Recommendations of the Education and Training Committee

Abstract

The Education and Training Committee, which was chaired by Clive Myer, director of The Film Academy, University of Glamorgan, had to overcome a division between training and education, with each side liable to disparage the other, which is the legacy of a history in which both have been poorly served. The first accomplishment of the Parliament was to bring both sides together in the same room on more or less equal terms. The independent film sector has a special relationship with education. Many film-makers are also educators who seek to develop film as a vibrant part of local and world culture. And not just makers – a broad community of interest within academia is helping to shape the next generation of teachers, film critics, programmers, film education officers and others who make up the wider film and video culture, not least audiences. The committee recognised the importance of regional film cultures and their unique contributions, and the need for regional educational establishments. To have a healthy, inspirational world-class film culture you need a healthy seeding ground which can respond to new technology, new working methods, and new thinking. Skills and craft teaching is one side of it, along with dedicated screenwriting courses which have mushroomed in recent years. But the educational context is much broader, raising questions about film education in further and higher education, and including research and its potential across education and industry. Issues range from the demand for university places in relation to government ambitions for student numbers (film and video studies at university continue to expand), to questions raised by the imminent Arts and Humanities Research Council and the future of the Research Assessment Exercise. There are several recent reports on these concerns.1 A number of media education subject groups have recently