Strategies for activating youth film education: focusing on the achievements and limitations of the Korea Film Council (2018–2022)

The 2015 revised curriculum and theatre curriculum organisation

The revised national curriculum and theatre curriculum announced in September 2015 served as an important background to the efforts to develop public film education in South Korea. Key aspects of this revised curriculum were the integration of liberal arts and science (integrated social studies and sciences), alongside the implementation of a free semester system in middle school.⁵ The new curriculum placed particular emphasis on interdisciplinary convergences and linked classes, alongside cultural arts classes deemed useful for students’ future career pathways, rather than single-subject-oriented, unidimensional classes. Within this revised curriculum, theatre subjects were included in the general arts curriculum from the first semester of 2018, and they were newly established as elective subjects in high schools. A major theatre module was established in the Korean-language curriculum for fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students, and a small theatre module was created in Korean-language classes in middle school.⁶

On the other hand, according to the seventh curriculum reform, it has been possible to adopt films as an elective subject in high schools since 2022. While, in theory, elementary and middle school students also participate in aspects of film education through discretionary activities and special activities, formal film education has not taken place, largely due to a lack of professional human resources and equipment. Accordingly, starting in 2004, the then Ministry of Culture and Tourism designated a series of pilot schools which would pursue a particularised focus on film, with a budget of 1.5 billion won, and provided extensive support to 100 schools. Six schools were selected to run an elective course on film, 20 schools for a discretionary activity course on film, 27 schools for an extracurricular activity course on film, and 47 schools for a special aptitude course on film, and were thus able to teach film for 1–2 hours per week (Yoo, 2004). However, most of the selected schools were vocational high schools (specialised art high schools), and it was not possible to introduce film as an elective in liberal arts schools focused on entrance examinations. In addition, the accompanying textbook⁷ remained in a format wherein required grade levels had to be borrowed during the three-year curriculum. As the content of this workbook was focused on training professionals, there was also significant shortsightedness in terms of aspects of school-focused pedagogy. In addition, since 2018, the human resource pool of film instructors has shifted to those trained within ARTE’s art instructor support project (Jang, 2017a). As most of the human resource pool was operated through an experiential, activity-centred system of providing instructors to schools, discussions on the entry of film into public education gradually began to fade. In addition, since film was not a regular subject, the number of teaching positions began to reduce significantly, except in specific schools, leading to a decrease in the number of film education professionals across South Korea more generally. In a situation where it was difficult to build overall infrastructure, the lack of continued interest from the film industry also acted as a factor in losing momentum for efforts to integrate film into public education.

Starting with the seventh revised curriculum, certain achievements were made, such as discussions of film education standards from 2011 onwards. However, even the basic framework of film education was being questioned by 2017 (Jang, 2017a). Meanwhile, interest in the middle school free semester of the 2015 revised curriculum increased, which seemed to present a better option for meeting the demand for a cultural arts education.

As interest in film grew, the need for more systemic film education and an approach to public education that could meet the demand for cultural arts education increased. Accordingly, KOFIC sought to initiate development of a film curriculum to strengthen the possibilities for creative convergences in line with the goals of the revised curriculum, rather than an existing textbook emphasising the intellectual value of film.

Case studies of film education: the British Film Institute (BFI) in the UK and Centre national du cinema (CNC) in France

KOFIC examined advanced cases of film education in Germany, the UK, France and the US, which have enjoyed aspects of scholarly attention since the early 2000s through policy reports and issue-focused papers (for the status of film education in the UK and France, see Table 2). In particular, a Framework for Film Education, developed jointly by the UK’s British Film Institute (BFI) and Creative Europe MEDIA, was professionally translated into Korean,⁸ and has subsequently been used as the foundation of film education in Korea for a significant amount of time. This overseas model has since been cultivated as the basis for the future direction of integrating film into Korean public education.

In the UK, arts subjects were included in compulsory education in accordance with the Education Reform Act 1988. The BFI, established in 1933, continues to oversee aspects of film education across the UK. According to the 2013 Education Standards, film is not treated as a formal subject in the UK. However, aspects of film education are included in other foundational subjects such as Art and Design, a subject which is compulsory from the first grade (age 7) to the ninth grade (age 14) of elementary/primary school (Yoo, 2021a).

In this respect, aspects of film education may thus – in theory, at least – be provided in 69 per cent of elementary schools and 88 per cent of secondary schools (Lee et al., 2018). In particular, middle and high school students (14 to 16 years old, equivalent to Key Stage 4 in Korea) are taught arts, design and technology.

