FILM:

21ST CENTURY
LITERACY
A strategy for film education across the UK
 “WHEN I FIRST SAW
‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ IT MADE
A WRITER OUT OF ME.”
SALMAN RUSHDIE
 Foreword
From the Chairs of BFI, Film Club,
Film Education, First Light Movies,
UK Film Council and Skillset

We live in a world of moving In the same way that we take for granted that society has a responsibility
images. To participate fully to help children to read and write – to use and enjoy words – we should take
in our society and its culture it for granted that we help children and young people to use, enjoy and
means to be as confident in understand moving images; not just to be technically capable but to be
the use and understanding of culturally literate too.
moving images as of the
Britain already has what are probably some of the best film education
printed word. Both are
initiatives in the world. However, for most young people, if they experience
essential aspects of literacy film education at all it is as isolated episodes that lack coherence and
in the twenty-first century. consistency. We want to move film education on from being a series of
disconnected experiences to becoming an integral part of every young
person’s life – a systematic process in which confidence and articulacy grow
by having the opportunity to see a wide range of films, to gain a critical
understanding of film and to enjoy the creative activity of filmmaking. The
strategy set out in this document is a first step on the road.

We want to build a wide and growing partnership with others, working formally
within the education system and informally outside it; linking with the film
industry and other cultural partners. Initially we have young people as our
focus but with a longer-term ambition to reach anyone and everyone. We want
a society where a dynamic film and moving image culture is part of every
citizen’s enjoyment. We won’t achieve that in five years or ten years, but if we
start now, we may do it in a generation.

Greg Dyke, BFI Sir Michael Bichard, Film Club Barry Jenkins OBE, Film Education

Barbara Broccoli OBE, First Light Movies Stewart Till CBE, UK Film Council Clive Jones CBE, Skillset
What is
film education?

Film education is making film more accessible to children and

young people for their enjoyment, as a means of understanding
the world and as a medium of self-expression.

Film education:

Provides children and young people with opportunities

to watch a wide range of film - in cinemas, schools and
elsewhere, using new technologies and platforms;

Encourages learning, critical understanding, debate and

conversation about films and the issues and emotions
they raise;

Enables children and young people to use film as a vehicle

for their own creativity, and encourages the film industry to
respect their voices.
What children and young people and their teachers “I usually do not like films where you have to read subtitles.
say about film education: However I think Tsotsi changed my mind completely. After a
while I forgot I was reading the subtitles and got hooked in
“Teachers have seen how, starting with film, all children the story. It was moving, watching how people in the third
regardless of ability, have been able to discuss narrative world lived. I thought the acting and the scenery was good,
in a sophisticated manner. The use of film has allowed and the film got me intrigued. A good film.”
children to learn using a medium with which they feel 15 year-old student
comfortable and able to take risks. This allows for higher
order thinking to take place which is then transferable, “I’ve gained enormously from the opportunities to refresh
as well as giving them the tools to understand the media- my thinking on ways in which we can use technology to
rich world around them.” create visual meaning.”
Literacy Adviser, West Midlands Teacher, after a Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) session
“Patience – you need a lot of patience! You need leader-
ship skills too because if you’re directing you’ve got to tell “This sort of thing doesn’t really happen to our sort, if
people what to do… you’ve got to be able to take directions you know what I mean, foster children, ‘cause they’re kind
as well, and criticism, that’s an important one.” of, not put down but sometimes not given a chance and
Teenager working on their own film it’s nice just to have this opportunity to sort of... it’s just
amazing.”
“An amazing piece of work, magnificently directed, by Young award winning filmmaker
far the best drama that I have seen in some time. The
shockingly violent scenes force you to wonder how mankind “These screenings give our students a chance to identify
can act as such savages; killing each other due to mere vicariously with people that they might never sympathise
identity and belief. Are we humans really so great when with otherwise.”
there are still such atrocities occurring in today's world?” Head of Film Studies Department on the importance
15 year-old student on Hotel Rwanda of cinema screenings for students

“This film is very sad in crying terms because even though

it is animated, when a rabbit dies or is killed or even
wounded it is so real you feel like it’s real life. This can
teach us a lot about life in this world, both nice and nasty.”
10 year-old pupil on Watership Down
 Introduction
Film inspires, excites, informs and moves. It has often been
described as the great art form of the twentieth century;
and it has certainly been one of the most popular.

