Mr Briggs is constantly snapping and screaming at the children. Whilst on the coach he exclaims “To enjoy a coach trip we sit in our seats”. This suggests again his conventional and strict fashion of teaching. When the class arrives at the desired destination of Conwy castle Mr Briggs tells the children about all the dull facts. “Now you see these square holes, just below the battlements there – well, they were used for…..long planks of wood which supported a sort of platform, and that’s where the archers used to stand and fire down at the attackers”.
Also Mr Briggs misunderstands many of the children’s backgrounds. On the coach Briggs comments about the work and architecture put in at the docks. Reilly, a ginger haired boy tall and thin, replies by saying that his dad works at the docks and he detests it. Mr Briggs then replies by saying “well, you tell him to stop and have a look around him”. What Briggs does not understand is that Reilly’s father does not have time to stand around admiring the scenery. He does hard manual jobs. Also in a conversation with Andrews, Mr Briggs catches him smoking and asks him to quit. Andrews replies by saying that he is addicted at the young age of thirteen. Briggs, hearing this asks what his parents think of him smoking. Andrews says “sir, sir, me mum says nott’n about it but when me dad comes home, sir, sir he belts me”. Andrews goes on further to say that his dad does not belt him because he wants him to stop but because he will not give his father a cigarette. Briggs is in disbelief but begins to understand more about the children and their backgrounds.
As Mr Briggs starts to understand more about the children’s lives he agrees to give all the children a class talk about the animals at the class’s next destination, the zoo. Whilst at the zoo Mr Briggs takes some of the children round the exhibits and tells them about the animals. At one particular exhibit which consisted of a bear in a pit, one boy talks about animals should be free, not locked up in a pit or a cage. Mr Briggs replies by saying that none of the animals know any different, they are born in captivity. The boy disagrees he is adamant that the bear must know of some other way of life, a life where there are no fences. During the stop at the zoo, some of the children steal animals from the petting zoo. Seeing this Mr Briggs loses his temper again and discards all the sympathy in which he had welled up inside him from some of the children’s stories by going back to his original screaming method. “Thieving little bastards!” he continues by saying “I’ve learned that trust is something you people don’t understand. Now I’m warning you, don’t expect any more trust from me!” This shouting does not affect the children particularly much; they have heard all this before. Briggs seems to see himself higher up the hierarchy than anyone else on the coach. He almost speaks to the children as though they are a different race or breed, “you people” and also he never really trusted the children anyway.
The penultimate stop is the beach. Mr Briggs sits away from everyone else. Colin notices that Carol has gone missing so the members of staff split up into parties to search for her. Briggs finds Carol at the top of a cliff looking down over the choppy sea. At first he shouts at her “I’m not putting up with any silliness from the likes of you…..I’ll not tell you again”. She simply dismisses him, noticing this he begins to plead with her, “Carol, Carol, please come away from there!” Eventually Carol comes away from the edge and Briggs embraces her. This makes the audience change their opinion of Briggs once more. They see a more loving and tender side to him. Mr Briggs begins to smile and Carol comments “sir, you should smile more often, you look great when you smile”. They both return to the beach safely and Mrs Kay, Colin and Susan hug her and sigh in relief.
After the incident with Carol Mr Briggs seems to change and has the idea of going to the fair, the class’s final stop. “You can’t come all the way to the sea side and not visit the fair” Briggs says.
Mrs Kay takes a film out of her camera and Mr Briggs offers to develop them in the science lab without Mrs Kay having to go to the shop and pay for the developing. This shows the audience another side to Mr Briggs, a happier, human side. Even when the class arrives back at school, Briggs lets Linda get away with not wearing her uniform and Linda in surprise comments, “I didn’t know you were like that sir. Y’no alright for a laugh and that”. Hearing this, Briggs realises what he has done and the audience see him change back into his normal way, this is shown by him looking at the school and then tidying his tie up.
When the class arrive back at school Mr Briggs seems to reverse his changes and he changes back to his traditional ways of shouting. He looks up at the school and crumples up the roll of film he had taken off Mrs Kay to develop. This symbolise that he has thrown away evidence that he ever changed at all. This means that he will never treat the children differently again.
Willy Russell believes that no child like Carol and the other will ever stand a chance in any school as there will always be teachers like Mr Briggs. He thinks that children in the progress class and similar children in other schools are locked in a pit just like the bear at the zoo. Away from everyone else.