Students must complete one of the applicable subjects corresponding to humanities, business and enterprise, and, among these, film is included as an arts subject and is offered in a form similar to an elective subject. Further, the BFI has established links with school film education through classes held in its Southbank Theatre, London (Jang, 2020).

In addition, the BFI operates educational programmes such as the Leuven Library,⁹ aspects of vocational education in film, Film Teacher Education¹⁰ (which serves as a resource room for teachers), the BFI Film Academy and Into Film, and it is supported by the Department for Education, the Lotteries Commission and Creative Scotland.

Elsewhere in the UK, Northern Ireland Screen is running a short-term intensive course in partnership with the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) to support young people aged 16 to 19.

Meanwhile, in France, cooperation has been established between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, and schools, local governments and local cultural facilities seem motivated by a shared mission to cultivate artistically aware citizens. Although ‘film’ is not a separate subject, integrated education between different forms of art, including film, is implemented within the regular ‘art’ curriculum. For example, it is possible to integrate and connect theatre, design and architecture through music and art (Song et al., 2021). France’s CNC, an organisation similar to the Korean Film Council, selects films recommended for young people and distributes educational materials about these films. Further, there is a School and Cinema programme targeting nursery and elementary/primary school students, alongside respective Middle School Cinema and High School Cinema programmes, through which weekly aspects of education are provided through discretionary activities within the regular curriculum. Here, we can say, there is demonstrably film education (Song et al., 2021).

Although arts education is compulsory in the UK and France, ‘film’ has not, at the time of writing, been created and adopted as a separate subject. Nevertheless, film education can be seen to be actively taking place, supported in France, in particular, by a level of public discussion regarding the educational value of all arts (which, importantly, in France’s case, includes film). In other words, one can argue that aspects of film education, tailored to children’s development processes and learning abilities, are being implemented through a shared sense of purpose that regular appreciation of films can help children and young people become artistically aware members of society. These endeavours are subsequently strengthened through close networks between ministries of culture, offices of education and local arts organisations in each country.

The Korean Film Council as a film education institution

As an entity carrying out film education projects for young people, the basis for the activities of KOFIC was first codified in the Act on the Promotion of Video Products (hereafter referred to as the ‘Film Act’).¹¹

Prior to this, the existing film industry promotion led by KOFIC was mainly targeted towards adults, and it focused upon aspects of creative support for developing film-makers. However, progress in this respect was made within KOFIC’s Basic Research for Institutionalisation of Visual Culture Education (Cho, 2002), which suggested the need for budgetary support related to media education for young people.¹²

ARTE’s film education, which has been ongoing since 2005, was a further factor that strengthened the necessary role of KOFIC. While ARTE’s film education has certainly achieved positive results, most programmes focus on providing arts instructors, one-time projects focused on achievements such as submitting films to film festivals, or aspects of film production. As such, a more holistic approach to film education was required. Further, the treatment of ARTE’s instructors became a somewhat contested topic in 2016, when the question was raised as to who was responsible for deploying an arts instructor: was it the cultural institution in each region (those in most direct conversation with the education sector), local arts organisations in cooperation with ARTE, or ARTE themselves? As this debate grew, the limitations of insufficient administrative support and poor working conditions were revealed.¹³

Within this context, KOFIC emerged as an entity well placed to establish mid- to long-term plans for film education, and to provide more sustainable approaches to film education through the training of teachers and instructors. Not only is this committee the only film institution of its type in Korea, it also has the capacity to publicise the need for film education at a national level, and to devise an independent promotional strategy for film education. As a control tower for the institutionalisation of film education, the education-related achievements of KOFIC so far support its validity as the organisation tasked with implementing film education.

The history of KOFIC’s research activities is shown in Table 3.¹⁴

The reconceptualisation of film education

Before beginning to implement a programme of public film education, KOFIC reviewed the current film education discourse in its self-published issue paper and policy report, which sought to reconceptualise film education in order to establish the direction of future project work. According to A Study on Ways to Revitalise Public Film Education for Young People by Lee Aram-chan and others, announced by KOFIC in November 2018 (Lee et al., 2018), various forms of education are being conducted under the more subject-specific headings of media education, visual media education, media literacy and visual culture education. This report pointed out that although various forms of education are being conducted (which each, to varying extents, emphasise different subject parameters), the concept of film education is not clearly defined. Accordingly, a model that integrates film education and media education is presented as ‘Korean-style film education’ (Lee et al., 2018).

