That'll Teach 'Em

Each series follows around 30 teenage students who have recently completed their GCSEs as they are taken back to a 1950s/1960s style British boarding school. The show sets out to analyse whether the standards that were integral to the school life of the time helped to produce better exam results, to the current GCSE results and to compare certain contemporary educational methods with modern ones (e.g. vocational vs. academic focus for the less "gifted").

As part of the experience, the participants are expected to board at a traditional school house, abiding by strict discipline, adopting to 1950s/1960s diet and following a strict uniform dress code, the only difference being no use of corporal punishment as it was made illegal in 1986, and in all private schools in England and Wales in 1998. Throughout the series, a number of students have either been expelled for misconduct, or have chosen to leave the school voluntarily.

After four weeks, the students then take their final exams, produced to the same standard as contemporary GCE O Levels and CSEs.

There were three series of the show, the first airing in August 2003 (recreating a 1950s grammar school and featuring academically high-achieving pupils), the second in August 2004 (a 1960s secondary modern and the academically average or poor) and the third and final series in April 2006 (a 1950s grammar school again, this time focusing on practical sciences and with single-sex classes).

For the third series, a spin-off series, That'll Test 'Em, aired on More4 after the main programme. It saw pupils featured in the That'll Teach 'Em episode just aired being quizzed in competition with their parents on topics that they should have known well after their time in 1950s education.

The first and second series of the programme were filmed at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe. The third series was filmed at St Joseph's College in Ipswich.

The format has been adapted in France, Spain, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands. The international rights are distributed by DRG.

Country	Title	TV channel(s)	Seasons	Distribution
United Kingdom (original format)	That'll Teach 'Em	Channel 4	3	5 August 2003 – 2 September 2003 24 August 2004 – 21 September 2004 4 April 2006 – 2 May 2006
France	Le Pensionnat	M6	3	2 September 2004 – 7 October 2004 1 September 2005 – 13 October 2005 30 September 2013 – 21 October 2013
Norway	Internatet Feriekolonien	TV Norge	2	14 September 2005 – 16 November 2005 11 January 2007 - 15 March 2007
Belgium (Flanders)	De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig	SBS VT4	3	November 2006 11 October 2007 2008
Netherlands	Dat zal ze leren!	RTL 5	1	4 September 2006 – 30 October 2006
Spain	Curso del 63 Curso del 73	Antena 3 neox	2	6 October 2009 – 10 November 2009 2 September 2012 – 30 September 2012
Germany	Die harte Schule der 50er Jahre	ZDF	1	19 May 2005 – 9 June 2005
Italy	Il collegio	Rai 2	5	2 January 2017 – 13 January 2017 26 September 2017 – 17 October 2017 12 February 2019 – 12 March 2019 22 October 2019 – 26 November 2019 27 October 2020 – 15 December 2020

• danielpemberton.com - Website of composer of music for the show