film education

Knowledge Bank - Creative Teaching and Learning

Using film & movies in education knowledge bank, film has been a major feature of popular culture for a hundred years, and the moving image now dominates all aspects of the transmission of information. how can film be integrated into the curriculum.

Using film in education – Sponsored by the National Education Union

Film has been a major feature of popular culture for a hundred years, and the moving image now dominates all aspects of the transmission of information. Schools, however, have been very slow to move away from their dependency on text.  Study after study suggests that children now, particularly boys, need visual stimulates to support their learning and that all children receive a lot of their social and moral learning through film and TV, and forms of social media like YouTube.

Yet where film and moving images are used in education it is considered a pleasant introduction to new concepts, ideas or books, something innovative and a little outside the mainstream of teaching and learning. The research suggests it can and should play a much bigger role; it can be used to support social and moral understanding, to teach values and character, to support the development of information literacy in a visual world. Its techniques can be used to underpin mainstream skills like writing, be it creative narrative or fact-based presentations and perhaps most importantly of all, it can help develop critical reflection and a sceptical knowledge of how to review the way visual meanings are constructed to influence us. The research speaks volumes about the potential of film and the moving image to make learning more relevant and ‘fun’ and how much of that potential is being missed.

In  2011, Film: 21 st Century Literacy, which is backed by the BFI, FILMCLUB, Film Education, First Light and Skillset, conducted an opinion survey of teachers in order to research and report current classroom practices involving film, their benefits to pupils, their impacts on pedagogy and what  the future of the use of film in education might be. 387 people completed the survey; South-east England had the highest amount of teachers already using film, with Wales having the least. English teachers were the most compliant towards film in education with 95 teachers using film techniques in their classrooms; the next closest was MFL teachers at 35. Furthermore, the survey found that further education teachers were 16 percent more likely to use film in their lessons than primary school teachers, which the majority of these also being English teachers. Film making and film watching were the two highest activities done by these teachers.

The survey went on to ask teachers for their opinions on key topics involving film education. The highlight of these were “do you believe that a wide range of films broaden and encourage children’s learning and understanding of the world and culture?” 100 percent of those surveyed agreed that this was the case. The vast majority (99%) also agreed that film is a means of getting young people enthusiastic about their subject.

In perhaps the most interesting section of the survey, teachers were asked about their opinions on the benefits of using film for their students. 83 percent of those surveyed believe that using film would inspire creative thinking in their students. When teachers were asked to rate their most significant three improvements, ‘attitude towards learning/motivation to learn’ was the highest ranked factor.

Teachers were asked if there was one particular demographic group that they noticed undergo a more marked change than others. Many teachers felt that no one group benefitted more than others, but a remarkable amount of teachers commented that using film significantly improved boy’s literacy. For girls, many teachers mentioned improvements in confidence, although this comment was spread quite evenly across ages and genders, as was the comment that motivation improved.

Overall Impacts on Teachers

84 percent of the teachers interviewed agreed that film allowed them to teach a wider range of ability levels, including the more difficult and challenging pupils. The impact of using film is clear. When asked about their personal experiences, 74 percent of teachers believed that there should definitely be more film education opportunities offered to young people at their schools, and that pupils who participated in the film project would want to take part in more film related activities should these be available.

In a separate piece of research conducted independently by the BFI and lead by Mark Reid in order to understand how film is currently used in Europe and how it could be used globally, going forward.  The defined purpose behind film literacy in Europe is: ‘for young people, to provide awareness and knowledge about our film heritage and increasing interest in these films and in recent European films, the ultimate goal being to build a long term audience for European films.

The responses from national representatives indicated a clear set of priorities. The highest priority in the formal curriculum (selected by most countries) was given to the development of film language and filmmaking skills, closely followed by the understanding of film as an art form and critical viewing.

The BFI used the results from their research in order to create recommendations on how to improve film education going forward. The most prominent recommendation was to develop a series of models of film education for Europe, that include appreciation of film as an art form, critical understanding, access to national heritage, world cinema and popular film, and creative filmmaking skills.