If the classic concept of film education is to emphasise the status of film as an art through differentiating it from other forms of art, then contemporary film education in Korea – this report argues – aims for a convergence of different forms of moving image. This change follows the manner in which earlier discourses on the specificity of film as an existing, more traditional medium evolved into conversations about ‘Expanded Cinema’ (Kim, 2019; Youngblood and Buckminster Fuller, 2020) or ‘extended film’, commonly discussed around video art and experimental film, defining film not as an art with its own aesthetics, but as a hybrid art that intersects with various different forms and media. Within the field of extended film, film education is therefore defined as education that encompasses all forms of video images, including cinema (Kim, 2019). When the traditional characteristics of film are expanded to accommodate this sense of ‘extensibility’ within educational contexts, film education can be reconceptualised as a pedagogy seeking to break down the boundaries within understandings of television, animation, games and the internet.

Three years later, in 2021, however, a further study titled Research and Development of Standard Curriculum for Youth Film Education (Development of Elementary School Film Education Standards), written by Song Young-ae and others (hereafter referred to as Research on Standards for Film Education), presented a different view, drawing perhaps more on conceptions of film education arising from within academia (Song et al., 2021). Such debates are indicative of the fact that a consensus on these questions has not yet been reached. Research on Standards for Film Education seeks to demonstrate that, while media literacy and film have some similarities, the academic foundations of the two pedagogies are different. Media literacy is, this study argues, a social science communication theory focusing on how to use and utilise media in a productive way, whereas film education is based on artistic and humanistic awareness. Education on how to utilise media in the era of the fourth industrial revolution is urgent, this study argues, but film education and media literacy education must be differentiated, because film education has different foundations (Song et al., 2021). Unlike Lee et al. (2018), who previously defined film education as a more expansive field of enquiry, Research on Standards for Film Education defines film education through a narrower conception focusing on film literacy.¹⁵

The approach to film education currently being implemented in key schools in South Korea is based on the Education Standards and Workbook (in English) (KOFIC, 2022a). Focusing on the Korean-language curriculum, this work is largely organised into the following classes: ‘Watching films’, ‘Understanding the components of films’ and ‘Making films using smartphones’. These classes adopt a format wherein the achievement standards of other subjects in the curriculum are incorporated into film education. It is therefore generally understood that this format takes into account a contemporary context within which it is difficult to promote an integrated model recognising the interconnected characteristics of film education (as espoused by Lee et al., 2018), or otherwise situate film education within the field of new media. In the UK and France, generalised ‘art education’ is mandatory, and the overall understanding of the importance of such education is largely recognised within society (in France in particular). As such, even without film as a formal subject, more expansive forms of film education can arguably be pursued. However, since the focus is arguably on questions of subject matter within Korea, it may be an approach that takes Korea’s education situation into consideration.

In this manner, the 2018 Study on Ways to Revitalise Public Film Education for Young People and the 2021 Research on Standards for Film Education organise the conception of film education differently. The two discussions have in common, however, that they at least avoid conceptualising film education as simply a process of training professional film-makers, and both suggest a different direction from past approaches, which have focused simply on production. In addition, both incorporate the achievement standards for other curricular subjects, such as Korean language, art, music and practical studies and – in this respect – they look ahead to the future of film education as a discipline, in a manner that expands educational possibilities.

Textbook development

The reasons why KOFIC has set textbook development as its main project are as follows. First, film education, which was hitherto implemented mainly by instructors from ARTE, has so far been conducted without purpose-specific workbooks and, as such, has relied largely on the particular capabilities of each individual instructor. Second, textbooks published in the past did not meet contemporary achievement standards of the curricular goals set for each grade, and they were broadly aimed more at art schools training film-makers. Third, school-based art education is centred on short-term education for which schools apply for resources on a yearly basis. As such, education based upon a mid- to long-term curriculum requires a different level of formulation. Fourth, while in France and the UK, national-level education can be undertaken as part of arts education without a formal curriculum, in Korea, awareness of arts subjects is still relatively low due to the predominant focus on entrance examinations. As such, without a proper process of institutionalisation, the existing curricular structure makes it difficult to activate discretionary education.

