First Light is part of a new nationwide film education strategy, Film: 21st Century Literacy. We are helping to lead this exciting new chapter in UK film education – and here we explain why we think the strategy is so important, and what it’s going to be doing.

Why is the film education strategy important?

We live in a world of moving images. So literacy in the 21st century means being as confident with the moving image as the printed word. That means that, just as children are helped to learn to read and write, they should be helped to enjoy and understand the moving image too.

Although the UK has many fantastic film education schemes, until now they have operated in isolation. To be truly effective, film education needs to be co-ordinated – and now, with the national Film Education Strategy, Film: 21st Century Literacy, the organisations that lead film education in Britain are joining forces in a project that we hope will eventually become central to every young person’s life.

What does the strategy want to do?

The new Film Education Strategy plans to make sure children and young people across the UK have the chance to watch, understand, and to make films.

Many people are rightly concerned about the lack of high-quality films available for children. We believe the answer is helping to nurture an audience of bold and knowledgeable film-lovers. Ultimately, the strategy wants to see the UK’s children and young people becoming the guardians of tomorrow’s British film culture – one that helps lead the world.

Through helping children engage with a diverse range of films and building their knowledge of film-making, the strategy will encourage all types of learning, understanding and debate – and enable young people to use film as a vehicle for their own creativity.

Who is behind the film education strategy?

First Light is one of the organisations leading the new Film Education Strategy. Our partners include:

The BFI (British Film Institute), the main national agency for promoting the understanding and appreciation of film and television.

Film Education, funded by the UK film industry, who provide structured programmes for the teaching of film criticism and appreciation in more than 18,000 schools each year.

Film Club, a new service to introduce kids to the wonder of films. By helping teachers and pupils form clubs in schools to show fantastic movies from every era and every corner of the world.

Skillset : The Sector Skills Council for Creative Media, a UK-wise industry body which supports skills, training and development for people and businesses to ensure the UK creative media industries maintain their world-class position.

Three National Screen Agencies and Nine Regional Screen Agencies.

What is the strategy going to do?

Part of the Film Education Strategy’s approach includes building on new government initiatives that are already underway, and the work of the organisations already involved in film education. To that end, we want to make sure as many people as possible working in British film are supporting film education – and creating a network across the UK of the key providers of film education to share ideas and knowledge.

The Film Education Strategy is also introducing a range of new innovative approaches to film education. These include programmes to make sure children and young people can watch a wider range of films, and developing online learning to introduce young people to both the UK’s wonderful film archives and great new British movies.

In addition, we plan to focus on the training of all those involved in film education in the UK, to make sure that film education becomes part of initial teacher education programmes, and to use new “learning routes” in schools to introduce and expand film education.

The Film Education Strategy also intends to regularly campaign to remind employers, the film industry, policy makers, broadcasters, schools, colleges and the public that film education matters.

What are the goals of the film education strategy?

As the Film Education Strategy begins, it has five specific goals. These include:

1. Working with teachers and all those involved in film education to raise its standards and quality.
2. Developing online resources to give children and young people access to the UK’s amazing film archives.
3. Creating online resources for every appropriate British film funded by public resources.
4. Building a UK-wide network of school-based film clubs
5. Piloting a new kind of partnership between the worlds of film and education at regional and national levels, to be rolled out across the whole of the UK.

Ultimately, these five goals are all designed to work towards just one: making sure that film education in Britain gives children and young people the chance to watch, appreciate, and – if they want to – make movies, so that they can each share in the richness and creative possibilities of film.

For more information and to read the Film Education Strategy: visit http://www.21stcenturyliteracy.org.uk/