo momma' jokes in the classroom, pupil pranks, and the confusion that arises when applying for a job in a Catholic school while wearing a hijab. Also: that music! Rap, gospel, soul and R&B fans were all fed in '93. Praise Whoopi!