A small Oxford school for television reporters and camera operators
We teach the practical side of television journalism in small groups, with tutors who have worked in broadcast news and a focus on accuracy and fairness.
How the school came about
currenlu was founded in 2014 in Oxford for people who wanted to work in television news and needed somewhere to practise properly. We began with a handful of sessions and a single camera. The approach has stayed the same since.
The idea was simple: reporters and camera operators rarely get the chance to learn together, yet on a real shoot they depend on each other from the first minute. We built our teaching around that dependence, so a reporter understands why the operator needs ten more seconds and the operator understands what the script requires.
Early classes were small and informal, held in a rented room with borrowed kit. What mattered was that every student handled the equipment and appeared on camera, and that every attempt was watched back and discussed. That habit of recording, reviewing and trying again remains at the centre of our courses.
As the school grew, we added subjects that students kept asking about: interviewing, editing, live coverage and the legal and ethical limits of broadcasting. Each was added only when we had a tutor who had done the work professionally and could teach it clearly.
Today the school is based on Cowley Court Lane in Oxford, with four tutors covering training, camera work, reporting and post-production. Classes are still kept small, and the courses still run on the same pattern of short teaching, supervised practice and honest feedback.
We do not promise anyone a job. What we offer is a realistic picture of newsroom standards, plenty of supervised practice and tutors who will tell you plainly what is working and what is not.
Television news is a craft, and craft is learned by doing a thing badly in a safe room until you can do it well in an unsafe street.
Helen Marsh, Head of Training
How a course actually runs
Each course follows a pattern we have refined over a decade. It is built to give students as much hands-on time as the group size allows.
Mixed roles in one room
Reporters and camera operators train together, so each learns what the other needs when a story is being gathered under time pressure.
Equipment in hand
Students use broadcast-style cameras, microphones and edit software from the first session, so the kit becomes familiar quickly.
Watch, review, repeat
Every exercise is recorded and watched back with a tutor. Students try again with specific points to work on.
Short teaching blocks
Explanations are kept brief and followed directly by practice, so ideas are tested while they are still fresh.
Working tutors' standards
Tutors measure student work against what a newsroom would accept, and say so clearly when something falls short.
Law and ethics throughout
Questions of consent, privacy and fairness come up in practical sessions as well as in the classroom.
Principles in daily practice
Accuracy
Students are asked to verify before they film and again before they cut. A caption, a figure or a quotation that cannot be checked is removed, however good it sounds.
Craft
We value the unglamorous parts of the job: a clean shot list, tidy audio, a script read aloud twice. Careful habits show up on screen as confidence.
Fairness
Students learn to give people a fair chance to respond and to edit without changing meaning. We discuss the effect of a cut on the person in the shot.
Who learns here and what they take away
Our students are mostly aspiring and early-career people who want to work in television news. Some come to us for one subject, others take several courses over a few months.
Aspiring reporters
Many reporters come to us with writing experience but little time on camera. We work on voice, posture and the way a script is written for the ear rather than the page. Students deliver pieces to camera repeatedly, watch them back with a coach and learn to hear their own habits. By the end they know how to prepare for a report and how to handle a live link when things change.
Camera operators
Operators often arrive with technical knowledge but want more experience in the field. We cover framing, exposure, audio and handheld movement in changing conditions, then link that work to the edit so they see how their footage is used. Daniel Okoye teaches the sessions and pays close attention to the small decisions that make footage usable.
Early-career journalists
Those already working in a newsroom sometimes need a gap filled, such as editing, interviewing or the legal limits of broadcasting. They can join the relevant course without taking the whole programme. Tutors adjust exercises to the level in the room, so experienced students are stretched and newer ones are not left behind.