Educating Essex

2011-09-22 • Episodes: 7

Educating Essex is a British documentary television programme produced by Twofour for Channel 4 that ran for seven episodes from September to November 2011. It uses a fly on the wall format to show the everyday lives of the staff and students of Passmores Academy, a secondary school in Harlow, Essex, interspersed with interviews of those involved and featuring narration from the director and interviewer, David Clews. The series received mixed media coverage: it was largely praised for its insight into the lives and behaviour of teenagers and the education system, but was also criticised for its depiction of students and teachers using profanity, as well as bullying and teenage pregnancy. The show received numerous awards, including director David Clews's British Academy Television Craft Award for his work on the programme in 2012; in the same year, the show was nominated for a Grierson Award for "Best Documentary Series". What is life really like for today's students and teachers? This series has unprecedented access to an English secondary school to follow a group of GCSE students, and the staff who teach them, as they face the most important year in their education. Passmores School in Harlow, Essex, is a successful school in a challenging area. Under headteacher Vic Goddard, it's been awarded Academy status and is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted. The school has been rigged with 65 fixed cameras — from the corridors to the canteen, and from the headteacher's office to the detention hall — to reveal every detail of daily life.