Film is an essential and much-loved All this is widely acknowledged and yet every child and young person’s
part of the UK’s cultural heritage and media literacy and, more particularly, educational experience in England
one of the most widely enjoyed and film education are still on the margins and strengthen educational develop-
accessible forms of entertainment and of national and international policy ments in Scotland, Wales and
artistic expression in almost every agendas. By ‘film education’ we mean Northern Ireland.
country of the world. Part of its power providing children and young people
lies in the way it has interacted with with a structured, systematic oppor- Nor are we talking about yet another
and driven the creative evolution of tunity to watch films, to understand new initiative to be squeezed into an
other long-established art forms films and even to make films as part over-stuffed school curriculum: what
including storytelling, music and the of their overall preparation for adult we propose will make the existing
visual arts. It has extended its reach life. In the UK we are lucky enough to curriculum more relevant and
from the conventional cinema screen have some of the best and most engaging, and is based on what is
to a myriad of different platforms yet, imaginative film education initiatives in already happening in classrooms,
whatever the technology, the end the world, as well as a Charter for after school or outside school
product remains the same – stories Media Literacy, drawn up by the UK altogether.
told using sound and light that move Film Council and the main broad-
across a screen. casters, which has been adopted by Our agenda goes well beyond the
government and is already being used playground walls. There is widespread
What is remarkable is that, despite as the template for action at a concern about the lack of high-quality
these changes, cinema is still a European level. However despite this film and television content for children
central driving force and cinema stars leadership position, film education in and young people. But the solutions
command global recognition as never the UK remains disconnected and suggested in Parliament, the media
before. But the significance of audio- inconsistent – a bonus for some lucky and elsewhere are usually posed on
visual media is changing profoundly; it children and young people rather than the supply side of the debate. We
has grown from being a vehicle for art an opportunity and entitlement for all. start from the other side – demand –
and entertainment to become a core believing that the most effective way
part of how we communicate and do This document is intended as a first to extend what the industry offers is to
business. We live in an age when to step on the road to changing that help nurture a more demanding and
be literate means to be as familiar state of affairs. The organisations and discriminating audience.
with images on a screen as with text agencies that have contributed to it
on a page and to be as confident with represent a broad partnership and We want to see the evolution of a
a camera or a keyboard as with a pen. want to see the partnership grow popular and dynamic film culture in
Literacy in the moving image has further. For reasons of equity, and the UK, building on the rich heritage
become an integral part of a wider practicality, we have chosen to focus of British and world cinema and
literacy for the twenty-first century; on children and young people under contributing to an even richer future in
children and young people need both 19 years of age in our first phase but the decades ahead. What we set out
to participate fully in society. the informed enjoyment of a wide here are the important first steps of
range of film should be the right and that longer journey.
expectation of everyone. We believe
that what we map out here can make
a positive and practical contribution to
the ‘youth cultural offer’ the govern-
ment proposes to make as part of
 WE LIVE IN AN AGE WHEN TO BE
LITERATE MEANS TO BE AS FAMILIAR
WITH IMAGES ON A SCREEN AS WITH
TEXT ON A PAGE, AND TO BE AS
CONFIDENT WITH A CAMERA OR A
KEYBOARD AS WITH A PEN.
Film education: a snapshot
The UK already has a variety of organisations working in
the field of film education, most of them funded directly or
indirectly by the UK Film Council and together spending
around £12m a year. They include:

