Challenging the Educational Imaginary: Issues of Form, Substance, and Quality in Film-Based Research

Abstract

This article addresses issues of quality in film-based educational research projects. It recommends criteria related to aesthetic form and substance as appropriate for judging the usefulness of educational films in achieving one possible goal for film-based educational research. That goal is to effectively challenge the prevailing educational imaginary. This imaginary is described as a set of images of schools and school people, rooted in the larger culture, that supports a debilitating master narrative about education. Issues of quality and utility are explored within the context of one teacher-made film exhibited at (among other places) a film festival at the author’s college of education.