The research goes onto look at what strategies are already in place in European countries. The strongest models of provision are those with national strategies jointly devised/ endorsed by both Culture and Education ministries, with strong industry support, and we found few examples of this ‘Only Northern Ireland appears to have a fully integrated national film education strategy. The Scandinavian countries are generally strong. In Finland, although there is no overall film strategy, there are several agencies and non-governmental organisations highly active in the promotion of film education. And in Denmark and Sweden, each respective Film Institute has its own ‘national strategy.’ Finally, the BFI proposed a ‘Translation Fund’ which supports national agencies in adapting strategic approaches from other, similar nations and territories, and supports professional development and exchange of key workers in those agencies in meeting and learning from colleagues in other countries.

There is an ongoing project in Bradford which is increasing writing standards through the use of film. Students are given chances to watch, review and create films. A highlight of this project happened when pupils from Flowery Fields Primary, attended the National Media and Science Museum in Bradford for the film in education screening. The students were then each given a chance to showcase their films and the creative processes behind them on the big stage.

A final piece of research by ‘Scottish Screen’ highlights the impacts of moving image education (MIE). This research found that there are commonly seven generic impacts of MIE, these are:

• Learners’ enjoyment and sense of achievement.
• Disaffected or underachieving learners showing engagement and concentration.
• Increased motivation, confidence, and self-image.
• Increased attainment in literacy.
• Increased skills in collaboration and teamwork.
• Increased knowledge about, and interest in, making moving images.
• Increased interest in watching and talking about moving images.

However, these impacts closely mirror those found in a wide range of research and evaluation on cultural interventions in education. In 2002, a review of the available evidence about the impact of ICT on the learning of literacy associated with moving image texts in English for ages 5-16 was undertaken by Andrew Burn and Jenny Leach. This research portrayed MIE in a positive light and listed the 7 above impacts as the ‘generic impacts.’

References Impacts of Moving Image Education by Cary Bazalgette for Scottish Screen Film Literacy – Raising Writing Standards with Film by Tim Bleazard Screening Literacy: Executive Summary by the British Film Institute (BFI) Teaching Using Film – Statistical Evidence by Film: 21 st Century Literacy

Issues to consider

• In which areas of the curriculum is use of film lacking?
• What resources would we need to use film in a more powerful and active way for learning?
• What are some of the ways in which film has been successfully used in subject teaching at our school?
• What collaborative opportunities are there to use film across the curriculum?
• What information literacy topics can we use film to help address?

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The Film Education Website

This website and its library of resources is accessible, free of charge, for teachers and their students across the UK.

Register your email address to keep up to date with news of free resources as well as CPD events and opportunities for your pupils and students.

Whilst no new content will be added to this site we are pleased to provide links to the following:

History-Film-History is an educational film platform, created with the support of Creative Europe. The aim of the project is to increase the interest of young people in European film, film heritage and to establish its pedagogical potential across a range of curriculum subjects. 

Produced by Neues Wege des Lernens, we have now translated this interactive website site into English. Featuring the iconic film from the late 1990’s to covers a whole range of topics, from editing to publicity. We hope that you will find it useful.

We are delighted to announce that the 25th anniversary edition of Teaching Trailers – the most popular resource produced by Film Education and more recently by The Film Space – is now online and free to use

This online course introduces and explores the concepts and means used in the film distribution process, focus is on identifying the Who, How, When, What and Where of releasing a film and the pivotal role of film distributors as films make their way to cinemas and beyond.

'InCinema2016' is an educational resource based on the Film Distributors’ Association Yearbook 2017.

Making use of fascinating facts and figures about what the UK cinema audience chose to see in 2016 the resource explores a variety of issue arising from the statistics. Aimed at students of Film and Media studies aged 14-18. Business Studies would also find this an interesting topic

Online teaching resource celebrating the centenary of professional film distribution in the UK now available HERE , free of charge to UK schools and colleges, courtesy of the Film Distributors’ Association.

The SHAKESPEARE ON FILM site is now live! Featuring resources on 13 of Shakespeare’s plays, from Romeo and Juliet to Titus Andronicus, the resources cover over 25 different filmed versions of his works.

SELMA - Educational Resource Offering a range of interactivity based on the film and from archive sources to build students’ awareness of the contemporary significance of the US civil rights movement and help to develop knowledge and understanding of how primary sources can inform contemporary filmmaking.

Teaching Trailers Winter 2014/15 featuring 30 trailers for current and upcoming cinema releases. This is the latest online update to the popular education resource now available free of charge to educators across the UK.