The BFI, long-established as the main

national agency for promoting the
understanding and appreciation of film
and television. First Light Movies, funding and
mentoring children and young people
Film Club, piloted in 2007, which aged between five and 19 to make
aims to establish a network of 7,000 short digital films, and now working
after-school film clubs across the UK with about 2,000 children and young
over the next three years to dramati- people each year. Skillset, the Sector Skills Council
cally increase the opportunities for five (SSC) for Creative Media, is a UK-wide
to 18 year-olds to watch films. Three National Screen Agencies, industry body which supports skills,
which promote the culture and training and development for people
Film Education, funded by the film industry of film and TV in Scotland, and businesses to ensure the UK
industry, which provides structured Wales and Northern Ireland. creative media industries maintain
programmes for the teaching of film their world class position. Its
criticism and appreciation in more Nine Regional Screen Agencies key roles in relation to this strategy
than 18,000 schools each year and in England, development agencies are in supporting continuing
offers professional development charged with building sustainable professional development, and in
opportunities and resources for media sectors and encouraging managing the implementation of the
teachers. greater public access to film culture. Diploma in Creative and Media.
 The largest share of funding aimed
There are many other providers of at young people goes to 14-19 year
film education activity including olds and two-thirds of that is to
schools, higher and further education support creative activity, in other
insti-tutions, youth workers, comm- words, the making of films rather than
unity centres, broadcasters, film watching them or developing a critical
festivals, independent filmmakers, appreciation. Barely 10% of all
cinemas and mixed arts venues and spending goes to the promotion of
local authorities. critical understanding of film in One of the priorities for film education
younger children (aged three to 14). is to integrate these strands so that
The list is impressive and the And the reach, even of UK-wide children and young people have the
diversity and quality of much of organisations such as First Light chance to watch, to understand and,
the activity even more so. But the Movies, is modest; with a budget of if they want, to make film – each
provision is uncoordinated and just over £1 million a year, First Light element informing and reinforcing the
inconsistent. At the outset of this Movies has worked with 12,000 impact and value of the others. We
process an analysis was carried out children and young people between explore this more fully within this
of activity funded directly and ages five to 19 and funded more than document. When resources are
indirectly by the UK Film Council, 900 films in seven years – an aston- inevitably limited, we feel it is
National Screen Agencies and other ishing achievement but still only especially important to deploy them
public bodies, which highlighted reaching a tiny proportion of that in the most effective and equitable
some of these discrepancies. overall age cohort. way possible.
Immediate challenges

Film education is still on the and extend the learning experience language films from network
margins of their students. There is a similar television, children and young people
Although all four nations of the UK lack of systematic professional are unaware of the rich variety and
have space for the study of film and development for youth workers and extraordinary wealth of the UK’s film
the media as part of the curriculum media professionals who choose to heritage, even though we have the
for five to 14 year-olds, in practice work with children and young people most extensive film and television
very few children and young people on education-related projects whether archives in the world. Nor are most
benefit; fewer than one in ten of 14- in cinemas, production facilities or children and young people aware of
19 year-olds, for example choose to archives. the enormous wealth of films from
specialise in the study of film or other countries and in other
media. Many of the shortcomings of There are no agreed teaching languages, despite living in one of
present practice stem from the fact approaches for film education the most culturally diverse nations
that, despite the National Curriculum For the reasons suggested above, on earth.
in England and Wales, and positive there is little emphasis on offering
curricular developments and the children and young people sustained, At the same time, digital screen-
introduction of new curricula in coherent programmes of learning based technologies are opening up
Northern Ireland and Scotland, there with clear progression routes, and great new possibilities for film
is no embedded culture of entitle- no systematic means of using film education, as they are in every other
ment for children and young people to education to explore other, related area of learning, with online access
learn about film as part of their overall topics such as intellectual property to resources, the opportunity for
educational experience. The growing and respect for copyright. Often, film personalised interactive learning,
emphasis given to creativity and education is merely a disconnected much cheaper and more accessible
culture within these curricula, and the series of one-off experiences; distribution of classic and contem-
proposed ‘youth cultural offer’ in although there is a great deal of porary cinema and relatively
England, may begin to shift this activity around the country, there is inexpensive and simpler production
perception; part of our purpose in little shared understanding of what equipment allowing creative activity
developing this strategy now is to constitutes good practice or even of a sort previously unimaginable.
ensure that film education, as a good ideas in film education. As a
concept, is ready to play a significant consequence, there is a weak
and practical role in that process. evidential base for understanding the However, a number of recent
impact or reach of film education and government initiatives have begun
There is little professional no agreed measures for evaluating to change the possibilities for film
development for teachers and its quality. education:
other educators
A great deal of film education, in or Wider access to films Extended days and community-
out of the classroom, currently A related issue is the increasing focused schools
depends on the passion and commit- difficulty of getting access to a broad From 2008, many children and young
ment of individual teachers and other and varied range of films, especially people will be under the care and
educators. However great their for younger children. As cinemas and supervision of schools for more hours
enthusiasm, teachers may feel that a film distributors focus more and more in the day and will have access to a
lack of specialist expertise diminishes on commercially attractive films, and wider range of non-formal educational
their professional confidence and as competition for audiences drives all opportunities, including the proposals
therefore their ability to challenge but the most mainstream English- for the ‘Find Your Talent’ cultural offer
programme which the Government
has set out for young people in
England. Film is a cost-effective,
high quality and practical way of
delivering some of the objectives for
extended day provision for schools,
children and young people.