Following revision and development of the ‘Film Education Workbook Teaching and Learning Course Plan’ in 2019, KOFIC published the ‘Film Education Workbook Teaching and Learning Course Plan’ for fourth- and sixth-grade elementary/primary school students in participating schools in 2020. In 2021, film textbooks for elementary schools were subsequently developed based on the Research on Standards for Film Education paper. There are currently seven textbooks, including workbooks for the first and second, third and fourth, and fifth and sixth grades of elementary school respectively, a teaching and learning guide for each grade, and a separate appendix containing 30 recommended films. According to the above report, elementary school textbooks aim for educational convergences in which film education is linked to the curricula of other subjects. The learning goals of film education are composed of ‘appreciation’, ‘expression’ and ‘incorporation into daily life’. These three aspects are the paradigms of the approach to film education announced through the ‘Elementary School Film Education Standards’, and each unit is deepened according to the educational goals of each grade (Song et al., 2021). Grades 1 and 2 consist of 14 teaching sessions, Grades 3 and 4 of 15 sessions, and Grades 5 and 6 of 30 sessions.

So far, only elementary school workbooks have been developed, but middle school textbooks are scheduled to be developed starting from the operation of middle school research in 2023. Due to the nature of the free semester system, these are likely to focus upon career experience or film production. In addition, when workbooks for high schools are developed in the future, it is expected that the focus will be on adopting a critical approach, allowing learners to develop an appreciation of films as an art form while developing reading comprehension skills.

Operation of key schools

Supporting pilot work in key schools is a core task of the Youth Film Education Revitalisation Project. The intention has been to develop a model of film education that is suitable for the Korean public education sector as a whole by applying the Elementary School Film Education Standard Plan developed in 2021 to school classes; to evaluate the success of the approach; and subsequently to gather data from key schools in order to guide future learning. In 2018, KOFIC worked with the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education to establish directions for operating key schools, which were delivered for the first time in 2019. Yeongdo Elementary School in Busan and Songwon Elementary School in Jeonju were selected as the first pilot schools, with a budget of 10 million won provided to each school, alongside equipment such as tablet computers for film production. Each school used the Youngjin Committee’s film education programme as a standardised education model, and operated classes by establishing educational goals tailored to the particular context of each school. The history of activities in the pilot schools is shown in Table 4.

The tasks of key schools are largely divided into instructor-led education and teacher-led education. Instructor-led training involves creative, experiential activities, and it follows a workbook course of at least 20 sessions within the regular curriculum (KOFIC, 2020a), wherein teachers pick and choose from different aspects of the Youngjin Committee’s established film curriculum. For example, Yeongdo Elementary School conducted 60 sessions of education for three classes of fifth-graders (a total of 53 students), including 12 sessions of creative experiential activities, and 48 sessions of choosing aspects of the curriculum detailed in the workbook developed by the Youngjin Committee (KOFIC, 2020b). In 2022, a total of six schools were operated in the Jeonbuk and Busan regions. At this point, the Youngjin Committee increased the amount of support to 15 million won per school, and provided film production equipment, film education practitioners and teacher training.

As shown in Table 5, the total budget of the Youth Film Education Promotion Project increased between 2019 and 2021. This is because various projects such as instructor development and training, standard course research and development, support for school film production equipment, and the development of a forum to share the results of public film education were carried out during this time. Then, as the number of pilot schools increased to six in 2022, the budget for the key school sector reached half of the total budget. At the time of writing, the 2023 budget is also expected to be similar to previous years, albeit with a total of 80 million won allocated to two research schools. As such, most of the budget will be used to operate pilot schools.¹⁶

The value of the pilot school, explaining its centrality as the main project of KOFIC, is that it can evaluate the potential of film education in school settings and – as such – can hopefully establish a stable foundation for public film education. However, due to budgetary limits, it is difficult to expand its provision (and thus explore performance indicators) nationwide, as these are inevitably limited to specific regions such as Busan and Jeonu. Although the meaning and value of film education can be positively evaluated by sharing the achievements of key schools within the education community to a certain extent, there are realistic limitations to creating a broad social consensus.

Training of teachers and instructors

KOFIC’s approach to training film education instructors is largely divided into support for research and development undertaken by teachers and instructors, operation of a pool of instructors at key schools, and other aspects of workshops and training. First, the Teacher/Instructor Research Group is a support project aimed at developing various teaching models for the purpose of revitalising film literacy. Until 2020, research funds were provided to research groups made up of elementary school teachers and film instructors across the country (see KOFIC, 2020b). From 2021, support was provided to teacher and instructor research groups within key schools. (For budget allocation, see Table 6.)

The second training policy is the operation of a pool of instructors at key schools. Each region independently recruits and operates film education instructors according to the key schools recruited through an open application process every year. Applicants must have a cultural arts history education certificate (with a major in film) or at least three years of film-related arts education experience in an elementary school.

