Educating... | |
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Genre |
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Created by | Twofour |
Directed by |
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Starring | Various students and teachers |
Voices of | David Clews |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 6 |
No. of episodes | 47 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Editors |
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Camera setup |
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Running time | 60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
Production company | Twofour |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 4 |
Release | 22 September 2011 – present |
Related | |
Our School |
Educating... is a British documentary reality television programme airing on Channel 4 which first aired on 22 September 2011, the show has been running for five series. It uses a fly-on-the-wall format to show the everyday lives of the staff and pupils of secondary schools all over the UK.
After four years off screen, Channel 4 confirmed in July 2024 that Educating would return for its seventh series and would see the show return to Thornhill Community Academy in Yorkshire. The series will be filmed over the educating 2024/2025 season and is set to air in Winter 2025 on Channel 4. [1]
Series | Title | Episodes | Originally aired | Average viewers (millions) | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||||
1 | Essex | 7 | 22 September 2011 | 3 November 2011 | 1.99 | |
2 | Yorkshire | 10 | 5 September 2013 | 21 August 2014 | 3.46 | |
3 | The East End | 8 | 4 September 2014 | 23 October 2014 | 1.44 | |
4 | Cardiff | 8 | 25 August 2015 | 13 October 2015 | 1.71 | |
5 | Greater Manchester | 8 | 31 August 2017 | 19 October 2017 | 2.54 | |
6 | Greater Manchester 2 | 4 | 3 November 2020 | 17 November 2020 | 1.81 |
Educating Essex was commissioned by Channel 4's commissioning editor for documentaries, Mark Raphael, [2] after the channel pledged an extra £6.7 million to documentary programming in 2011. [3] It is similar to other fly-on-the-wall series broadcast by Channel 4 such as One Born Every Minute , 24 Hours in A&E , The Hotel and The Family , the last of which both director David Clews and series producer Beejal-Maya Patel had previously worked on. [4]
Educating Yorkshire was commissioned by Channel 4 after the success of Educating Essex two years previously. There was interest from about 100 schools in starring in the new series. David Brindley, producer and director of the series, said "it was undoubtedly easier to find a school this time around". In January 2012, Jonny Mitchell, the headmaster of Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury accepted an offer to be a part of a new series based in his school. [5] The school had had a bad reputation, ranking in the sixth percentile of English schools. [6] Mitchell became headmaster in September 2011; in 2012 it reached the 94th percentile. This improvement was one of the reasons it was chosen for the series with Mitchell saying "I was proud of what we'd achieved and felt we had a story to tell". [5] Mitchell also said "Dewsbury has suffered quite a lot in the last ten or 15 years with some adverse press. I thought this was an opportunity for us to show the positive side of the town as well". [7]
Educating the East End was commissioned by Channel 4 after the success of Educating Yorkshire in 2013 and Educating Essex in 2011. The documentary followed a school in East London's Walthamstow. [8] Ten sixty-minute episodes were commissioned; [8] the first eight were shown from September to October 2014 with the other two episodes acting as specials. The original title for the series was Educating Walthamstow but shortly before transmission the title was changed to Educating the East End. [9]
The follow-up to Educating the East End was announced by Channel 4 on 9 December 2014. [10] Producers had looked to schools in Scotland, Ireland and Wales for the new series before settling on Willows High School in Cardiff. Executive producer David Clews revealed "you can really feel the charm and character of the place as soon as you walk through the gates and start talking to the students". Joy Ballard initially declined TwoFour's invitation before changing her mind a month later. In preparation for the programme she took advice from Johnny Mitchell, head of Thornhill Community Academy in Educating Yorkshire . The first six weeks of production saw the documentary makers observing the school and "picking up stories". Filming began in October and lasted until Christmas. [11]
After the fourth series of the Educating series ended it was announced that the series would be shelved till 2017 to give the show a break and a rest. [12] It was announced on 22 December 2016 by Channel 4 that the Educating series would be returning in 2017 with a fifth series after a two-year break. The series was again filmed using fly-on-the-wall cameras and filmed the lives of teachers and students. The fifth series was filmed in Salford, Greater Manchester. The first trailer was released on 30 August 2017 with the series premiering on 31 August 2017 on Channel 4.
