“Continue as normal until the last day.”

These words have been said by many a senior leader in answer to the always-hinted-at, but never-directly-asked question of “when it is OK to ditch lessons in the last week of term and instead just stick a DVD on?”

To me, this doesn’t seem too much to ask. We need a break, after all. It’s been a long and, at times, stressful year. To top it off, our classrooms are far too hot to sit in, let alone learn in.

But some leaders refuse to let us submit to common sense. The most dictatorial amongst them will even do extra learning walks just to make sure we don’t step out of line.

While the fear of ending up in the head’s office is real, if you tread carefully, you might just be able to get the break you deserve this week.

Of course, I would never suggest that teachers directly contradict the wishes of their senior leadership team. But on the off-chance that they don't make their instructions clear enough and if you fancy being a maverick, here are some tongue-in-cheek tips for how to get away with watching a film.

Make the link to your subject explicit

Success starts with careful film selection. It’s tempting to just stick on a classic you feel your students really “ought” to have seen by now, but the trick is pick something you can clearly link to your subject. English teachers can easily link 10 Things I Hate About You to Shakespeare, although it’s more of a stretch for a physics teacher to link Rocky III to forces.

Whatever your link, make sure that you articulate it to the students, so that they can trot it out when asked by any member of senior leadership who happens to stop by.

Have resources on the desks

Once you’ve established your link, come up with a couple of learning outcomes and get these written up at the front of the room. Make the outcomes open and fairly general.

It’s useful to also dig up some resources that students can have out in front of them. Generic templates for note-taking or for analysing different elements of the film will work just fine. You’ll be surprised how many of the students will actually write something down if they have some boxes to fill in and they think that you are expecting to see work from them.

Tell some white lies

And on that note: while you and I both know that watching a film is a cop-out, the students don’t know that for sure. They might suspect it, but if you behave as though this lesson is of crucial importance, that should be enough to sow the seeds of doubt in their minds. The lesson before you’re planning to watch the film, warn your class. Make sure you mention that there will be learning outcomes, and that you will expect to see work from them by the end of the lesson.  

Don’t be scuppered by behaviour

You might want to just sit back and relax, but for the end-of-term film lesson to succeed, you need to be on behaviour management like white on rice. The last thing you need is for a behaviour incident to draw unnecessary attention to your class. So stress to the pupils that although you are watching a film today, no other school rule is to be broken. They will ask if they can eat, go on their phones, and so on. The answer is always “no”. It is essential that you tell your class how big of a risk you’re taking by putting the film on in the first place and that they must not let you down. Make a solemn face and embellish like your pay progression depends on it. And then when senior leadership come calling, you will all be ready to present a united front.

Good luck.

Omar Akbar is a science teacher and author of The Unofficial Teacher’s Manual: What they don’t teach you at training college