
What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedSerial Teachers
Pierre-François Martin-Laval · Film · 2013
If you loved Serial Teachers, start with Bad Education (Jack Whitehall, 2012) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 2 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Serial Teachers across media.
What hooked you in Serial Teachers was the way chaotic incompetence and unconventional approaches transform a rigid, failing academic environment.
Books on the same thread
Bouvard and Pecuchet
Gustave Flaubert · Book · 2005
Explores: The Absurdity of Knowledge, Failed Intellectualism, Critique of Bourgeois Society.
Much like the faculty in Serial Teachers, the protagonists here embrace a brand of failed intellectualism that perfectly mirrors the absurd, systematic breakdown of the education system.

Nicholas in Trouble
René Goscinny, Jean-Jacques Sempé · Book · 2008
Explores: Childhood, School Life, Mischief.
If the classroom anarchy of Serial Teachers resonated with you, this classic captures that same spirit of mischief where the students constantly outmaneuver the authority figures in charge.
Discworld
Terry Pratchett · Book · 1983
Explores: Social Commentary, Bureaucracy, Anthropomorphic Personification.
The bureaucracy and social satire found in Serial Teachers find a broader, more imaginative home here, where systemic dysfunction is treated with a sharp and hilarious comedic lens.

Black Schoolmaster
Hawke Jarry · Book · 1970
Explores: Education, Racial Identity, Social Inequality.
While Serial Teachers plays for laughs, this narrative shares the core premise of a teacher entering a challenging high school, focusing on the struggle to impact student lives.
Series on the same thread

Bad Education
Jack Whitehall · Series · 2012
Shares 2 threads with Serial Teachers: Incompetence, Workplace Comedy.
Alfie Wickers is the spiritual cousin to the staff in Serial Teachers, embodying the exact same brand of lovable incompetence within a struggling school environment you already enjoy.

Merlí
Héctor Lozano · Series · 2015
Explores: Inspirational teacher, Student-teacher relationship, Nonconformity.
This show echoes the nonconformist spirit of Serial Teachers, trading slapstick for philosophy as a rogue educator disrupts the status quo to connect with his disillusioned teenage students.
Podcasts on the same thread

Small Town Murder
James Pietragallo, Jimmie Whisman · Podcast · 2026
Explores: provincial life, tragic irony, forensic breakdown.
The comedic spin on tragic local failure in this podcast mirrors the way Serial Teachers finds humor in the absolute collapse of a failing high school institution.

Recycle Bin
fpt. · Podcast · 2025
Explores: internet culture, tech industry news, casual conversation.
The satirical analysis and casual banter here replicate the witty, observational energy that makes the workplace dynamics in Serial Teachers feel so relatable and sharply observed.
Common questions
Is Serial Teachers based on a true story about a French school?
Serial Teachers is a 2013 fictional comedy film directed by Pierre-François Martin-Laval. It depicts a satirical scenario where the worst teachers in France are assigned to the country's lowest-performing school, Jules Ferry High School, in an attempt to improve the students' poor baccalaureate pass rate.
What is the premise behind the plot of Serial Teachers?
The plot of Serial Teachers follows the Inspector of Schools at Jules Ferry High School, which has a twelve percent baccalaureate pass rate. To address these failing standards, the inspector decides to hire the worst teachers in the country to educate the school's most difficult pupils.
How does the academic performance at Jules Ferry High School drive the plot of Serial Teachers?
The academic performance at Jules Ferry High School is the primary catalyst for the events in Serial Teachers. Because only twelve percent of pupils successfully obtain their baccalaureate, the Inspector of Schools is forced to abandon conventional methods and recruit the worst teachers to handle the students.
Who directed the 2013 film Serial Teachers?
Serial Teachers was directed by Pierre-François Martin-Laval. The film centers on the experimental staffing strategy at Jules Ferry High School, where the administration attempts to raise the school's low baccalaureate pass rate by pairing the worst students with the worst teachers available in France.