Featured Documentary

他乡的童年 / Childhood Elsewhere

Director: Zhou Yijun (周轶君) | 6 Episodes | 2019

A groundbreaking six-part documentary series examining education systems across Finland, Japan, India, Israel, the United Kingdom, and China. War correspondent and mother of two, Zhou Yijun, explores what makes each nation’s approach to childhood learning unique—from Finland’s no-grading philosophy to Japan’s emphasis on collective harmony, India’s ‘happiness curriculum,’ Israel’s culture of questioning authority, and British elite schooling traditions. The series culminates with a reflective return to China, examining how global perspectives illuminate local educational challenges. Rated 9.2/10 on Douban.

Watch: Youku (优酷) | OnDemandChina

Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School

Production: BBC | 3 Episodes | 2015

A social experiment documentary in which five Chinese teachers implement traditional Chinese teaching methods with British students at Bohunt School in Hampshire, UK. The series explores profound cultural clashes between pedagogical approaches—Chinese emphasis on discipline, memorization, and collective achievement versus British focus on individual expression and interactive learning. The experiment culminates in comparative examinations, sparking international debate about the transferability of educational practices across cultural contexts.

Watch: Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School | BBC iPlayer

Education Without Borders – A documentary about migration and education in Europe

Production: Germany | ETUCE | 2019

A documentary film produced by ETUCE that follows the project “European Sectoral Social Partners in Education promoting effective integration of migrants and refugees in education”, focusing on schools and classrooms in Spain, Serbia and Belgium. The documentary shows how teachers, school leaders and education unions work with newly arrived children and unaccompanied minors to guarantee their right to education, support language learning, value home languages and multiple identities, and build inclusive school environments despite segregation risks and difficult socio‑economic conditions.​

Watch : Education Without Borders

Project page​

ETUCE–EFEE project information and accompanying research report​

“Suvemäe – Pioneer of Possibility”

Estonia | QUEST – Quality Education in Europe for Sustainable Social Transformation | 2023

How a ‘school in a school’ in Tallinn could pave the way for transforming public education in Europe” is a brillant film documentary produced by QUEST (Quality Education in Europe for Sustainable Social Transformation) that portrays Suvemäe‑TKG, a fully democratic branch embedded within a public art gymnasium in Tallinn, Estonia. Through interviews with students, teachers, the school leadership and democratic‑education expert Derry Hannam, the film shows how Suvemäe shares decision‑making with young people, replaces grades with formative feedback, cultivates social and emotional skills alongside academic learning, and experiments with a negotiated curriculum as a possible model for transforming mainstream public schools in Europe.​

Watch : Suvemäe – Pioneer of Possibility

Kids – School and Learning

iProduction: Germany | ARTE | 2024

A 30‑minute ARTE documentary that follows children from different European countries in their everyday school lives and combines their experiences with recent findings from psychology, neuroscience and pedagogy on how children learn best, cope with stress, and stay motivated in class. Through portraits such as Amani, who loves school, Olga, who discovers programming and starts dreaming of becoming a robotics engineer, and Alexandra, a Ukrainian pupil learning in French, the film explores conditions for successful learning, the challenges of multilingual schooling and the opportunities and risks of digitalisation in education.​​

Watch : Kids – School and Learning

Education for Sustainable Future – Inspiring Practices from Europe

ETUCE | 2022

The film documentary presents concrete examples of how schools, teachers and unions across Europe are integrating environmental sustainability and climate education into everyday teaching and vocational training. The film showcases classroom projects, whole‑school approaches and union initiatives that promote green skills, democratic participation and social justice, illustrating the role of education workers in supporting the ecological transition and advocating for climate education for all.​

Watch :  Education for Sustainable Future – Inspiring Practices from Europe​

After Order: Europe’s Transition to a Post-Western World, 1989-2023

Timothy Garton Ash’s lecture “After Order: Europe’s Transition to a Post‑Western World, 1989‑2023” (Berggruen Research Center at Peking University, 22nd Berggruen Seminar Series) traces Europe’s path from the Cold War “post‑war” order through the “post‑wall” era after 1989 to the current, more fragmented “post‑Western” world, drawing on his book Homelands: A Personal History of Europe. He analyses a first phase of liberal expansion (1989–2007: EU/NATO enlargements, spread of liberal democracy) followed by a “cascade of crises” since 2008 (financial and Eurozone crises, rise of populism, refugee and health crises, and the Russo‑Ukrainian war), and asks what role Europe can still play in a global landscape increasingly shaped by “multi‑aligned” rather than strictly Western/non‑Western powers.​

Watch : After Order: Europe’s Transition to a Post-Western World

FreshEd with Will Brehm

Host: Will Brehm, University of Canberra | 400+ Episodes | Since 2015

The leading academic podcast in comparative and international education, featuring in-depth interviews with established and early-career researchers. Episodes are transcribed and translated into Mandarin, French, Arabic, Vietnamese, and Portuguese. Through the xChina initiative, FreshEd collaborates on programs teaching Mandarin-English translation. Topics span decolonization, globalization, policy transfer, PISA impacts, indigenous knowledge, and education in emergencies. Used in university courses worldwide with nearly one million downloads.

Listen: FreshEd Podcast | Apple Podcasts