55 Films/TV Shows with an Educator as the Protagonist

Abbott Elementary (2021-?)
Comedy series is about the lives of a group of dedicated teachers that work at Abbott Elementary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania one of the worst public schools in the country. 

Anne of Avonlea (1975/1987)
Based on the second book in the Anne of Green Gables series Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery [First Published in 1909] Anne Shirley is 16 and has graduated from high school. She starts her first job as a teacher facing the challenges of new career. 

A.P. Bio (2018-2021) 
Harvard Graduate Jack Griffen is a professor at Stanford College when he loses his job due to social media. Having few choices, he moves back to his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. He takes a job as a teacher for A.P. Biology at his old high school. Hating his life, he seeks revenge on the people he blames for current situation with the help of his students. 

Bad Teacher (2011/2014)
Middle school teacher that hates her job, coworkers, and students is about to leave teaching when she dumped by her wealthy fiancé; Forcing her to return to the classroom. Not happy with this she sets out to find a husband and earn money. 

The Bells of St. Mary's (1945/1959)
Catholic Father Charles O'Malley is sent to St. Mary's an old inner city parochial school in in on the verge of being shut down. He is there to help run the school and church with a group of nuns lead by Sister Mary Benedict. They have different ideas on running the school, taking care of children, and saving the parish. 

Beyond The Blackboard (2011) 
Inspired by the book Nobody Don't Love Nobody by Stacey Bess [First Published in 1994] Stacey Bess is a 24-year-old teacher just out of college and her first job is at a school within a homeless shelter for families in Utah. She changes the life of the children she teaches. 

The Bionic Woman (1976-1978)
Spinoff of The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978) After Tennis Pro Jamie Sommers is injured in a freak skydiving accident, she is made into a cyborg by the US Government. Having to give up her sports career she becomes a schoolteacher and secret agent for the Office of Scientific Investigation battling spies, robots, aliens, and injustice. 

Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Based on the novel Blackboard Jungle by Evan Hunter [First Published in 1954]. Taking place in North Manual High School an all-boys school in New York City. Idealistic new English teacher Richard Dadier starts quickly clashes with the trouble making leaders in the school. As he tries to bring discipline to the school troubles escalate and he must decide to stay or take another job at a different school. 

Boston Public (2000-2004)
Set in a public high school in Boston, Massachusetts the series revolves around a group of teachers and their students as they try to get through the school year. 

Children of a Lesser God (1986)
James Leeds is hired to teach speech class for the school of the deaf. At the school he becomes interested in 25-year-old Sarah Norman former student and current custodian of the school. He peruses her and they start dating. They fall in love, but they have trouble with commutating and knowing what the other wants. After a breakup they reconcile and agree to find a way to make the relationship work. Based on the play Children of a Lesser God by Mark Medoff [First Published in 1980]. 

Christy (1994-1995)
Based on the novel Christy by Catherine Marshall [First Published in 1967] In 1912 nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston leaves her well to do home in Ashville North Carolina to teach the children of Cutter Gap, Tennessee.  A place of impoverished people, Folk beliefs, and moonshiners that are not eager for changes she brings. 

Class of 1984 (1982)
Music teacher Andrew Norris is starting a new job at Lincoln High School. He clashes with Peter Stegman the leader of a criminal organization that operates within and out of the school resulting in a battle of wills that will only end when one of them is dead. 

Class of 1999 (1990)
In a high school that the police have given up on the new principal has decided to take part in a government experiment that uses reprogramed military robots as teachers. However, the robots malfunction and start using extreme methods to deal with problem students. 

Cooties (2014)
Chicken Nuggets that have been contaminated with a strange new virus are sent to an elementary school cafeteria in Illinois the children that eat them mutate into savage cannibals. A group of teachers discover what has happened and try to escape. 

Dangerous Minds (1995)/(1996-1997)
Based on the memoir My Posse Don't Do Homework by LouAnne Johnson [First Published in 1992] Former journalist and an officer in the US Marines LouAnne Johnson becomes a teacher for an inner-city school with a difficult class. She uses music, poetry, and other unconventional teaching methods to connect with her students and help them advance through the educational system. 

Dead Poets Society (1989)
Set in 1959 at a private all boys school in New England the new English professor John Keating encourages his students to find inspiration through poetry and to think for themselves rather than fall into conformity and group thinking. Changing his students lives. 

The Emperor's Club (2002)
Inspired by the short story The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin [First Published in 1994] Set in the 1970's History teacher William Hundert is a dedicated educator that that gets a Sedgewick Bell a rebel and non-conformer. William Hundert tries to install morals, ethics, and discipline into the boy even giving extra help and privileges only to fail in that goal. This leads him to regretting putting so much time and energy on the boy while other students did not get the time or extra help became men that he could be proud of. 

Fist Fight (2017) 
Roosevelt High School is going through a period of layoffs English Andy Campbell is on the short list to be laid off when he gets the history teacher Ron Strickland fired. Ron Challenges Andy to a schoolyard fist fight after school. Andy wanting to get out of it tries a lot of unsuccessful antics and has to go through with it. 

