Media studies emerged in the UK in the 1960s from the academic study of English and challenged distinctions between high and popular culture. Influential journals like "Screen" were established in the 1970s. The 1980s saw developments in computing, telecommunications, and Len Masterman's influential works on teaching media. National GCSE courses in media studies launched in the 1980s/90s. The 1990s saw media studies gain recognition worldwide, though it still required justification as an academic subject. Into the 2000s, technology growth and recognition of children's media experience helped promote media education. Schools now have technologies for media production across curriculums.

1. Aim: To provide an educative insight into the history and
progress of media education.

2. History of Media Studies
‘I think there is no question that there will be Media
Education as an established part of schooling in 20 years
time’.
Cary Bazalgette

3. History of Media Studies
Media Studies has been around for a number of years......

4. 1960s
In the UK, media studies emerged from the academic
study of English and literary criticism. It started to grow
in colleges and polytechnics, rather than through
established universities, and further challenges the
distinctions between high culture and popular culture.

5. 1970s
Developments in Media Studies continued from the 60s.
Advent of influential journals ‘Screen’ and ‘Screen
Education’.
During the 1970s, Screen was particularly influential in
the nascent field of film studies. It published many
articles that have become standards in the field. It is still
highly regarded in academic circles.

6. 1980s
There were accelerating developments in computing,
telecommunications and software during the 1980s.
Len Masterman publishes ‘Teaching about Television’
(1980) and ‘Teaching the Media’ (1985). The
development of media education is part of a wider move
towards ‘democratisation’ – where students’ out-of-
school cultures are recognised as valid and worthy of
consideration in the school curriculum.

7. 1980s / 90s
‘the big step forward over the past 3 or 4 years has been
the development of national GCSE course in Media
Studies now offered by five Boards and taken by
something like 20,000 students each year’.
Len Masterman

8. 1990s
Media Studies faced a few problems.
Media Education continues to develop but much was still
required to justify it as a subject worthy of academic
study.
Most teachers of media did not have a background in the
subject; most were English or Drama.

9. 1990s
However, the 90s could also be said to be the most
important decade in Media Studies in education.
Len Masterman played an influential part in supporting
Media Education and its teachers.

10. Len Masterman
‘Len Masterman’s work over the last decade has been
influential... he remains the most incisive and reliable
guide for teachers’.
Andrew Hart

11. 1990s
Media Education began to gain acknowledgement across
the world.
‘the European Minister of Education resolved that there
should be Media Education throughout compulsory
schooling in all European countries... and that the
UNESCO have taken out a five year plan to develop Media
Education throughout the world’.
Cary Bazalgette

12. 1990s
In 1998 the Film Education Working Group (FEWG) was
formed at the request of the Department of Culture,
Media and Sport to explore ways of developing a more
‘cineliterate’ audience for cinema.
It was formed of 25 members who were teachers and
lectures in Film and Media Studies and representatives
from film and television industries and institutions.

13. 2000s
The acknowledgement and need for Media Studies grew
and the ever growing developments in technology and
children’s experience of using them, has helped to
promote this need.
Children’s existing knowledge seen as starting point for
Media Education and UK Government recognises
importance of Media Education.

14. 2000s
‘critical understanding of film, video and television is
becoming an integral part of literacy... Children spend
more time with moving images than they do with school
work, and through this they acquire an enormous
amount of knowledge and experience which some
teachers are learning to access and develop’
BFI

15. 2000s
There was also a range of government and commercial
initiatives offered to schools to update their equipment
and get access to training.
Schools now have iMacs, Final Cut Pro editing software,
iPads, Flip Cams, and Film studios. Students have the
opportunity to use these technologies, not just in Media
studies but across the curriculum.

16. Media Studies
Media Studies is an important subject and needs to get
more recognition and appreciation than it currently
does.
We live in a mediated world, media and technology is all
around us and is one of the biggest industries in the
world.
Having Media Studies in school helps to develop young
people’s expertise and gives them an opportunity to
develop these skills and potentially progress into the
film or television industry.

17. Bibliography:
Marris, P and Thornham, S, Media Studies: A Reader, Second Edition,
Edinburgh University Press, 1999
Hart, A, Understanding the Media: A Practical Guide, Routledge, 1991
BFI, Moving Images in the Classroom: A Secondary teachers’ guide to using
film and television, Cromwell Press Ltd, 2000
BFI, Making Movies Matter: Report of the Film Education Working Group,
Norwich Colour Print Ltd, 1999
Rayner, P, Wall, P and Kruger, S, Media Studies: The Essential Resource,
Routledge, 2004
Websites:
TES – History of Media Studies
http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceDetail.aspx?storyCode=3003462
(Accessed 06/09/12)