Teaching, Learning, and Schooling in Film: Reel Education - Hardcover

"Films about schooling provide many of the most popular interpretations of what teaching and learning mean in schools. Here, the reader will find a host of alternative interpretations. Combined, these films and their critics allow us to look at ourselves as teachers and learners and decide on our own what it all means."

Jim Garrison, Virginia Tech, USA

"Movies about education are often stereotypic and trite, featuring heroic teachers and bored students in classrooms with old desks and dusty chalkboards. Daniel Liston and Ian Renga have assembled a wide diversity of noted scholars to consider the subtle and complex ways the acts of teaching and learning have been depicted in a variety of international films. We can see here how cinema, arguably the most important art form created in the last century, can not only entertain, but also help us envision a better world through imaginative depictions of teaching and learning. I will use this volume in my own teaching and scholarship."

AG Rud, Washington State University, USA

Films about education provide many of the most popular interpretations of what teaching and learning mean in schools. An analysis of this medium reveals much about the historical, cultural, political, and philosophical dimensions of education. Timely and engaging, this book fills a gap for scholarly and informed public commentary on the portrayal of education in film, offering a wide range of conceptual and interpretive perspectives.

Teaching, Learning, and Schooling in Film explores several key questions, including: What does it mean to be a good teacher? How do these good teachers instruct? When is and what makes teaching complex? What constitutes learning? Do educational reforms work? The book’s interdisciplinary group of contributors answers these important questions in essays highlighting Hollywood, independent, and documentary films. Prospective and practicing teachers will engage with the thought-provoking educational issues raised in this book and gain insight into the complexities of teaching and learning portrayed in film.