In these
most modern of times with the technological advances increasingly growing ever
so important and unavoidable in our life, in order to flourish with this digital
culture, school children need to be able to work with a whole range of critical
and creative practices involving technology and media. These practices of
‘digital literacy’ are likely to become even more important throughout school
pupils’ lives as the development of technology advances and the media continues
to affect how we as humans work, how we
socialise, communicate, spend our leisure time and how we learn and
share knowledge.
The importance
of digital literacy is now becoming noticeable and has been acknowledged by educators
as they recognise that not only does the teaching profession have a vital role to
play in preparing children for our digital world, but that a sustained
engagement with technology and media is now integral to the development of
knowledge across disciplines and subjects.
It is also
worth noting that children live in the most mind stimulating time ever. There
are so many video games and movies, media and resources available to them that
it would be hard for them to concentrate in school without getting bored. The
technological world you’d think you’d say is working against these children but
it is possible through things like film education to integrate technology in a
stimulating/ engaging way for our children.
Film
education involves three different elements these are known as the three Cs and
are:
·
Critical
(understanding and analysing of films).
·
Cultural
(widening pupils’ experience of film).
·
Creative
(pupils get to make films themselves).
There are
plenty of opportunities for each of these throughout the curriculum, it is also
a good idea to combine all three approaches together in the lesson. You can use
the critical approach in English, for example pupils can be analysing how camera,
sound and editing are used in an adaptation, a documentary or a persuasive text
such as an advertisement.
Cultural is when you can use unfamiliar films, and films
from different countries and periods, in a range of subjects. This is seen as ‘World
Cinema’. It can be used to explore subjects such as Citizenship and political
subjects such as globalisation or poverty. Classical films can help pupils to
learn about the history of the past, and experimental films can be used for inspiration
in Art and Music.
Creative Filmmaking
can be used as a way of recording, analysing and depicting processes from anything from Science experiments to Dance
performances; to present information in subjects from Mathematics to History:
and for creative expression in English, Drama, Art and Music. The opportunities
are endless. All subjects can benefit from using screens.
“A project in the East Midlands offered teachers
in schools across eight local authorities the chance to use film for a year.
Many had never done so before. By the end of the first year, two thirds were
reporting that the project had made them more enthusiastic about teaching, and
had changed their pedagogy. 100% of teachers felt that film could reach
difficult or challenging pupils (80% strongly)”. (Barrance, 2010)
I remember
from my own personal experience in secondary school studying media studies and
really getting fully immersed in my work because it let me explore my
creativeness. In my opinion Film
education would be good for all schools.
