Helping pupils make the best choices about what to watch, when and where.
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Background
The BBFC is independent and not-for-profit, and here to help everyone in the UK – especially children and families – choose age-appropriate films, videos and websites, wherever and however they watch or use them. As such we are passionate about engaging with younger children at an age where they are starting to choose their own viewing independently, especially at home.
Following our own research into viewing in the home, and concurrently with our work on the Digital Resilience Working Group and the creation of the Resilience Framework we have incorporated considered thinking about digital and real world resilience into our wider education and outreach work which includes presentations and interactive sessions and school visits with primary and secondary aged learners and online resources and activities.
A new initiative over 2018-19 was the creation of lesson plans and resources, developed with and accredited by the PSHE association aimed at learners at Key Stage 2 and 3 (Years 5/6/7/8/9).
The lessons are designed to help pupils develop the tools to make the best choices about what to watch, when and where - accompanied by comprehensive teacher guidance notes and supporting activity resources pointing both teachers and children towards helpful wider resources to build their knowledge about what tools are available in the digital space to make viewing safer.
“Crucially the framework allowed us to consider how our own education work fits into a wider ecological model of resilience.”
How we used the digital resilience framework
The framework approach, and careful consideration of the meaning and benefit of being resilient in a digital world, informed our creation of classroom materials that allow these groups to explore and reflect upon their own thoughts, desires, concerns, experiences and choices when viewing films and other audio visual material online, as well as in real world environments.
This is reflected in the learning outcomes from the lessons, which map against the four elements of the Digital Resilience Framework:
Understand when they are at risk on line – make informed decisions about the digital space they are in
Recognise age ratings, where to find them and why they exist
Evaluate the types of films suitable for different age groups
Describe how film content can evoke different feelings and responses in different people
Know what to do and seek help from a range of sources
Explain how the age ratings help them make decisions
Explain how to manage a situation when not everyone agrees which film to watch
Explain how to get help or advice about films and the media
Learn from their experiences and adapt for future choices - NB this will be distanced in PSHE through scenarios of other people rather than the pupils sharing their own experiences, but of course they will be reflecting personally
Describe how film content can evoke different feelings and responses in different people
Demonstrate how to handle pressure to watch something they feel unsure about
Explain how to manage a situation when not everyone agrees which film to watch
Explain how to get help or advice about films and the media
Recover when things go wrong online and receive the appropriate support
Demonstrate how to handle pressure to watch something they feel unsure about
Explain how to manage a situation when not everyone agrees which film to watch
Explain how to get help or advice about films and the media
Why the digital resilience framework was helpful
Crucially the framework steps and the research underpinning it as it developed allowed us to consider how our own education work - which is designed to specifically help children and their parents and teachers to choose well when it comes to looking at content in cinemas, at home, online and on websites, and to think about the role and benefits of age ratings in those spaces, and the best places to get reliable and age appropriate guidance, help and protection - fits into a wider ecological model of resilience.
“Not only can we help teachers work with younger children on their own resilience [but also] to help them recognise their existing patterns of positive behaviour in the offline space and how to transfer that to the online world”
So it means not only can we help teachers work with younger children on their own resilience and grit, but more importantly help them see how that teaching enables them to recognise their existing patterns of positive behaviour in the offline space (when they make appropriate and confident decisions about what to watch) and how to transfer that to the online world, and encourages them to access resources to help them consolidate those skills from their peers, family, social network, and recognisable and reliable sources of relevant information and age ratings.
To download our free PSHE primary resource "Lets Watch a Film! Making choices about what to watch" aimed at Key Stage 2 learners, visit CBBFC here