Front of the Class (2008)
Based on the memoir Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had by Brad Cohen [First Published in 2005]. Brad Cohen grows up with difficulties because of Tourette's. With the help of his mother, he is able to learn about his condition and reach his goal of becoming a teacher. 

Freedom Writers (2007)
Based on the book The Freedom Writers Dairy by Erin Gruwell and The Freedom Writers [First Published in 1999].   Set in 1994 Erin Gruwell starts her first teaching job at Woodrow Willson High School in Long Beach, California. She learns about the students and uses unusual teaching techniques to help the students. 

Gods Not Dead 2 (2016)
Sequel to Gods Not Dead (2014) High school history teacher Grace Wesley (A Christian) is asked by a about Jesus Christ she answers the question. When the students' parents hear of this, they get an ACLU lawyer seek to have the teacher punished. Grace Wesley fights back in court and setting things up for the sequel. 

Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939/1969/1984/2003)
Based on the book Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton [First Published in1934] A schoolteacher near his retirement reflects on his life teaching at the Brookfield School a public boarding for boys, his brief marriage that ended in tragedy and his fulfillment in being a teacher.

Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955)
Based on the novel Good Morning, Miss Dove by Frances Grey Patton [First Published in 1947]. Miss Dove is a Geography teacher for Ceder Grove School one day she feels debilitating pain and sends for the Doctor and is hospitalized. s she is being treated she thinks back on her life with taking a teaching position to repay her father's debts and the students she taught that became successful productive members of society. 

GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka (1998) (1999-2000) (2012) GTO: The Movie (1999)
Former juvenal delinquent and biker gang leader becomes a high school teacher with the goal of becoming the greatest teacher ever and make school fun. His first assignment is to a class of students that were as bad as him. Through some wild antics and sincerity, he gets his students to trust him as he helps them with their problems. 

Hangin’ With Mr. Copper (1992-1997)
Teacher and Basketball Coach Mark Cooper works at an Oakland High School where he lives with two female roommates helps his students and tries to renter professional basketball. 

Head of the Class (1986-1991) (2021)
A teacher is hired to head a class of gifted prodigy students that are to win awards, raise the prestige and GPA of the school. The teacher helps the students with academic and personal problems. 

High School High (1996)
Spoof of the high school movies with somebody coming in and making things better. Richard Clark leaves his wealthy school to teach at a poor inner-city school where he can make a difference. By reaching some of the students, helping them graduate and fighting a dangerous criminal organization he really makes a difference. 

Hoosiers (1986)
Based on a true story Coach Norman Dale is hired by a small rural town in Indiana and takes the team to the state championships. 

Kindergarten Cop (1990)
LAPD Detective John Kimble is after dangerous criminal Cullen Crisp. Believing that he can find him through his ex-wife and son he goes undercover as a Kindergarten teacher. Out of his element he struggles with handling a class of five- and six-year old's. And when Cullen Crisp comes can he keep everybody safe.  

Lean On Me (1989)
Based on a true story East Side High has become a failing school full of violence, gangs, and drug use former teacher Joe Clark is brought back as the principal. With a combination of orthodox and unorthodox policies he turns the school around. However, when city officials object to how he has been running the school, they hold an investigation and may destroy the progress he has made.   

The Legend of Sleepy Hallow (1922, 1954, 1980, 1999) 
Based on The Legend of Sleepy Hallow and Other Stories by Washington Irving [First Published in 1820]. Ichabod Crane a schoolteacher in the town of Sleepy Hallow is in a courtship battle with the local blacksmith Abraham Brom Bones Van Brunt for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel the only daughter of a wealthy landowner.  On Halloween night at a party Ichabod is attending the town’s ghost stories are told including the Tale of the Headless Horseman. After the party has ended runs into the horseman and tries to escape only to never be heard from again.  

Mr. Hollands Opus (1995)
Mr. Holland is a musician and composer whose dream is to create a symphony. Not making much with music he takes a temporary job as a music teacher at a high school. Finding that the students are engaging with classic music he incorporates modern and pop music into his class to the annoyance of the administration. As the years pass comes to love teaching and does create his masterpiece. 

Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher (1996-1998)
Teacher Nick Freno works at Gerald R Ford Middle School while trying to get his big break as an actor. After the first season the middle school is turned into a high school by the district. 

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) (1978) 
Based on the novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark [First Published in 1961]. Set in the 1930's Jean Brodie is a teacher at Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, Scotland.  At the school she teaches her students her ideas/ideals about romance, art, culture, politics, and philosophy rather than the official conservative syllabus. When her mistakes catch up to her, she loses her position while one of her top students loses the idealized image Jean Brodie works to create. 

The Principal (1987) 
When teacher Rick Latimer is arrested for vandalism and fighting, he is punished incentivized to resign by being appointed the principal of Brandel High School a school where the teens from other schools do not want, a place of violence, and drugs. Rick Latimer unwilling to quit makes changes to the school and enters into a battle to the death with the high school drug lord.  

