This programme shows the ups and downs of Year 11 in Passmores School in Essex, and the teachers who are responsible for making sure they can all receive the best education possible.
The documentary feels much more realistic than many, with stationary cameras placed around the school and a number of pupils and teachers ‘mic-ed up’, to capture every moment. This method, rather than a camera crew following you around, means that the school is able to go about its daily routine and we as viewers are simply peeping through the windows to see what is happening. The key protagonists are interviewed seperately in accordance with certain situations, but with clever editing this never takes away from the realism of the show.
The children focused on in the show, are mainly ones who are deemed disruptive, although the part of this which is the main source of the teachers frustration is that they are all very intelligent children, who if they applied themselves could do so much more with their future. Really, this is true of most children. If you put in the hours of revision rather than checking your social networking page, most of us could do a lot better, but nevertheless it is interesting to see the processes people take to help and maintain the level of learning for many troubled teenagers. These children are living in different times to a lot of us, where school doesn’t end when the bell rings and we all go home to forget the day and relax. The school’s ‘rumour mill’ - of which used to be mindless gossip passed from one mouth to another- is now fueled by social networking and instant messaging, making home an extension of school’s social pressures. ‘Educating Essex’ shows how these teenagers are effected by their modern environment, as well as portraying how the old-fashioned issue of a child having ‘problems at home’, can break down the ability to remain focused in school. Not all of the tennagers featured gain our sympathy when these realities are shown, but most do.
The teachers are fantastic in this programme. They seem to invest a lot of themselves into each teacher/student relationship, rather than speaking ‘at’ a class, they are engaging with each pupil individually, pushing them to do more. Their humour and wit at times often drives the show, as well as their raw passion and brutal honesty. It is very easy to see familiarities between these teachers and the ones we all had at school - the only problem being we don’t realise that our teachers are great people until a long time after we leave school…
Overall, the programme is a fantastic watch, one that I am recommending highly. Every emotion is explored in this show, not just for the pupil or teenager, but for us the viewer - anger, heartache, laughter, sadness, emapthy, sympathy - you name it, it is there. It’s insight into modern teeenagers isn’t really that much different to the teenagers of my generation and all of the ones before that, which in itself makes you breathe a sigh of relief and think ‘I am not alone’, but hopefully the generations to come will watch this and realise that some things and some attitudes do need to changeso that we can all work towards and brighter future.
Copyright Amy Evans 27-02-2012