The Thinking Film project, originally a series of DVD and CD ROM’s, is now available to download. In each case a folder containing the study clips and pdf’s of worksheets will download onto your desktop.

Film Education provides award-winning teaching resources, teacher training and cinema based events which support the use of film within the curriculum.

Since 1985 we have been producing unique, curriculum-relevant film-based learning experiences at no or nominal cost to teachers.

Film Education also takes nearly half a million school children to the cinema free of charge every year, with events that include the world's biggest screening programme for young people, National Schools Film Week.

We hope you enjoy our resources.

Find out more about Film Education

Our free resources cover a wide range of curriculum areas and include film clips, Teachers' Notes and a range of activities.

Film information with links to study guides, web resources, DVDs

Thinking Film resource series

A series of DVDs with selected film clips and downloadable curriculum-related teaching materials

How to Train Your Dragon

Primary Literacy CD-ROM resource now available to download.

War Horse resource

Online War Horse resource for KS3 English, Media and History, and KS2 Science and PSHEE

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We run a series of free events and screenings for school groups at local cinemas across the UK, including National Schools Film Week.

In the House archive

Exclusive photos and clips from our Q&A with In the House director Francois Ozon

Great Expectations screenings archive

Information on preview screening and Q&A held as part of Film Week 2012

Navigators screening archive

Clips and photos from the Navigators screening and Q&A with Ken Loach

Woman in Black archive

Audio clips from our Q&A with Woman in Black director James Watkins

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Press clippings, updates and links to articles on our wide range of activities.

Young Film Critics review First Light films

Winners of Young Film Critic 2012, have written fantastic reviews of films featured in the First Light Awards 2013.

Learning on Screen Awards nomination

Thinking Film, Thinking History nominated for Learning on Screen Awards 2013

ESR blog on Life of Pi

Some kind things about our Life of Pi resource and others. 

Articles on the Holocaust

For Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 Jan, TES have reviewed our resources

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Exploring pathways of film education throughout students’ experiences of Scottish secondary school

In this article, Kerry Abercrombie, a teacher of Media and English at Larbert High School in Falkirk, Scotland, explores the unique specialist pathway called School of Media, where young people are able to engage with film education throughout their entire experience of high school.    MORE

Keywords : #media #film #education #scotland #secondary schools #sqa

Teaching Film Everywhere: Mark Reid (BFI) and Saskia van Roomen (London Film School) In Conversation

Mark Reid, Head of Film Education at the British Film Institute (BFI) interviews Saskia van Roomen about the range of her work, across formal and informal education, with children, students, film-makers, and parents and families, in practical, creative, terms as well as in the sheer unadulterated pleasure of watching films from all over the world.     MORE

Keywords : #film education #BFI #Into Film #London Film School

Exploring the place of animation in Scottish moving image education

In this article animator and film practitioner Jonathan Charles and academic Robert Munro discuss the benefits and challenges of using animation through a detailed look at a filmmaking project within a primary school in East Lothian. The article also provides, via Jonathan’s personal experience, an overview of animation practices and how its place in film education has evolved over the past decade.   MORE

Keywords : #animation #film education #scotland #primary schools

Sharing lived experiences through the film education project Cinema en curs 

This article explores the Catalonian project Cinema en curs, an annual, recurring and now international programme of film education that takes place with students aged 10–18 in schools and colleges. Set up in 2005-6 by Núria Aidelman and Laia Collel from the arts association A Bao a Qu, the project now runs across various regions of Spain and internationally.   

Keywords : #filmmaking #realism #place-based education

Learning from the Understanding Cinema project in Scotland

This article provides a detailed, first-hand overview of the filmmaking project Understanding Cinema . Author and filmmaker  Jamie Chambers  worked as a tutor on the project between 2013 and 2019 and reflects on both its highlights and challenges. For teachers interested in making films, it provides a detailed account of how ‘a well-designed pedagogy’ can ‘allow simple, yet deep access to cinematic aesthetics’.

