RESEARCHING FILM EDUCATION: What do we know? What don’t

we know? (a partial account)

Andrew BurnInstitute of Education, University of London

www.andrewburn.org

www.darecollaborative.net

WHAT DO WE KNOW?

2001 systematic review of (Anglophone) moving image literacy research- Very little research (leapfrog victim?)- Mostly snapshot case studies:- of critical ‘reading’ of film, mostly in secondary classrooms: analyses of:-children’s reading and increasingly making, in formal and informal contexts-pedagogies-digital affordances-Relation to media eduction, literacy, arts in education

WHAT DO WE KNOW?-Some larger studies:-Children using the moving image to negotiate cultural identity in migration (CHICAM, 2003)-The making of film across the curriculum – eg BECTA/bfi , 2002)-Special Effects (2007)-Gilje et al, followup study of young film-makers.

SOME RECENT UK WORK-film-making can enable primary children to build audiovisual memories (Potter); - Multimodal connections with literature (Parker), drama (Durran), games (Marsh; Parry, Burn, Mackey)Changing digital media practices, cultures, genres, technologies:Machinima (Burn)Tablets – (Cannon, Potter)

So: WE KNOW SOMETHING about the MICRO picture: how young people understand and make film; how this connects with other communicative practices and domains of knowledgeContexts of film educationPedagogiestechnologies

WE DON’T KNOW: mostly the MACRO picture-The benefits of this across the wider population – eg comparing those who do have opportunities for film education with those who don’t-Learning progression over time: what counts as progress; assessment; pathways into HE, the industry, etc.

WHAT DO WE KNOW IN EUROPE?-A lot about the enormous diversity of projects: film festivals, workshops, film clubs, archive access programmes-Curriculum structures: film in mother tongue teaching, the arts, optional courses, exam courses, etc- National policies, strategies, guidance-The involvement of the audiovisual sector-The training of teachers (or lack of it)-The role of the national film agencies, institutes, archives-Preferred film cultures (national; world; Hollywood)

WHAT DON’T WE KNOW IN EUROPE?-Participation (unreliable data; guesstimates – Hero to zero!)-Attainment across large cohorts (almost no data)-Learning progression over time-Long-term outcomes-What counts as ‘good’ (cf Being Seen, Being Heard study 2001)-Coding and film-making-‘Signature’ pedagogies-Education and the archive: unlocking the archive; archiving young people’s films

THE “3-CS”: have your cake and eat it

CULTURAL

CRITICAL

CREATIVE

Popular cultureAND

Elite culture

RhetoricsAND poetics

Imaginative poaching AND original production

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS-Longitudinal studies and large cohort studies-A new synthesis of the research across Europe (translation; network)-Multi-method study, combining close textual analysis of young people’s work with attitudinal surveys, interviews, and data on take-up and progression – all over time.

WHAT COUNTS AS ‘FILM’ ANYWAY?- Moving image media (inc television, still in top 5 of chosen media by EU teens)- Games: moving image medium – animation, imaginary worlds, powerful narratives, traffic between game and film, machinima- Mashups: the (not so) new aesthetic of Youtube: parodic practice- Cinematic ‘special effect’ – the work of the motion capture, CGI and 3-D animation industries: programming and coding and the arts in education. - Mobile practices: filming, editing, uploading from tablets and phones.