How and why have representations of teachers and schools changed over time?

Schools and teachers are represented differently over time due to the change in social outlook on the practice a respect of schools but also the general behaviour of children in schools.

In the 1939 film 'Goodbye Mr Chips' representation of schools is that of a prestigious and respected school, that has a heritage and intends to stick by it. Goodbye Mr Chips was also set in a British school, somehow the general representation of (especially old) British schools is that of a prestigious atmosphere, with all of the students being marked into school in lines being called only by their last names, and being forced to where gowns like a miniature university. In Comparison to the modern day representation of a British school in a series such as 'Waterloo Road' set and written in 2007 is very different the children show about as much respect for the teachers as to one and other and may as well call them by their first name, although, both share a common ground, they both represent the teachers as being caring for the students. Mr. Chips describes the students as his children and is always giving them 'inspirational' advice, and the teachers in Waterloo Road give their students one to one advice and the headteacher is seen driving a student to work.

The inspirational teacher is a recurrent theme in the representation of teachers and schools, one that is as many people would say wrongly represented, Films such as 'Blackboard Jungle' and 'Dangerous Minds' contain a main Teacher who is considered to be inspirational because they usually come along to a school that is going downhill and has delinquent students and the teacher single handedly, with their new teaching angles and inspirational speeches turns around the students and helps them to learn.

This inspirational teacher role is a representation that has not much changed over time since elements of it can ...

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This inspirational teacher role is a representation that has not much changed over time since elements of it can be seen in Goodbye Mr. Chips and is then recurrent for years to come in several films.

The reason that schools and teachers representation has changed is because schools and teachers have changed, for instance in Goodbye Mr. Chips he canes a student for doing something wrong, this is not in newer texts that contain schools and teachers, because they simply are not allowed to use corperal punishment any more, equally in Blackboard jungle a Teacher Punches a student, nowadays there would be court cases and assault trials.

Modern day schools are generally represented as going downhill, because it is a growing social fear and when Blackboard jungle was written the theme within the film was the same as the social fear at the time of growing juvenile delinquency, they are put into the texts because they can address the issues that catch the fear of parents, school and indeed students of era and overcome them in the text, this ensures that the viewer gets a small sense of escapism. That a teacher will come along and save your school from going under or will cure the students of their delinquent behaviour.

Another angles taken mostly by modern day representation of teachers is the factor of the teachers personal lives, is Waterloo Road, not only do you see the issues that the school and students have but you also get the issues that the teachers have, instead of just seeing them as there to do their job which is to teach, but seeing them as humans with social lives and having problems and even sex lives. This is represented in older texts like Blackboard Jungle, but in a different way, in Blackboard Jungle his marriage starts to fall apart because of his job and how committed he was, it was not focused around his personal life away from school.

In conclusion, schools and teachers have changed in representation over time for a few reasons, one main reason is the actual change in schools and teaching, so the representation has changed to modify to fit modern day reality of the teaching world if we still hit children and forced them to wear robes in school in general now, then i'm sure the representation of schools would still follow this setting. Also the representation changes due to the current social fears of schooling and the teaching affixed to it, with Goodbye Mr. Chips it was the war, Blackboard Jungle the behaviours of students, Waterloo road the governing behind schools and the behaviour of some students, Dangerous minds the behaviour of students, these things are not done by accident they are there to grab the attention of the viewer and relate to them in some way so that the text brings them in and confronts the issues that are on the mind of the viewers. Then again some things have always stayed the same with the representation of schools and teaching and that is mainly the role of the inspirational teacher and this is because it is the central role of escapism that a text about teaching can provide, because is gives the audience a sense that everything is going to be okay because a teacher will come along, affect the school,students and teachers and make everything okay again.

Luke Yates

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