5 | Educational Film Practices

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Educational Film in East Germany (GDR) in 1950–1990 in Perspective of the “Grammar of Schooling”
von Engelhardt, Kerrin (2023) , S. 1-41
This article explores, on the one hand, the hopes that were associated with the use of educational films and investigates, on the other hand, reasons for their possible failure in East Germany (GRD). From an economic point of view, GDR pedagogues considered “films, light pictures, sound picture series, projection transparencies and television broadcasts” to be the “most rational means” for programming teaching and learning processes. But, by emphasizing this appeal, a problem as old as the debates on educational film in school appeared: the seemingly opposing position of teacher and technical teaching aid. Thus, in the history of the GDR educational film and its usage, two perspectives open up a potentially revealing field of tension: The production-side expectations published in brochures by the responsible institutions and in manuals are contrasted with the results of practical studies commissioned since the 1970s on the effectiveness of audio-visual teaching materials in the GDR. Even if the central role of the teacher was always rhetorically unquestioned, it can be assumed that the technical equipping of the classrooms in GDR’s schools can be reasonably understood as an irritation of teacher-centeredness und thus, also as an irritation of the established grammar of schooling.