A FILM-MAKER has swapped his camera for the blackboard after being inspired to become a teacher while making a movie with armed forces children.

Sam Forsyth, 42, decided to change careers after ­creating Forces Kids, This is My Life, for the Royal ­Caledonian Education Trust.

He visited schools around Scotland to create the film, which explores the emotions military children experience when a parent is deployed to a combat zone.

Mr Forsyth, who spent nearly two decades making wildlife and science ­documentaries and then social enterprise films, was so inspired by the ­experience that he retrained as a teacher.

He said: "It was quite an emotional journey making the film. It was a bit of an eye-opening experience realising the complexity of the emotions involved and also the fact that teachers had to be aware and able to deal with these complex emotions so that the children could be able to learn, because if you don't have that emotional stability then learning is not going to happen.

"It was that realisation that led to me thinking I could benefit from crossing that border and becoming a teacher."

The film, produced in 2012, features the experiences of more than 30 primary and secondary school children in Scotland who have a parent or family members serving in the army.

Schools that help make the film included Colinton primary in Edinburgh, Ardvreck College in Crieff, Perthshire, Queen Victoria MoD boarding school in Dunblane, Leuchars Primary in Fife and Madras College in St Andrews.

It covers areas such as how the children deal with separation and loss.