Keywords : #filmmaking; #Scotland; 

#primary school ; 

Securing a place for film within a Scottish secondary school   

Michael Daly and Jacqueline Thomso n are English teachers at John Paul Academy , an inner-city secondary school in Glasgow, Scotland. Working together as probationary teachers, they decided to start an after-school film club. From there, film has gradually become a central part of their teaching strategy, and has moved beyond their own English and Media classrooms to become embedded within John Paul Academy’s broader curriculum. MORE

Keywords : #secondary school #Scotland  #film club; #English

Exploring local heritage through a documentary filmmaking project in Chile  

Felipe Correa describes the process of a documentary filmmaking project at a secondary school in Chile . Its aim was to encourage students to engage with the places, crafts and community where they live. Over the course of a year, students watched and analysed documentary films from different periods and cultures, whilst performing practical filmmaking inside and outside the school. MORE

Keywords : #filmmaking; #Chile #documentary ; #cultural heritage

Cinema workshops within marginalised communities in Chile

Alicia Vega is a Chilean film scholar, educator and outreach worker who has run a series of cinema workshops within highly disadvantaged communities across Chile, which provided younger children with formative understandings of cinema, for over 30 years This is a rich and intimate account of how film can be used within community learning and outreach programmes.  MORE

Keywords : #filmmaking #Chile 

#outreach work; #active viewing

Filmmaking about social issues with primary school children in Scotland 

Read about the experiences of Scottish teachers at Granton Primary School in Edinburgh. This case study of the making of the short film See You Tomorrow  is a great first-hand account of some of the benefits and challenges to consider when creating films in a primary-school context . Discover a range of tips and ideas for you to take away and use back in the classroom with your pupils. MORE

Keywords : #filmmaking; #racism; 

#primary school ; #emotional literacy

Discussing films in the classroom with children of different ages in Slovenia

How can we best approach discussing films in the classroom? Mirjana Borcic is one of the foremost figures within Slovenian film education. Explore a range of her ideas on how film can be used as a means of facilitating  discussion in the classroom, and in particular on how to ensure that discussions are pupil-centred and encourage creative thinking. MORE

Keywords : #discussing film #Slovenia 

#student voice; #active viewing

A 16 week course of practical filmmaking with secondary school children in Portugal

Explore the detailed overview of a filmmaking project from start to finish, which provides a useful model for secondary school teachers interested in making films with their students . This case study of film education in Portugal takes readers through the 16 weeks of a filmmaking course, acting almost as a project diary, describing the weekly tasks and outcomes. MORE

Keywords : #filmmaking; #Portugal  #secondary  school; #collaborative;  

Towards an Anti-Racist Syllabus: Inclusive Pedagogy in Animation Studies and Beyond

F antasy/Animation is a free-to-access and peer-reviewed educational resource, webs ite, blog, and podcast dedicated to the relationship between fantasy storytelling and the medium of animation. This article provides the outcome of a roundtable discussion that took place at the Canterbury Anifest event in February 2021, as well as additional links and ideas for classroom activities. MORE

Keywords : #fantasy; #animation #diversity ; #inclusion; #BIPOC; #gender; #race

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Welcome to the Film Education Journal

By bringing together the diverse voices engaged in film education within this single open access journal, the film education journal will explicitly encourage a greater degree of exchange between theory, practice, policy, and pedagogy., film is a distinct medium with a distinct history and, as such, it requires a distinct pedagogy. the film education journal (fej) is the world’s only publication committed to exploring how teachers and other educators work with film, and to involve other participants – policymakers, academics, researchers, cultural agencies, and filmmakers themselves – in that conversation. we distinguish film from wider media. in consequence, pedagogical approaches inherited from other subjects, such as the textual study of literature, are not always appropriate for analysing film. in many parts of the world, the study of film is not yet recognized as a discrete subject and has not become a fully integrated part of the curriculum. fej aims to lead and shape the developing conversation about the place of film education in diverse educational contexts. we have identified four groups routinely involved in the practice of film education: theorists, educators, film practitioners and policymakers, each coming from a different background yet sharing a common interest. the fej exists to occupy the productive middle ground between these groups. we take particular inspiration in this respect from international film cultures that have developed a more holistic sense of how theory, practice, policy, and pedagogy speak to each other., the film education journal  publishes twice a year in, in june and november. we welcome submissions and provide an inclusive, fully non-commercial, open access publishing process. there is no cost to authors at point of submission or publication. articles are published on this site and accessed via a number of subject specific indexers, repositories, and search databases to maximise readership. learn more about our publishing process, how to submit and sign up to our publishing alerts to keep abreast of our calls for papers and new article releases., start reading now . search within the film education journal using the search bar at the top of our page, or view issues here ., most popular articles.