New accreditation pathways

These include the Creative & Media
Diploma, the Welsh Baccalaureate
(BAC), Moving Image Arts and Youth
Arts Awards. Each of these new forms
of accreditation will offer opportunities
for an expanded and more diverse
experience of film. For the Creative &
Media Diploma this will include work-
based learning experiences. The
Welsh BAC and Northern Ireland’s Film education has the capacity to play in educating, both in formal and
Moving Image Arts awards encourage contribute to each of these five core informal settings, a truly literate
new approaches to critical and crea- themes in community and school population.’
tive film work, while the Arts Award environments, and to their equivalents
has the scope to accredit children and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Coupled with increased digital access
young people for their work with film Ireland, with digital technology in schools and elsewhere, these
outside formal education. allowing pupils to plan genuinely investments offer a major opportunity
personalised learning pathways and for rich educational development of
Personalised, structured and structured and sustainable learning screen archives.
sustained learning opportunities opportunities.
The personalised learning agenda is
being introduced in England as part of Better access to archives
the Government’s Every Child Matters The Government has recently comm-
initiative, which set out five core itted an investment of £25 million
themes for effective education – towards a strategy for UK Screen
‘being healthy’, ‘staying safe’, Heritage. Together with £3 million
‘enjoying and achieving’, ‘making a already committed by the UK Film
positive contribution’ and ‘economic Council for the UK Digital Film Archive
well-being’. This has been enhanced this fund will help secure the future of
by the recent 10 year Aiming High regional and national archives for the
strategy to ensure children and young enjoyment of aud-iences across the
people gain comprehensive support UK. The strategy for UK Screen
from complementary activities inside Heritage states ‘Media literacy and
and outside school to contribute to the use of moving images in
their learning and well-being. education has a significant role to
Themes of the strategy
Having set out the challenges and opportunities for film
education in the UK, we outline here the ‘operating principles’
for the strategy we propose to adopt.

The Charter for Media Literacy In the same way that media literacy Progression – a learning journey
was drawn up in 2005 by the UK Film is not simply a matter of private We want to provide opportunities for
Council and its partners on the Media benefit but an essential ingredient of children and young people to exper-
Literacy Task Force, the BBC, Channel the public good, so we believe that ience as wide a range of films as
4 and Skillset. It suggested three ways film education is not just about possible, to continually develop their
in which a fully active and participating extending the private enjoyment and critical and cultural understanding. In
citizen would to be able to engage understanding of individuals, but has addition, we want to encourage an
with media. Although film education a clear public value, making a real interest in, and engagement with,
has a specific emphasis different from contribution to our sense of cultural filmmaking.
a broader and all-inclusive approach identity, emotional articulacy and to
to media literacy, the ‘three Cs’ of the the UK’s future as an open, tolerant Evaluation – what works best?
Charter for Media Literacy underpin society built on the foundation of a We want to develop a more syste-
both. knowledge economy. matic and integrated approach to film
education. To support this, we want
They are: The ‘three Cs’ do not belong in to disseminate good practice and
isolation from each other but need to develop first class teaching resources
Cultural Access be brought together in an integrated and learning tools. Most importantly,
The opportunity to choose from a approach to film education. Each we wish to establish recognised and
broad range of films and so get a element, while hugely beneficial in its accepted common criteria for
better understanding of our and other own right, is made more valuable and evaluating the impact and reach of
people’s culture, way of life and more accessible by its integration with our work.
history. the other two. If children and young
people are to get substantial benefit Professional development – how
Critical Understanding from film education they should do we do it better?
The confidence to look behind the experience all three areas and under- Linked to the identification and spread
surface of the screen, to understand stand the relationship between them. of good practice and recognised
a film’s intentions, techniques and systems of evaluation, we will commit
qualities. In addition, we believe that there are to improving and expanding pro-
four essential principles that give fessional development for teachers
Creative Activity substance to this approach: and for other related workers. We wish
The opportunity to make film and to explore the development of an
moving image, to have some under- Participation – everyone involved approach which balances creativity,
standing of the technical and creative Film watching and filmmaking are critical ability and craft when we are
process that allows the effective both group activities. This collective dealing with children and young
expression of a story, a mood or an experience of watching and making people.
idea. can bind together children and young
people to give a sense of common We have now set out the challenges,
purpose and community, qualities opportunities and principles behind
which we believe must be highlighted our thinking. In the next section we lay
in all our future work. out what we are going to do.
Aims of the strategy
Our vision is to ensure that all young people in the UK have the
opportunity to learn about film in all its richness and creative
possibilities. To achieve this, we have set ourselves two
strategic aims, one structural, the other focusing on innovation.
Enhancing Innovative
current activity new activity

