Abstract
Govan Young (2017) is a 30-minute documentary in which schoolchildren from Glasgow learn of the area's important but largely unknown medieval history. This dossier brings together four essays that reflect on the film from various academic perspectives – film studies, archaeology and education – to explore how schoolchildren might learn about the past, and develop a historical consciousness, by participating in film-making projects. The dossier also reflects on how educators can learn from those whom they are supposedly teaching, thereby highlighting that experimental pedagogical projects often bring unexpected learning outcomes into being. Consequently, educators must resist the pressures to predict the outcomes of projects, and must strive to keep the future open-ended.
Highlights
David Archibald (David.Archibald@glasgow.ac.uk) How might knowledge of local history influence children’s understanding of the place where they live? Might this new historical knowledge shape who they think they are? In what ways might film be utilized in developing this knowledge? And how might educational endeavours involving film shape children’s understanding of the medium itself?. These questions emerged in the making of Govan Young (2017), a 30-minute documentary directed by David Archibald, Martin Clark and Cara Connolly, in which schoolchildren from Pirie Park Primary School in Govan, a district in south-west Glasgow, learn of the area’s important but largely unknown medieval history
The film brought University of Glasgow academics working in film studies and archaeology into contact with local schoolchildren in an attempt to create an audiovisual learning experience that was both instructive and pleasurable for the participants in the film, and for those who might watch it
The first two essays are written by academics who had an awareness of Govan’s history and who were directly involved in the film-making process
Summary
These questions emerged in the making of Govan Young (2017), a 30-minute documentary directed by David Archibald, Martin Clark and Cara Connolly, in which schoolchildren from Pirie Park Primary School in Govan, a district in south-west Glasgow, learn of the area’s important but largely unknown medieval history. Govan Young comprises various formal qualities that draw attention to its constructedness; this project did not put cameras directly in children’s hands, the participants’ proximity to, and engagement with, the apparatus might well work to develop their understanding of how films come into being This dossier, is a small contribution to a broader discussion about utilizing film for learning about the past, and for learning about film, in schools, universities and beyond. As I indicate in the opening essay, the origins of Govan Young lie in a chance encounter with a book containing no direct relationship with the film’s subject matter, highlighting that the impact of any creative output is unknowable in advance In this neo-liberal age of instrumentalist education, where everything is measured and quantified, it is increasingly incumbent on educators, as it is on those working in the arts, to resist the institutional pressures to predict the outcomes of experimental pedagogical engagements. For if they are to be truly successful, perhaps they will have to reach beyond the parameters of the project’s own research questions or projected outcomes, and into realms that have not yet been imagined
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