If a definition of film is elusive and plural, one would expect the same of film education. The three of the many definitions we have just read, of film and film education available; each one carries different implications for policy, curriculum, and teaching.

One area of debate and often confusion is in the differences between film education and film literacy, and media education and media literacy. Media, being a plural, encompasses the mediums of radio, television, the printed press, film and video, and now all the digital versions of these.

The one medium not included is the book – because the term ‘media’ covers contemporary culture, which society and education are still suspicious of, while ‘books’, and print literacy, have long ago achieved cultural dominance.

‘Film’ is a partial fit in the media-sphere, maybe fitting more easily where short, digital forms of film are concerned. But film is also an art form and medium of expression with its own distinctive language, grammar, and system, developed over 125 years, so we might feel it has earned the right to have its own ‘education’ and ‘literacy’!