Film for Learning - Improving Literacy and Inspiring Change

Between 2019 and 2022, our Film for Learning project provided training and support for primary school teachers and senior leaders in England and Northern Ireland to achieve whole school change with film. The programme gave teachers and senior leaders the knowledge, skills and resources to embed film analysis and filmmaking in their school curriculum for teaching literacy at Key Stage 2 and developing pupils' creativity and other skills (including time management, teamworking and using digital technology).

Film for Learning was funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation and led by Into Film working in partnership with Nerve Centre (Belfast), Curriculum Innovation (Bradford) and boomsatsuma (Bristol) with the support of Bristol UNESCO City of Film. The programme involved training and supporting two teachers in each participating school, along with a senior leader (whose role was to support participating teachers to become ‘film leaders' in their schools).

Major findings were that Film for Learning:

• demonstrated that use of film analysis and filmmaking in the classroom helped to improve literacy engagement and attainment in the primary schools involved.
• gave teachers and senior leaders the knowledge, skills and resources to use film-based approaches, which they were able to share with colleagues to achieve whole school change.
• showed that the use of film in primary school settings can improve pupil engagement and attainment in specific aspects of literacy.

To celebrate the conclusion of the project, and to further highlight the outcomes, we've created a report summarising our findings with evidence. This summary report focuses on the programme's impact on literacy teaching and learning at participating schools, and can be downloaded below.

Following the success of the programme, we believe there is scope for encouraging more schools across the UK to adopt film-based approaches and embed film across their whole school. To this end, the training and resources associated with the Film for Learning programme are now available online and free for all UK schools to take advantage of, helping you achieve similar improvements to engagement and impact.