Excitement lies elsewhere: Teenage film-makers and popular culture

Yu-Lun Sung

Decolonising cinematography education: experimenting with lighting ratios and textures for Black and Asian skin tones

Exploring co-creation in practical film education from primary school to postgraduate study: Theoretical and auto-ethnographic perspectives upon teaching film practice

Film Education Journal

An international peer-reviewed journal that explores how teachers and educators work with film.

Film Education Journal has moved!

Ucl press journals including film education journal have now moved website., you will now find the journal, all publications and submission information, at  https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/fej.

• Volume 6, Issue 2 (12 December 2023)
• Volume 6, Issue 1 (13 June 2023)
• Volume 5, Issue 2 (17 November 2022)
• Volume 5, Issue 1 (14 June 2022)
• Volume 4, Issue 2 (23 November 2021)
• Volume 4, Issue 1 (10 June 2021)
• Volume 3, Issue 2 (26 November 2020)
• Volume 3, Issue 1 (23 June 2020)
• Volume 2, Issue 2 (21 November 2019)
• Volume 2, Issue 1 (12 June 2019)
• Volume 1, Issue 2 (30 November 2018)
• Volume 1, Issue 1 (18 June 2018)

Collection Information

Latest issue.

• i Table of Contents: Film Education Journal 6(2)
• 69 Teaching virtual production: the challenges of developing a formal curriculum
• 82 Vernacular cinema, self-concept and the perceptual–conceptual shift: exploring conversations between film education and developmental psychology
• 101 Don’t teach: exploring the irreducibilities of film education through Japan’s Children Meet Cinema project in conversation with Etsuko Dohi
• 116 Documentary film practice at the Institute of Film and Television, Ghana: truth claims, oral histories and documentary strategies
• 126 Exploring possible approaches and proposals for the development of film education in Bulgaria
• 141 Montage as a gesture of mediation and education

What is film education?

"A Framework for Film Education" was published in 2014. Twenty organisations came together to create an outline of what film education might look like both within and outside the curriculum. One challenge was to create a chart which would show an overview of essence of film education. You can read the full report here but we have extracted the Framework itself into the chart below:

For us, the key part of the Framework are the three dimensions to film education – the critical, the creative and the cultural -‘the three Cs’. Throughout the course we will be considering the ways in which these key dimensions are experienced by learners – through a series of Processes and Practices - which enable their own developing participation in film culture.

It is important to bear in mind that the ‘three Cs’ should not each be seen in isolation but rather as interlinked – in the same way that children learn to read, write, and read widely all the same time. One of the problems of film education through the years has been a separation of watching from making – it is still visible in the separation of ‘theory’ from ‘practice’ in some university courses.

So for example, if children and young people are making films, we also want them to be critical of what they have made; in the same way, we want them to explore critical issues through practical work. We want them to watch a wide range of film – from Lumieres to Youtubers – and be both inspired by, but critical of them.

Together the ‘key dimensions’ add up to what we call a ‘film sensibility’.

The Three C’s

Let’s briefly look at what we might mean by these dimensions as set out in the Framework.

The Creative

Film education is about developing not only a culture of film viewing but also a culture of film-making. The advent of digital film making has facilitated viewers to become makers more easily, but with the caveat that possession of a mobile phone doesn’t automatically make you Orson Welles! The links between these two experiences – using viewing as a way into making and then evaluating the viewing of what has been created is an interlinked process. Being creative with film is a fundamental way of understanding its form.

The Critical

‘Being critical’ is the ability to understand and explore films in all their variety, and to develop a disposition by which we can continually question the ways in which film can affect us, move us, challenge and confront us. In many ways the critical approach to film represents a dialogue between ourselves and the screen as well as a dialogue between the film-maker and their audience.

The Cultural

Through participating in both critical and creative processes and practices the overall aim of film education is to develop a film culture and a culture of film. Young people already have an experience of film but the aim of film education is to develop a competence of choice and understanding of film.

Do you agree or disagree with these definitions? Or do you think there is something missing? Write your thoughts in the notepad below.

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Rationales and purposes