We will consolidate existing To develop and sustain innovative activities for learning about
film education activity into a film that ensure exciting opportunities are created for ever
coherent and unified approach more diverse audiences. This will involve both filling important
that is advocated, comm- gaps in current provision and also initiating complementary
unicated and evaluated. activities that extend the range of film education into
previously unexplored areas.

To do this we will: To do this we will:

Ensure that the priorities of film Develop an infrastructure that Run regular advocacy campaigns
organisations in the public sector are enables children and young people to aimed at employers, the film industry,
aligned with the principles of film access a wider range of film content, general public, policy makers,
education. in school, in cinemas and via other broadcasters and education providers
platforms. to persuade them of the value of film
Create a UK-wide network of key education. Such campaigns will be
providers of film education to share Invest in an expansion of online high impact and will start in 2008 with
best practice, promote knowledge learning resources, especially those Film and Video Nation, a UK-wide
and ideas, advocate and promote film that introduce young people to the initiative to promote participatory
education. The network will maintain UK’s film archive heritage, and to new filmmaking around the Olympics.
an open access database of edu- films made with public money in the
cation providers throughout the UK. UK. Work with all four UK Governments to
Additionally, a national conference will incorporate film education in the
be organised for the network to meet Establish a coherent and curricula of their initial teacher
and exchange ideas in early 2009 and comprehensive programme of training education programmes.
will meet on a regular basis after that. and development for those involved in
film education, accredited by Skillset Long term success for this strategy will
Create new regional partnerships of and others. The programme will be require sustained communication,
film education providers that will managed through the regional and regular monitoring, and credible
enable significant new investment into national partnerships, and there will evaluation of the outputs, public value
film education. be a national framework to ensure and success of its various elements.
quality of provision. The evidence base generated by all
the partners will then be a key tool for
Use new learning routes as oppor- advocacy across public, private
tunities for expanding film education sectors and Government.
(including such pathways as Creative
& Media Diploma, the Welsh BAC,
Youth Arts Award, Moving Image Arts).
What happens next?
This strategy brings together the work of many organisations,
all of us convinced that by working together in a more
integrated way we can transform the impact and value of film
education for children and young people in every part of the UK.

In this first phase of the To devise and implement a pro- This document grows out of the work
strategy, we propose to focus fessional development programme of a wide-ranging Strategy Action
our energies on achieving five for teachers and other film Group, brought together under the
main tasks, which are: education practitioners to raise auspices of the UK Film Council and
standards of delivery and quality consisting of representatives from the
of engagement for children and BFI, Film Education, Film Club, First
young people. Light Movies, Skillset and the national
and regional Screen Agencies. We
To develop online resources that recognise that, as well as these
give educational access to the organisations, many of which are
UK’s film archives (in association funded directly or indirectly by the
with the UK Screen Heritage UKFC, there are many small
strategy). community-based and locally funded
organisations which are the life-blood
To create online resources to of film education provision. Most
accompany every appropriate significantly, the 35,000 primary and
publicly funded British film. secondary schools and colleges in the
UK are all our partners or potential
To build a UK-wide network of partners. In going forward it is our
school-based film clubs. intention to work with, and support
the work of, as many of them as
To pilot a new kind of partnership possible.
between the film and education
sectors: one at a national level (in Although the Action Group initially
Wales) and three in English regions came together to provide a context
(in the East Midlands, Yorkshire for the drafting of this document, our
and the North East). In the second expectation is that it will continue to
and third years we will extend meet on a quarterly basis to provide
these pilot projects to encompass feedback and guidance as the strategy
the other nations and regions. is implemented and developed.

