‘Why teach?’  and  ‘Ideas everywhere’

Online documentary video;  video installation for events;  printed DVD.
Funding:  The University of Stirling Institute of Education

The University of Stirling Institute of Education is ranked number one in Scotland for its educational research and one of the leading schools in the UK.  To celebrate forty years of research and teacher education, PublicSpace was commissioned to produce a video exploring what was special about the institute.

In our interviews with staff and students, past and present, we sought answers to the fundamental question of  ‘What makes a stimulating environment for developing thinking and ideas about education?‘.

With good interviews and careful editing, the video offers an interesting and engaging insight into what inspires the people who work at the Stirling Institute and who studied there.  (It is a world away from the dull and predictable talking-head videos seen on so many university websites!)

The video was produced in 2 versions, for 3 different uses:

• The 17-minute video ‘Ideas everywhere’ is designed as an installation to be played on a loop as a backdrop during events held at the Institute.  The first public showing was at the 40th anniversary celebrations in June 2008.   As an installation, video has to engage the passing viewer, and make sense if the viewer joins at any time.
• Copies of the DVD were sent to several thousand past students as a memento of the 40 years, and to remind them of the Institute as a centre for continuing their professional development (CPD).   As a DVD, the video has to engage and hold the viewer in a developing account.
• The shorter 6-minute online version (above) is called ‘Why teach?’ and is designed for prospective student-teachers to view on Vimeo, YouTube and on The University of Stiring Institute of Education website.

‘Ideas everywhere’ was filmed over five days in the Stirling Institute of Education and at the interviewees’ current places of work in Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh.  It includes university archive material and observations of life in the Institute.