Exploring the place of animation and the role of the classroom-based film-maker within a wider field of Scottish moving image education

This article explores animation as a popular mode of moving image education in the wider field of Scottish film education, through a discussion with film education practitioner Jonathan Charles. It reflects on Jonathan’s pedagogic approach to film education, the way in which it is shaped and aligned with changing institutional and funding imperatives, and the affordances of animation, through a detailed look at a film-making project with a primary school in West Lothian, Scotland. It reflects upon the challenge to maintain in-depth film experiences for young people, with training and working with teachers to allow film experiences to be scalable and multiply to reach a wider range of young people. The article also discusses the drive to give young people agency throughout the film-making process, and how film education practitioners and teachers can best facilitate that.