Education for Living

Series

Series Name

This Modern Age

Issue

Issue No.

27

Date Released

Apr 1949

Length of issue (in feet)

1775

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Education for Living

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

BFI synopsis: The film shows the new approaches to teaching in primary and secondary schools. Opening shot of a small girl conducting her classmates in singing, marching and percussion. At a nursery school, the children take an afternoon rest. Secondary school children congregate in the school corridors. Etchings show early schools and bad conditions. Newly-built schools, playing fields, football, netball, open-air classes, keep-fit exercises, rugby playing, tutorials, the library, all emphasizing the conditions by which schools should be run. Emergency training schemes are started to recruit more teachers. The Home Secretary, the Rt. Hon. James Chuter Eded, speaks on juvenile delinquency. Junior school activities - dolls, painting, tea parties, modelling, gardening, wild flowers, reading, apparatus work. Crippled children have special transport to school. Canal boat children have their own school. Schooling is provided for children in hospital. Disabled children are taught to play musical instruments. A trained nurse visits schools regularly. Free cod liver oil and milk are provided. Many schools have canteens. The BBC broadcasts regular programmes to schools. Sir Alexander Fleming broadcasts on penicillin. Other items in the school curriculum include instructional films, dancing, outdoor nature study and discussion groups. The commentary points out that at the age of 11, a choice of secondary school must be made. Junior schoolchildren are shown doing intelligence tests. Classes in chemistry, woodwork, dressmaking and typing are shown. Career lectures are given. Shots of public schools. A country house acquired by Surrey County Council is converted into a boarding school. A co-ed school is shown. The question of whether the cane should be used in schools is raised. Shots of secondary school activities - the choir, concerts, dramatics, sculpture, the orchestra, painting, printing, cookery, farming, stable work, social surveys, current affairs, child care, discussion groups, mock elections and dietetics. Final shots of a small girl conducting the school percussion band.

Researcher Comments

Trade shown on 20 April 1949.

Keywords

Sport; Education and training; Children; Local government; Youth

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Enticknap, Leo. The Non-Fiction Film in Britain, 1945-1951 unpublished PhD thesis   p256.

Credits:

Producer

James Lansdale Hodson

Producer

Sergei Nolbandov

Production Co.

This Modern Age, Ltd.

Length of story (in feet)

1775

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name

British Film Institute (BFI)

Email

For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7580 7503

Address

21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN

Notes

The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).

Series held

View all series held by British Film Institute (BFI)