Summer 2013 - The Independent Schools' Modern Language ...

A guide to the rules governing showing and
studying films in school
This is not an easy issue at the best of times, but some advice is given in a
helpful publication ‘Using Film in schools – a practical guide’ which can be
f ound online at: http://old.bfi.or g.uk/education/teaching/
using_film_in_schools.pdf. This is very exhaustive but we reproduce the section
from that document that most directly concerns showing and studying
films in schools. But given the complexity of the legal situation, we would
draw your attention to the disclaimer below. At least this can help point us in
the right direction, if not necessarily defend us in a court of law!
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You can show films at school – in whole or in part – but it must be for
‘instruction’ rather than entertainment. You can only show them to
your students within the school and not to the general public.
If you want to show films for entertainment (e.g. at an after-school
film club or at the end of term) you need a Public Video Screening
Licence from CEFM/FilmBank, who cover the vast majority of films.
Your local authority or school may already have a licence. If you
charge for viewing films you will need a specific licence for each
screening, normally from FilmBank. www.filmbank.co.uk
You are breaking copyright if you copy films, e.g. ‘ripping’ extracts
from DVDs for use in teaching. Some teachers do this to make it easier
to access individual scenes in the classroom. The legal alternative
is to use DVD-playing software, or a standalone DVD player, which
will allow you to ‘bookmark’ the sections you want without copying the
disc.
The terms and conditions of some video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube
www.youtube.com) prohibit you from downloading and storing films
from their site.
If your institution has an ERA licence you can record, copy and use
terrestrial UK television programmes, subject to certain restrictions.
You can make extracts from them but you can’t modify them (e.g. by
adding a different soundtrack).
You can also use cable or satellite programmes (which aren’t covered
by the ERA www.era.org.uk) within a school for educational purposes,
as long as they aren’t accessible from outside the premises (e.g. on a
VLE or Intranet which students can access at home).
You can legally show films to your students even if they are below the
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