Having met one or both conditions, candidates, if selected, must subsequently complete instructor training conducted by the Youngjin Committee. Instructors undertake sessions in accordance with the semester schedule of the key schools, excluding vacation periods, and classes are scheduled for approximately 30 basic sessions. The instructor fee is 100,000 won for the first hour based on the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, and 60,000 won per additional hour is paid for regular lectures. While the Youngjin Committee is responsible for selecting instructors, training and supporting practical lectures, instructor allowances are paid directly to instructors by key schools.

The third teacher and instructor support policy involves further aspects of workshops and training. Starting with a briefing session or the previous year’s performance report, training is conducted for teachers, instructors and teacher/instructor research groups. In particular, it is important that the Education Standards of the Korean Council are actively utilised in the curriculum of pilot schools, so training includes guidance on using workbooks and the use of teacher guidance plans. Training was held over two years in 2021 and 2022.¹⁷

Considering KOFIC’s budget for nurturing teachers and instructor development, annual changes are similar to the operating budget of the pilot schools.

From 2019 to 2021, when two key schools were operated as a pilot, the budget was maintained without much change, taking into account only the increase or decrease in labour costs. However, in 2022, as the number of pilot schools increased significantly, the budget for teaching and training – increased to 100,000,000 won – was equivalent to half of the project. In other words, across the entirety of the 2022 Youth Film Education Revitalisation Project, the budget was allocated only to the operation of pilot schools, and the training and support of teachers and instructors. Through this, we can see how seriously KOFIC considered operating a pilot school as a way to introduce film subjects into public education.

Public discussions around the promotion of film in public education

KOFIC emphasises the need for film education in educational administrative agencies and, with this objective in mind, it carried out public discussion activities as shown in Table 7, to foster awareness of film education in the domestic film industry. These efforts not only spread the value of film education, but also played a promotional role in strengthening the position of KOFIC as an institution playing a central role in film education.

KOFIC held the International Symposium on Youth Film Education over two days during the 2019 Busan International Film Festival. With the purpose of ‘establishing a foundation for expanding the need for film education within public education’, cases were introduced from Taiwan, Japan and Korea, as well as the case of Bradford in the United Kingdom, a UNESCO Creative City of Film. On 28 December 2020, the ‘Film Literacy and Film Education Report’ was delivered online to share the achievements of the teacher and instructor research teams, and the achievements of key schools. In 2021, a further discussion was hosted by the Post-Covid Film Policy Promotion Team, which was launched on 23 February, after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. A policy forum consisting of 16 sessions was held for a total of four days, including the session ‘Film Education and Future Audiences’, which discussed the achievements of film education in the previous year, while also considering future prospects. In 2022, an event was held to report on best practices for key schools, and the operation of teacher and instructor research groups. However, unlike previous years, these were held only for teachers and instructors from key schools.

Despite the fact that KOFIC’s self-organised public discussions were carried out as above, there are no media reports on why film education should be normalised as an elective subject like theatre, or cases in which schools or teachers actively advocated for why this was necessary. In November 2020, several articles were published in the wider media about how the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education had opened the Film Education Research School in order establish a public education model for the first time (Byeon, 2020; Kim, 2020; Kwon, 2020). However, this actual research school was subsequently scheduled (at the time of writing) to be implemented in 2023. As such, while certain developments in public film education have received a degree of media attention, it can now be said that such interest has largely stagnated.

Further, as there is a close working relationship between educational administrative agencies in Busan and Jeonbuk to operate pilot film schools, it can thus be said that the results of film education have been shared to some extent at an administrative level across both regions. However, while this cooperation is largely effective on a practical level, it is difficult to confirm with objective indicators the extent to which it is contributing to spreading awareness of public film education. We argue that there is a strong need for a promotional strategy to spread awareness by continuing to analyse international cases of film education and sharing significant case studies of film education pilot schools with the industry and the general public. However, no promotional budget was allocated by KOFIC for 2022 and, perhaps problematically, performance reporting of key schools remains conducted solely through self-evaluation.

Development of a universal film education course

Starting in 2023, KOFIC will operate one elementary school and one middle school as research schools. The purpose of operating the research school is to apply the Elementary School Film Education Standards to school settings, and to develop a model for future school film education not dissimilar to the BFI’s Film Framework. The research school’s results are uploaded to the research school’s website (www.edunet4u.net) so that teachers across the country can check the results of their film education endeavours.

