As much as teachers look forward to weekends and vacations, we know you miss the classroom. Movies about teachers are a great way to escape and either laugh at a relatable comedy or cry at a moving drama about the power of education. To facilitate your binge-watching whims, we’ve compiled this list of 100 movies that are either set in schools or specifically about teachers.
Our criteria for this list:
- Only K–12 settings. So films like Good Will Hunting and Daddy Day Care don’t make the cut.
- Documentaries and foreign films about teachers are permissible.
- Made-for-TV movies about teachers are allowed but not TV series.
Here is our first pass. What did we miss? Which movies about teachers do you hate? Which movies set in schools do you love? Let us know. And does Children of a Lesser God belong on here?
Comedies
- 21 Jump Street (2012)
- 22 Jump Street (2014) Comedy
- Bad Teacher (2011) Comedy, Cameron Diaz
- Chalk (2007)
- Election (1999)
- The English Teacher (2013)
- Fist Fight (2017)
- The Good Student (2006)
- Kindergarten Cop (1990)
- Mean Girls (2004)
- Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
- Rushmore (1999)
- School of Life (2005)
- School of Rock (2003)
- Sister Act 2 (1993)
- Strangers With Candy (2005)
- Summer School (1987)
- Teachers (1984)
Documentaries
- The First Year (2001)
- Hard Times at Douglass High (2008)
- The Hobart Shakespeareans (2005)
- Hoop Dreams (1994)
- The Lottery (2010)
- Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)
- Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding Schools (2008)
- Paper Clips (2004)
- Please Vote For Me (2008)
- Spellbound (2003)
- To Be and to Have (2002) Documentary, Foreign
- To Be Heard (2011) Documentary
- Waiting for Superman (2010)
Dramas/Thrillers
- Akeelah and the Bee (2006) Drama
- Blackboard Jungle (1955)
- The Browning Version (1951 and 1994)
- Children of a Lesser God (1986)
- Class of 1984 (1982)
- Coach Carter (2005)
- Conrack (1974)
- Dangerous Minds (1995)
- Dead Poets Society (1989)
- Detachment (2011)
- The Emperors Club (2002)
- Finding Forrester (2000)
- Freedom Writers (2007)
- Friday Night Lights (2004)
- Front of the Class (2008)
- The George McKenna Story (1986)
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939 and 1969)
- Half Nelson (2006)
- Harry Potter movies (2001–2011)
- Hoosiers (1986)
- Lean on Me (1989)
- McFarland, USA (2015)
- Miracle Worker (1962)
- Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)
- Music of the Heart (1999),
- October Sky (1999)
- Pay It Forward (2000)
- Precious (2009)
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
- The Principal (1987)
- The Principal (2015)
- Radio (2003)
- Remember the Titans (2000)
- To Sir With Love (1967)
- Up the Down Staircase (1967)
- Vision Quest (1985)
- The Wave (1981) Short Film
- The Wave (2008)
- Whiplash (2014)
- Wild Things (1998)
Foreign Films
- The Chorus (France, 2004)
- The Class (France, 2009)
- The Geographer Drank His Globe Away (Russia, 2013)
- Like Stars on Earth (India, 2008)
- Monsieur Lazhar (Belgium, 2012)
- Not One Less (South Korea, 2000)
Horror Films
- Carrie (1976 and 2013)
- The Craft (1998)
- The Faculty (1998)
- Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Musicals
Teen Movies
- 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) Teen Comedy
- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- Bring It On (2000)
- Clueless (1995)
- Cooley High (1975)
- Easy A (2010)
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
- Heathers (1988)
- High School (2012)
- Lucas (1986)
- My Bodyguard (1980)
- The Perks of Being of Wallflower (2012)
- Pretty in Pink (1986)
- Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
- School Ties (1992)
TV Movies
- Beyond the Blackboard (2010)
- Front of the Class (2008)
- High School Musical (2006)
- The Marva Collins Story (1981)
- The Ron Clark Story (2006)
