The School of Change: Documenting Alternative Teaching Methods
The lockdown and the challenges of returning to school under health protocols remind us—if any further reminder were needed—of the importance of the interactions and human connections that develop between teachers and children.
Sylvain Wagnon, University of Montpellier
As people ponder the “world after the pandemic,” calls for a renewal of teaching methods and school environments are on the rise—one notable example being the op-ed published in *Le Monde* calling for classes to be held outdoors.
However, this need for new horizons did not suddenly emerge with the lockdown. It is a goal of alternative educational approaches that emerged at the beginning ofthe 20th century and continue to enjoy widespread success, as evidenced by the popularity of the Montessori method.
How can we move beyond mere utopian ideals and view this wealth of ideas as real possibilities for the future? What if film could help us chart concrete paths to explore? Here is a selection of documentaries that can help us see schools from a different perspective.
The School of Change
In 2018, a documentary by Anne Schiffmann and Chergui Kharroubi, The School of Change focuses on two new secondary schools in Brussels that have chosen active teaching methods—that is, methods that move beyond the traditional lecture format, where students are merely listeners, to give them an active role in their own learning. This choice is reflected in the words of a teacher heard in the film:
“What we want to do now is an activity where we’ll talk as a group. We’re not going to rely on a set of facts that I’m supposed to give you. We’re going to look to one another because knowledge resides within each of us.”
The filmmakers spent a year immersed in schools to observe the students’ daily lives and bring these teaching methods to life. One of the film’s strengths is that it avoids getting bogged down in the technical details of these teaching methods, which in reality form a vast array of approaches—including Freinet, Montessori, Decroly, and Steiner—each with its own distinct characteristics.
Here, the filmmakers observe the transformations taking place within an educational community, the hesitations and doubts of the teaching staff, but above all their dedication and enthusiasm. Far from being a rigid institution, the school thus comes across as an adventure.
Skipping school
Although still very much in the minority today, all alternative educational approaches have been keen to raise their profile. From the early20th century onward, they recognized the importance of film. However, it was initially through fictional films that the general public was first introduced to these educational approaches.
In 1949, L’école buissonnière, directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, is a fictional account of the early career of educator Célestin Freinet, portrayed on screen by Bernard Blier. The screenplay was supervised by Elise Freinet herself, who was keen to spread Freinet’s innovative educational ideas.
More recently—in 2016—and in a much more “Hollywood-style” film, *Captain Fantastic*, starring Viggo Mortensen, shed light on homeschooling.
A Different Perspective on School
Recently rediscovered, Vittorio de Seta’s 1973 Italian film *The Diary of a Schoolteacher* was a pioneer in its skillful portrayal of children playing, working, and creating, while offering a glimpse into the caring educational relationship between the teacher and his class—a relationship that alternative educational approaches seek to foster.
Filming teaching in action is a complex task. How can we capture children playing, thinking, or marveling at the world around them? Yet there is a successful genre of educational documentaries. Nicolas Philibert’s film, To Be and to Have, released in 2002, chronicles the journey of a single-grade rural classroom in Auvergne.
Over the past decade or so, we have witnessed a resurgence of this approach. Every alternative educational approach recognizes the importance of highlighting the characteristics of its experiments. The perspective adopted is generally that of the proponents of the educational approach in question, rather than that of critical analysis.
Regarding Montessori, Freinet, or homeschooling methods, examples include *Etre et devenir* by Clara Bellar, 2014, L’école en vie by Mathilde Syre, 2016, The Teacher Is the Child by Alexandre Mourot, or Une idée folle, by Judith Grumbach, 2017, To Be Rather Than to Have by Agnès Fouilleux, 2018.
Creativity and independence
These films all aim to capture the enthusiasm, dedication, and passion for teaching through alternative educational approaches.
Returning to *The School of Change*—a title that is a manifesto in itself—the filmmakers have succeeded in showing that rethinking school requires a multitude of small gestures, a caring and trusting approach from adults, and a joy in teaching that sparks children’s boundless curiosity.
By immersing themselves in the school environment, the film crew is able to capture scenes of school life that highlight important concepts such as independence and creativity, by following children and adults as they grow together at their own pace.
The challenge with all these films is to reveal the invisible aspects of how learning takes shape in the mind. By observing children and teenagers as they reflect, think, and work in groups or on projects, we begin to see the vision of a different kind of school championed by alternative educational approaches.
Contrary to popular belief, these films highlight the importance of adults, the teacher-student relationship, parents, and adherence to rules established together, as well as a commitment to high standards and discipline in work that is not at odds with enjoyment and well-being.
An educational and political initiative
Of course, these films portray these educational experiences in a positive light. The danger lies in falling into an idealized view and blind activism. Criticisms do exist and must be taken into account by alternative educational approaches.
Some studies highlight the challenges and inequalities that active learning methods can create for certain students. This raises the question of social diversity and the risk of social “cliquishness” in such schools. These films obviously do not answer all these questions, and understanding the intentions and goals of an education system beyond mere rhetoric is a daunting task.
See also:
Alternative teaching methods: a vast array with diverse political aims
Nevertheless, observing the joy of learning and teaching highlights the gap between an educational approach based on the omnipotence of disciplinary knowledge and one that seeks meaning. This should not prevent alternative educational approaches from clarifying their social and political mission in order to determine whether it will contribute to at the first sign to rethink education.
Sylvain Wagnon, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Montpellier
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.