The annual support budget for the research school is 40 million won, which is very high compared to other related projects, which tend to be allocated closer to 10 million or 20 million won per year (Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education Policy Planning Department, 2022). The organisations supporting the project in this instance are the Ministry of Education, the Office of Education and KOFIC. The research school is a meaningful project, in that it serves to complement the operating procedure of key schools, which operated as one-time projects on a yearly basis, and allows the Office of Education, the Youth Education Commission and the schools themselves to share feedback and reflections with each other. However, as most teachers are aware, there is no significant difference in operation in comparison to other schools, other than the fact that work undertaken at research schools can affects teachers’ overall performance. It cannot therefore be ruled out that those schools successfully applying to be pilot schools tend to participate in the project for the sake of school performance and teacher promotion scores, rather than for the vision of public film education and the broader goal of revitalising film education. Above all, at a time when schools and teachers must become active participants in efforts to publicise the value of, and need for, film education to educational institutions, performance-oriented support arguably risks making schools and teachers passive rather than active participants in these undertakings. In other words, while the research school is a meaningful initiative, in that it designs and evaluates approaches to film education, this does not guarantee the expandability of film education as universal education. For these reasons, we must critically consider whether the research school is an appropriate method for the stable and sustainable establishment of public film education.

‘Universal education’ refers to accessible forms of pedagogy in which film education can be easily engaged with outside of pilot schools or without the requirement for schools and teachers to study complex education standards. Once selected as a pilot school, the administrative procedures are so complex that each school must separately designate a teacher to oversee the project within the life of the school. We therefore argue that a universal education model is needed that simplifies the process and makes it easier to participate in film education without having to attend training or spend significant time analysing instructional plans. There is a need to increase teachers’ accessibility to film education through the development of a low-hurdle educational methodology, and to try pilot schools and schools in parallel with various educational models that can cover not only the longer-term curriculum of about 20 sessions, but equally can make the most of shorter amounts of time. This could be a way to expand the value of film education nationwide. By analysing the creative experiential activities and topics that each school focuses on, it should be possible – we suggest – to develop a workbook centred upon several recommended films. Teacher guidance could subsequently be provided in the form of videos rather than books, thus providing creative guidance taking advantage of the visual and auditory characteristics of film itself as a medium.

Establishment of a consultative body between local film and media education organisations

We argue that local art organisations and local film institutions play a crucial role in efforts to expand film education. In this respect, it is necessary to study film education programmes already in place, and to analyse their performance. Various organisations in each region have developed their own workbooks, and also operate pools of instructors focusing on experiential creative activities. Busan International Kids and Youth Festival, for example, has established a cooperative system with education support offices across the region of Busan, providing film education in schools in each district, and signing a business agreement with the Busan Cinema Centre to provide out-of-school film education. Elsewhere, the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival also provides educational materials online by resolving copyright issues for documentary films deemed effective for education contexts. IndieGround, established by KOFIC for the purpose of improving the distribution of Korean independent and art-house films, also selects independent films and, in particular, those recommended by young people, and it provides educational materials for each film. Further, CJ CGV’s Exciting Film School is especially focused on career exploration and creative writing activities within the free semester system, embodying a programme of film education that can be used widely, even in conjunction with other subjects.

A central difficulty, however, is that there is as yet no infrastructure centred on KOFIC to collect and provide mutual feedback on instances of film education taking place in this diversity of different undertakings. In other words, since there is no system of cooperation between the Committee and these organisations,¹⁸ there is a low level of understanding regarding the Committee’s objective of public film education. There are many projects overlapping in nature and operation, rather than a consortium of consciously differentiated activities.

Establishing a cooperative system therefore seems a crucial objective in order both to develop a model for universal education, and to understand the contributing role of each organisation. If a forum that can actively build a system is created, it is believed that it would be of significant use to the current endeavours in pilot schools. As above, KOFIC has, to date, been operating pilot schools exclusively in Busan and Jeollabuk-do. However, since the headquarters of KOFIC is in Busan, and the brand image of Busan as a city of cinema is strong, education institutions in Jeonbuk show a lower degree of understanding regarding requisite activities than those in Busan.¹⁹ We argue that such a consortium of organisations would not only fill this regional gap; it would also be able to serve as a networked focal point to expand upon the results of pilot schools, previously operated only in Busan and Jeonbuk, to a more nationwide level. In addition, through carefully considering the organisation of film education experts and education policy-related staff in relation to KOFIC, the promotion of public film education to the Ministry of Education or the staff of local education offices could more effectively take place, thus increasing the understanding of public officials in order to attract active cooperation from relevant institutions. It is a time when not only KOFIC but also local film education organisations conducting their own film education work require a collegiate system of exchange that can objectively verify the effectiveness of their projects. The formation of such a consultative body, we argue, would thus be of significant benefit to all entities carrying out film education projects across South Korea.