Channel 4 confirmed in January 2018 that the Educating programme was renewed for two further series. For the first time, the series would return to the same school for the sixth and seventh series, in Manchester. [13] The sixth and seventh series were set to be filmed back to back, with the sixth series set to comprise 16 hour-long episodes. [14] However, after the school was placed into special measures by Ofsted in 2018 following reports of headmaster Drew Povey off-rolling students, Channel 4 later confirmed that the episodes would not be aired in light of the findings. [15] In 2020, it was revealed that Channel 4 would air the unaired episodes, beginning at 9:15pm on 3 November. The unaired episodes have been promoted as being a second series of Educating Greater Manchester. [16]
After four years off screen Channel 4 confirmed in July 2024 that Educating would return for its seventh series and would see the show return to Thornhill Community Academy in Yorkshire. The series will be filmed over the educating 2024/2025 season and is set to air in Winter 2025 on Channel 4. [1]
Year | Award | Category | Result |
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2012 | British Academy of Film and Television Arts | Television Craft and Director Factual | Won |
2014 | National Television Awards | Documentary | Won |
A spin-off series was made after the second series titled Educating: What I Wish I'd Known.... Each episode features a student from either series one or series two of Educating.... The series was made up of six seven-minute episodes. The tagline was "What is the advice you wish you could have given your teenage self?" Filmed in 2014, this series asks students from Educating Essex and Educating Yorkshire what they would have told their younger selves. However, the series was cancelled after one series. [17]
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Joey Donald Essex is an English television personality. From 2011 to 2013, he made appearances on the ITV reality series The Only Way Is Essex. In 2013 he participated in the first series of Splash! and the thirteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, where he finished in fourth place. In 2015 he won the Channel 4 series The Jump. In 2020, he appeared on the first series of Celebrity Ex on the Beach. In 2022, he participated in the eighth series of the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, finishing in sixth place and in 2023, he was the runner-up of the fifteenth series of Dancing on Ice. In 2024, he appeared on the eleventh series of Love Island, becoming the first celebrity to appear on the revived version of the show.
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Educating Essex is the first series of the British documentary television program Educating 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 pupils 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.
Educating Yorkshire is the second series of the British documentary television programme Educating broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode first series was first broadcast on 5 September 2013. Its format is based on the BAFTA Award-winning 2011 series Educating Essex. It follows the everyday lives of the staff and pupils of Thornhill Community Academy, a secondary school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. A Christmas special entitled Educating Yorkshire at Christmas was aired on 19 December 2013.
Educating the East End is the third series of the British documentary television programme Educating broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode first series was first broadcast from 4 September 2014. Its format is based on the BAFTA Award-winning 2011 series Educating Essex and the National Television Award-winning 2013 series, Educating Yorkshire. It follows the everyday lives of the staff and students of Frederick Bremer School in East London which is a comprehensive secondary school.
Educating Cardiff is the fourth series of the British documentary television programme Educating broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode series was broadcast from 25 August 2015 to 13 October 2015. The documentary follows previous instalments in the Educating... series including the BAFTA Award-winning Educating Essex (2011), Educating Yorkshire (2013) and Educating the East End (2014). Filmed at Willows High School in Cardiff, Wales, it captures every detail of life in a modern school. Educating Cardiff follows Head Teacher Joy Ballard and her team of teachers and support staff in their mission to turn the school around, transforming it from one of the worst performing schools in Cardiff into a school to be proud of.
Educating Greater Manchester is the 5th series of the BAFTA award-winning British documentary television programme Educating broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode fifth series began broadcast from 31 August 2017. The documentary follows previous installments in the Educating... series including the BAFTA Award-winning Educating Essex (2011), Educating Yorkshire (2013), Educating the East End (2014) and Educating Cardiff (2015). The fifth series was filmed at Harrop Fold School in Little Hulton, Salford.
Educating Greater Manchester 2 is the 6th series of the BAFTA award-winning British documentary television programme Educating broadcast on Channel 4. The documentary follows previous installments in the Educating... series including the BAFTA Award-winning Educating Essex (2011), Educating Yorkshire (2013), Educating the East End (2014), Educating Cardiff (2015) and Educating Greater Manchester (2017).