Rachel, Rachel (1968)
Inspired the novel A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence [First Published in 1966]    A schoolteacher in Connecticut reunites with a friend from her younger days and decides to make changes to her before it is too late. 

Rita (2012-2020)
TV series from Denmark; Rita Madsen is a good teach that has problems when it comes to her personal life. 

The Ron Clark Story (2006)
Based on the true story Ron Clark goes to teach at an inner-city elementary school with a difficult class in New York where his innovative teaching methods change the kids' lives. 

School of Life (2005)
History teacher Norman Warner has won the teacher of the year award for 43 years at Fallbrook Middle School when he passes. His less popular but dedicated son Biology teacher Matt Warner dreams of winning this award when new history teacher Michael D'Angelo becomes the new favorite of the school, he tries to sabotage the new teacher. Until he learns that winning the award will not help him surpass father, he works on changing his teaching style and being more flexible.  

School of Rock (2003) (2016-2018) 
After Musician Dewey Finn gets kicked out of his rock band, he pretends to be a substitute teacher where he is hired for teach a class of high achieving students at a private school. Learning how musically talented his students are he teaches then to love and play rock and roll with the goal of winning a battle of the bands contest.

Servant of the People (2015-2019)
Ukrainian High School history teacher Vasiliy Petrovich Goloborodko is elected the President of Ukrainian after he is seen venting his frustrations about the government on social media. The main actor actually became the President of Ukrainian in 2019. 

Sometimes They Come Back (1991)
Based on the short story; Sometimes They Come Back by Steven King [First Published in 1974]. Jim Norman takes a job teaching at the high school in his hometown where he witnessed his brother getting killed by a local gang and then the gang in a train accident. When students start dying in his class only to be replaced with teens that look like his brothers' killers, he must face the traumas of his past and send the ghosts back to where they belong. 

Stand and Deliver (1989)
Based on a true story Math teacher Jamie Escalante who used a variety of teaching techniques to prepare a bunch of poor, unmotivated students at Garfield High School in California to take and pass an advanced placement Calculus Exam.

The Steve Harvey Show (1996-2002)
Musician turned music teacher Steve Hightower works at the Booker T Washington high school in Chicago, Illinois. At the school he tries to win his long-lost love Regina Grier, help his friend get out of trouble because of his schemes, and help his students. 

The Substitute (1996)
When Mercenary Shale fiancé is attacked and injured by gang members connected to her students at Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. He goes in as a substitute teacher to investigate. He finds a drug distribution network run by a drug kingpin that he vows to take down with the help of his squad. 

Summer School (1987)
Freddy Shoop a PE teacher is forced to teach high school remedial English if he wants to gain tenure. Not taking it seriously both he and the student's goof off most of the summer. Until he is threatened with being fired unless his students pass the final exam. 

Teachers (1984)
John F. Kennedy High School in Columbus, Ohio is facing various lawsuits. So, the administration is removing problem facility. Social studies teacher Alex Jurel a frustrated burned-out teacher is on their list. They set him up to be fired when he starts to overcome his burnout by trying to help his students and new love interest with a fellow teacher and by taking on the school administration.  

Teachers (2001-2004)
British comedy series about a group of teachers going about their daily lives at a rundown public school.

This is My Land (1943)
Set during WWII in Europe the Nazi's invade and occupy a town where the people choose to cooperate or resist. Albert Lorey the school master is neutral until a resistor sabotages a train and kills two soldiers. When one of the resentence is caught and Lorey is implicated he put on trial where he calls for resistance and faces bravely faces what is to come. 

To Sir, with Love (1967)
Based on the novel To Sir, With Love by E.R, Braithwaite [First Published in 1959]. Engineer Mark Thackeray takes a temporary job as a teacher in a high school located in London's East End. He handles the class with strict discipline and teaches them how to behave, about art culture and life.  

Up The Down Staircase (1967)
Based on the novel Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman [First Published in 1964]. Sylvia Barrett is a new idealistic English teacher at Calvin College High school in New York. She quickly gets frustrated with the paperwork, the bureaucrats, and the burned-out teachers that disagree with teaching. By the end of the year, she will decide to stay or resign. 

The Wave (1981) (2008)
Based on a true story a history teacher starts a classroom experiment called the Wave.  He announces himself as the leader and instructs the students to follow his rules and philosophy. The experiment takes on a life of its own.
The 2008 version changes the setting to Germany and escalates on what actually happened. 

Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-1979)
Gabe Kotter is a high school teacher that returns to his old inner city New York City high school to teach a new generation of teens from a similar background. 

When Calls the Heart (2013) (2014-?)
When Calls the Heart by Janet Oke [First Published in 1983] Elizabeth Thatcher a teacher leaves her comfortable life with her wealthy family to teach in a rural coal mining town.  Elizabeth finds a community she treasures, a fulfilling career and falls in love with a Canadian Mountie.  

World's Greatest Dad (2009)
Lance Clayton is a writer and teacher with a life that is not going well. When his son dies in an embarrassing accident, he covers it up and writes a suicide journal. When it gets published and becomes a best seller. Lance finds keeping up with the lies and success difficult to handle.