Establishing a consultative body is also necessary for the stable and sustainable preparation of the high school credit system that will soon be implemented. The high school credit system delivers subjects according to student demand. Therefore, for those subjects that not many students wish to engage with, schools struggle to deliver subjects on their own. This requires various methods to be explored. According to Oh Se-seop, film is likely to be offered as a small subject, so it is expected to require collaboration with other schools, utilising local educational facilities, or working with local universities (Oh, 2020). While equipment is needed for film production classes, the Board of Education and the Office of Education will not be able to allocate sufficient budget, and there is no way for most schools to purchase the necessary equipment on their own.

We must therefore consider ways in which film appreciation and film education classes can be held on a regular basis. We argue that there is a need to utilise the local infrastructures as much as possible. In this instance, close cooperation between KOFIC, the Office of Education, and local film education organisations and facilities is essential, and the proposed consultative body would play a crucial role in this respect in facilitating networking.

Of course, when seeking to form a consultative body with a physical, geographical presence, certain questions should be asked, such as where such an organisation’s base of operations should be; equally, should such a body be overseen by KOFIC, or should such an undertaking be entrusted to the private sector? Further, the scope of project work should be considered, as well as its allocated budget, and considerable discussion is required on these points. However, despite its necessity, the task – which was initially intended to be carried out simultaneously with the development and stabilisation of a standard curriculum even before the implementation of KOFIC – has yet to be undertaken, even in the fifth year of the project. Various models of consultative bodies, such as a film education promotion group, establishing a film education network, a youth film education centre, and a film education committee, were considered through in-house research exploring how such organisations might be composed and funded. Such discussions, however, have to date remained at the level of suggestions. Therefore, in order to form a consultative body, it is necessary to re-examine previous models, and to select a model that can be implemented strategically. A step-by-step approach should be attempted in order to lay the foundations for collaboration, such as collection and analysing data and holding regular meetings. Above all, the immediate task will be to form a consensus under the leadership of KOFIC, so that the establishment of a consultative body can be recognised as fundamental work in advancing a progressive vision of film education in Korea.

Construction of a public web platform

A further consideration that needs to be addressed in order for film to be integrated into public education is a public web platform. The development of a public web platform was proposed from the beginning of the KOFIC project, when overseas film education cases were mainly studied, but – similarly – it was not implemented (Jang and Noh, 2021). We argue that a web platform is essential for accumulating and developing the results of film education across Korea and beyond. In the case of the BFI, a web platform is operated through which teachers can easily access materials.²⁰ Since a separate web platform has not been established for film education, teachers and instructors at pilot schools must also use KOFIC’s website to share education materials and information. Since private educational organisations conducting their own film education have a common goal of developing film education, they too (we argue) should be able to refer to the curriculum, programmes and operating plans for each grade of the pilot school. However, this information is not easy to obtain.

A public web platform should be a place for collaboration, and a community where organisations can voluntarily share information, rather than a unilateral form of distribution. It can also function as a complement to the spatial and temporal constraints of office councils (Jang and Noh, 2021). The most ideal form of such a public platform would – we argue – be to provide film content alongside educational materials. Some have suggested that practical operation will be difficult due to server management and copyright issues. However, since each film has a different distribution method, it is difficult for teachers to search each platform individually, and when a distributor’s period of rights expires, film viewing is restricted, posing barriers for educational access. Attempting to institute such a public web platform would certainly pose significant challenges. However, if a platform were to be formulated that could provide information in a unified manner (while also collecting feedback), it would significantly help attempts to construct long-term approaches to film education.

To achieve this, it is necessary to come up with a plan with the film industry so that film content can be provided for non-commercial and educational purposes. For example, France’s CNC regularly enters into agreements with distributors for special screenings for educational purposes, and, in these instances, different rates are applied to regular screenings. The French Ministry of Culture and local governments also support out-of-school programmes for students by supporting cooperative structures between distributors and cinemas for the screening of relevant films. This is a structure in which a highly beneficial interaction has been developed between government, teachers, students, film distributors and cinemas, local governments and film organisations.

