Australian film director Ray Lawrence, director of the films Lantana, Jindabyne and Bliss, directed "Teachers Make A Difference" for the NSW Teachers Federation.
The $1 million two-week television and cinema ads written by public education advocate Jane Caro will run from Sunday, featuring storylines about a new teacher and a retiring teacher.
At the launch of the "Teachers Make A Difference" campaign in Sydney today, Lawrence said he wanted to shoot in schools but the department's immediate reaction was to send an email to every school banning filming.
"The Education Department went out of their way to sabotage doing it ... it was just ridiculous, it was a shock."
Lawrence said that even when he offered the scripts to show they were non-political, the department declined to view them. He said the filming ban was a big stumbling block, but the University of NSW assisted with shooting locations.
Teachers Federation President Maurie Mulheron said no teachers would be shocked at the department's ban on filming as its officials always acted to "protect their political masters".
"Public education is seen by too many politicians as a cost as opposed to an investment in the future," he said.
Mr Mulheron said many politicians denigrated the teaching profession to weaken teachers' voices in defending the role of public education and to justify the denial of higher wages.
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