History lesson for teachers in controlling a class

As cult heroes go, Mr Grimes the maths teacher is an unlikely candidate. But the short 1947 film, Maintaining Classroom Discipline, in which he stars, is on its way to becoming a surprise hit with Britain's teachers. This is probably more than can be said for today's speech by the education secretary, Ed Balls, on the same subject.

The Behaviour4Learning website for trainee teachers, set up by the government's Training and Development Agency for schools (TDA), normally gets an average of fewer than 100 viewers for its clips. But with Mr Grimes it has taken off, attracting more than 3,000 views of the film since it was unearthed by academics at Northampton University who run the site.

On teacher training courses it is being used to stimulate discussion. Terry Hayden, of the University of East Anglia, told the Times Education Supplement that although the clip had a quaint and corny feel it was useful in showing the sophisticated and complex skills needed by teachers.

Perhaps the appeal is the nostalgic black and white world in which the classroom teacher wears an impeccable double-breasted suit and uses the blackboard with practised ease. Do today's trainee teachers ever see a blackboard? And what's that bit of white stuff he uses to write with? Or is the advice still relevant?

We see Mr Grimes getting off on the wrong foot with "the poorest class I've had in a long time". He tells them grimly: "You don't know what the word study means", before losing control as discipline deteriorates with books dropped on the floor and other shocking japes. He threatens them with detentions. "I think he's horrible," confides one girl to her friend on the verge of tears.

The know-it-all commentary blames Mr Grimes firmly for his troubles before the film re-runs the encounter with him taking a more friendly approach. Instead of upbraiding them for their hopeless test results he concedes: "Perhaps I didn't do a good job of explaining ratio." He then explains ratio in homely terms. "Mother uses it in the kitchen when she takes a recipe for a big cake and uses proportional ingredients to make a small cake." Soon one of the (not very) tough guys in the front row is muttering to his classmate: "That Grimes is a good egg."

Yes, Grimes has triumphed with a friendly attitude and a sprinkling of humour, intones the voiceover. "Respect is a more desirable moulder of behaviour than fear."

Philip Garner, the site's project director, said nervous trainees liked being able to explore the rather threatening issue of behaviour through an old-fashioned and obviously acted film. But he said the message of the Mr Grimes film of pre-empting trouble and building a relationship with the students is still the advice from everyone from the government downwards. "If it is 'us against them', with the teacher feeling embattled, they are on a hiding to nothing," said Garner.