Of course, there is a big difference between supporting distribution by loading content on to a platform and supporting education in cinemas showing films, as in the case of France. However, as has been pointed out in previous studies undertaken by KOFIC, this is not the only way for the Council to develop or operate such an online platform. Considering the current educational situation, in which schools’ use of film and video content and art education is expanding, Over-the-top (OTT) platforms targeting schools and libraries have been developed,²¹ and cooperation with OTT companies has led to the development of OTT IDs. An alternative could be to allocate budgetary resources so that schools can purchase films directly, and allow students to download educational materials directly after watching a particular film online. In this case, KOFIC could help negotiate and provide a certain amount of support when signing a contract between an OTT platform and a production company, or between an OTT platform and a copyright holder, for specific, recommended films²² for which they wish to secure a licence for education purposes.

Public web platforms must, above all, consider the distribution structures of films and, as such, active cooperation from the film industry is required. Accordingly, regular seminars would help young people understand the meaning and value of entering the film industry or, like the BFI Academy Programme, for young people who specifically want to develop a career in film production. Various means of cooperation with the industry should be explored following the broader agendas of film education, such as a series of special lectures and a programme to connect and match up industry workers. This is a task that must be implemented in order to address the problem of lack of awareness and cooperation within the film industry, which has not to date shown much interest in film education.

Rethinking the brand strategy of smart film education

Last, we must consider the long-term direction of film education. Currently, the Committee has been focusing only on the immediate business of operating pilot schools and training teachers and instructors. As such, we risk being unprepared for various problems that may arise even after film is incorporated as a regular subject. Elective subjects do not have as many hours as mandatory subjects. Although the situation is slightly different for each school, in the case of high school elective subjects in 2018, music and art were delivered within 10 hours. However, with the more recent entry of theatre (see above), these subjects found themselves at risk of competing with each other. This is an issue that inevitably becomes sensitive, because it is directly related to the teaching allocations of music and art teachers. In addition, since students must be selected by schools even after transferring to regular subjects, promotion of the subject must become more active. Since the total number of sessions is directly related to the demand for teachers, ‘only when schools and teachers are aware of the unique characteristics of film education can film education be widely practised and the human resource pool of teachers and instructors be expanded accordingly’ (Jang, 2017b: 33). In other words, a promotional strategy that is unique to the requirements of film education is needed.

In KOFIC’s ‘Youth Film Education Basic Plan Research’ (2019), the film education promotional strategy was presented as ‘smart film’ (Lee et al., 2019). Smart film education is an expansion of film education encompassing film and digital literacy, in which the scalability of film education is a core consideration. However, the current approach to smart film education was designed based on an awareness of the current situation, where there is little understanding of film education. In reality, the significance of smart film education is that it provides smartphone equipment to pilot schools to enable production classes. If the emphasis remains only upon creative and production education – we argue – the expansionary potential of film education implied by the designation ‘smart’ risks being lost.

If we want to emphasise the educational value of film as a medium, with the ‘scalability’ implied by notions of smart film education, we must return to the discussion of ‘expanded film’ mentioned above. According to this discussion, film can simultaneously be integrated with required subjects, while remaining a comprehensive art form, and it can serve as the basis for all arts education, including music and art (which are already existing elective subjects). In addition, within this context, film can be used in a variety of ways as an effective text for understanding and experiencing overall aspects of technology, such as special effects and games, in line with the fourth industrial revolution.

Expanded film is a concept that deviates from more traditional conceptions of cinema, as video images projected on to a single screen where they are met by a viewer’s gaze. Today’s forms of extended film provide immersive experiences through multi-screen technologies such as 4DX, emulating panoramic spaces.²³ In addition, personal device-centred OTT platforms such as Netflix have established a transmedia strategy that can be expanded to other cultures such as video on demand, N-screen, algorithm-based recommendations and games that allow users to watch films when and how they want. In line with this changing media landscape, films are gradually evolving, and users are also becoming familiar with the inter- and multimedia environments where art and technology become fused. In a rapidly changing media ecosystem, film education needs to consider more than ever what future direction it should pursue. If film education is conducted only in a way that emphasises the differences or particularities of film subjects, or that follows the framework of existing curricula, the potential of film within public educational environments will be lost.

In these terms, expanded cinema can function to promote broad literacies across media that can break down not only the walls between different genres of film, but also those between different forms of art. We argue that this would be a strategy unique for film education that no other art curriculum can offer, and it is therefore a direction worthy of the notion of smart film education.

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