Our ambition to achieve genuinely In addition, a smaller Leadership

UK-wide impact will be under- Group, consisting of representatives
pinned by a commitment to from the UK Film Council, the BFI,
prioritise action in rural areas and First Light Movies, Film Education and
places that do not have cinemas. Film Club has been largely responsible
for drafting this document and will
continue to be responsible for co-
ordinating the strategy.
Learning
journeys

What kinds of film experience Tunde’s Journey

Tunde is 16. His interest in film started at his after-school
do we want children to have? film club, then took him to his local cinema. He’s one of
the programmers of the club, showing films every Friday,
What might they get out of it? and inviting local filmmakers in for discussions and
workshops. He writes about the films on his Bebo page.
He’s seen two films this year that have impressed him:
Night of the Hunter, and Show Me Love. Tunde’s school film
club decided that they wanted to make their own film about
feeling unsafe on some of the rural footpaths near where
they live. They heard about Mediabox, which lets you bid for
money to do your own media project, and applied for
money to make it with their local cinema. They showed the
film in their local cinema where they invited local councillors
as well as friends and family and the council was impressed
enough to improve the lighting and signage on the pathway
– and then asked the film club to make a film about young
people volunteering.

What Tunde said:

“Shooting was a little bit of what I expected. I had a vague
idea of what it would be like but I'd never seen a docu-
mentary shot before, so I never imagined it would be quite
as long. I thought... if it was a drama I expected more
people but there was just one person most of the time –
the subject – and we were talking to them constantly and
then redoing it... I never thought you'd have to redo
something in a documentary.”

What Tunde’s dad said:

“I don’t think our household has talked about anything else
for the past six months.”

What the Councillor said:

“This was a thought-provoking film. The whole initiative
shows what young people can do if given the chance. The
making of the film is a valuable experience for the students
and the wider community.”
Jenny’s Journey More Journeys
Jenny is 11. In History, she made a trailer showing what Sarita loves film. She watches the latest trailers on Film
happened in England during WW2 using an online editing Street, and her school took her to a children’s film festival
tool called E-SEQ which lets you choose clips of archive where she saw a Moroccan film called Zaina Rider of the
footage and put them together and a voice-over and add Atlas about a girl who wins a horse race, beating all the
your own music. Jenny wasn’t keen on black and white men in her tribe. The film prompted her to choose to do a
films before but now thinks you can make them interesting school project about Morocco where she now has half a
if you add in your own stuff. She proudly showed her Nan dozen e-pals. She asked for the film to be shown at her
the film and her Nan recounted stories about being a child after-school film club and afterwards she got together four
during the war. Jenny’s Nan took the film to the Help the of her friends to make a 5-minute film about horse riding
Aged Community centre and now Jenny’s school is working which they posted on YouTube for their friends in Morocco
on a film reminiscence project where the children interview to watch. She’s heard that at secondary school there’s a
older people and add their voice-overs to archive films. film club, and she wants to get them to show more films
Jenny sent the film to Film Street (First Light Movies’ like Zaina.
website for younger children that introduces them to film-
making techniques) so other people could watch it and Carl is 17 and has left school. His local youth club ran a
compare it with their own. Teachers from other schools project to make a documentary about their estate, and he
have used the film in their own teaching. Now Jenny wants wandered into the room where they were editing. After a bit
to make films so future generations will know about her, her of negotiating, they gave him a five-minute sequence to
life, and community. edit to sound and he thought it was a great way to control
how people saw you, changing soundtracks to make the
What Jenny said: film more upbeat. He’s since heard about Mediabox and
“Film is a great way to bring people together; I never knew he wants to get his friends together to do a film challenge –
the older generation had such hard lives, or great stories. making ten different music videos for a Sean Kingston song
The best thing was that you were working with people both to put on YouTube.
more and less experienced than yourself. Not only would
you learn from people who had more teaching ability than Charlie went to see a film in National Schools Film Week –
you, but also from teaching things you knew to others.” they wanted to see Shrek, but they all agreed that as they’d
seen it lots of times before they could just this once see
What Jenny’s mum said: something else. The film was called My Neighbour Totoro
“Jenny’s film built a bridge with my mother’s generation. about a big cat that takes two little girls on adventures. He
It’s really important that young people know that older told his parents about it and they bought it in a box set of
people were young once.” other films by the same director. He liked another one,
Kiki’s Delivery Service, so he took it into school and they
What Jenny’s teacher said: played it in golden time and talked about whether the witch
“I’ve just been looking at their history exams and they’re was evil and nasty, or forced to do bad things.
very good. It’s helped them develop their knowledge so
much more. In the class we can have debates about it
because everybody’s got a view and they’re more willing
to listen and to speak about it.”
UK partnerships model
Elements of film education
People who have been Louise Anderson BFI Cary Bazalgette
Jay Arnold Screen Yorkshire Pete Buckingham UK Film Council
involved along the way Martin Ayres Screen East Tim Cagney UK Film Council
Tom Barrance Media Education Wales Thalia Cassimatis BFI
Jim Barratt Jo Cassey Skillset
Jo Burns BOP Consulting Chris Chandler
Pauline Burt Film Agency for Wales Nikki Christie UK Film Council

