Aims & objectives

Our Aims

All of the bfi's work is educational in a broad sense. We offer many different kinds of opportunities to discover and learn about moving image media. We also aim to stimulate debate and generate new knowledge about these media.

Within this broad remit, bfi Education's activities are those that can be explicitly recognized as "educational". They involve people making a conscious commitment to learning. The aims of bfi Education are:

• to establish the value of learning about the moving image media, both for individuals and for UK culture;
• to increase understanding and enjoyment of the moving image by learners in all sectors and across the UK;
• to drive moving image media literacy up the agenda of educationalists, policy-makers, employers and society at large.

These aims and our activities and plans build on the recommendations of two key reports: Making Movies Matter by the Film Education Working Group for the DCMS (1999) and Specialised Exhibition and Distribution: Education by the Centre for Educational Leadership and School Improvement (CELSI), for the Film Council (2001).

Priority Audiences

The bfi's educational work is learner-centred. The Institute as a whole is committed to broadening its audiences and reaching more people across the UK. Our educational activities can contribute to this by focusing on specific sectors, which will be hard to reach, but which have high potential for external partnerships and funding, national policy priorities to which we can effectively contribute, and opportunities for us to make a significant new contribution to our objectives. Three sectors meet these criteria:

• 3-14 year olds in mandatory education,
• 14-19 students in formal education,
• post-14 adult audiences in informal settings.

Although there are bfi education activities and services for a wide range of learners and sectors, we will be paying special attention to these three sectors over the next few years.

Key Learning Objectives

Moving image media literacy is achieved through three different kinds of learning:

• by seeing a wide range of moving image media - from different sources, different periods and different countries;
• by acquiring critical skills in questioning and analysing moving image media;
• by having opportunities for creative work with moving image media.

We think it's important that all these kinds of learning are available to as many people as possible. They should be part of every child's educational entitlement, and they should be widely available in informal contexts as well, for learners of all ages. Moving image media literacy is satisfying and enjoyable for individuals, crucial for a lively and diverse national culture, and politically vital in a democracy.

Read more on What Education Does.