Sara Clowes Northwest Vision & Media Christine James BFI Paul Harris University of Abertay Dundee
Carol Comley UK Film Council Toby Jackson Clare Harwood BFI
Sybil Crouch Ffilm Wales Andrew Gallagher Moving Image Ken Hay Scottish Screen
Scott Donaldson Scottish Screen Education Project Leader Antonia Hazlerigg UK Film Council
Corinna Downing BAFTA Jenny Grahame English & Media Centre Mark Higham Film Club
Wendy Earle BFI Rachel Grant UK Film Council Anneli Jones Arts Council Wales
Pip Eldridge First Light Movies Julie Green Film Education Alison Kirwan BFI

Karen Langston Skillset Clive Myer University of Glamorgan Kate O’Connor Skillset
Clare Lewis First Light Movies Caroline Nagle UK Film Council Peter Packer
Bill Lucas The Bill Lucas Partnership Amanda Nevil BFI Becky Parry
Bernard McCloskey Northern John Newbigin UK Film Council Lorna Partington
Ireland Screen Caroline Norbury South West Screen Patrick Phillips Principal & Chief
Martin Melarkey The Nerve Centre, Derry Nicky North BFI Examiner for A Level Film Studies
Sarah-Jane Meredith South West Screen Claire O’Brien BFI Rebekah Polding Film London

Heather Rabbatts UK Film Council Anne Threlkeld UK Film Council Gethin While Cardiff University
Derek Ray-Hill Film Education Ana Tovey Amanda White
Mark Reid BFI Sam Wainstein Film Club Richard Williams Northern Ireland Screen
Paul Richardson UK Film Council Nick Walker Film Education Debbie Williams EM Media
Trish Sheil MOVies Geraldine Walker MOVies / Showroom John Woodward UK Film Council
Heather Stewart BFI Cinema Adrian Wootton Film London
Dan Thomas Film Agency for Wales Ian Wall Film Education

With thanks to

Cover image courtesy MGM

Graphic design by [Link]
“Film is a great way to bring
people together; the best thing
is working with people both
more and less experienced than
yourself. Not only would you
learn from people who had more
teaching ability than you, but
also from teaching things you
knew to others.”
Jenny,
young filmmaker
Film: 21st Century Literacy
A strategy for film education across the UK

Film education means providing children and young

people with a structured, systematic opportunity to watch
films, to understand films and even to make films, as part
of their overall preparation for adult life.

In the UK we are lucky enough to have some of the best

and most imaginative film education initiatives in the world,
as well as a Charter for Media Literacy, drawn up by the UK
Film Council and the main broadcasters, which has been
adopted by Government and is already being used as the
template for action at a European level. However despite
this leadership position, film education in the UK remains
disconnected and inconsistent – a bonus for some lucky
children and young people rather than an opportunity and
entitlement for all.

This document is intended as a first step on the road to

changing that state of affairs.

Contact us Partnerships department Please visit

UK Film Council [Link]
10 Little Portland Street
to download a large print version
London
W1W 7JG of the strategy.

info@[Link]
[Link]