EDUCATIONAL AM* UUCUMKNTARY FILMS. 



287 



Educational and Documentary Films. — (Sir Richard Gregory, 

 Chairman ; Mr. J. L. Holland, Secretary ; Mr. L. Brooks, Miss 

 E. R. Conway, Mr. J. S. Dow, Mr. G. D. Dunkerley, Dr. B. A. 

 Keen, Dr. C. W. Kimmins, Mr. R. S. Lambert, Mr. A. E. Munby, 

 Prof. J. L. Myres, Mr. G. W. Olive, Mr. G. N. Pocock, Dr. T. 

 Slater Price, Prof. C. Spearman, Dr. H. Hamshaw Thomas) 

 appointed ivith the following reference : — Educational and Documentary 

 Films : To enquire into the production and distrihution theteof to 

 consider the use and effects of films on pupils of school age and older 

 students, and to co-operate with other bodies which are studying those 

 problems. 



In view of the exceedingly wide terms of reference assigned to tliem, the Committee 

 have had to consider whether on the one hand they should commit themselves to 

 enquiries which would take a considerable time and would ultimately cover all aspects 

 of the educational use of the cinematograph, or on the other should confine themselves 

 to a branch of the subject in which immediate practical advantage may be reaped. 

 In deciding to adopt the latter course, the Committee have been influenced by the 

 fact that there are already in existence many reports and other documents dealing 

 with the subject, among which they would specially refer to the Report of the Com- 

 mittee of the Imperial Education Conference of 1923 on the use of the Cinematograph 

 in Education, to the Educational Survey published last year by the Secretariat of the 

 League of Nations and to the monthly International Review of Educational 

 Cinematography published at Rome by the Educational Cinematographic Institute 

 under the auspices of the League. The comparison and classification of this large 

 amount of matter will obviously be one of the first tasks of any far-reaching Com- 

 mittee or Commission which may be set on foot to promote the use of the cinematograph 

 in British educational institutions. Such a representative Commission is now in 

 being in the shape of the Commission on Educational and Cultural Films which has 

 this year been established with the assistance of the Carnegie United Kingdom 

 Trustees, and to that Commission the Committee feel that the task of watching over 

 the development of educational cinematography can safely be left. 



The first conclusion at which the Committee of the Imperial Education Conference 

 of 1923 arrived was ' that a strong prima facie case has been established in support 

 of the view that the cinematograph can be of real value as an adjunct to present 

 educational methods, that properly \ised it may be of great assistance by way of 

 illustration, and that it should accordingly be recognised as part of the normal 

 equipment of educational institutions.' 



The experience which members of the Committee have had in their several 

 capacities leads them to think that the position of the cinematograph in education is 

 very much where this conclusion left it. The case for its use is still a prima facie one. 

 Indi\'iduals here and there have explored and, may be, strengthened the case, but it is 

 true to say that the number of schools and other institutions which are experimenting 

 with this instrument is very small, and that the pioneer work is as yet having no 

 general and extended influence upon methods of instruction. It is useless to lay the 

 responsibilit_v for tliis state of things upon producers, commercial and other, of 

 educational or semi-educational films. In comparison with other educational 

 equipment, films are costly to produce, and in the absence of a widespread demand 

 it is not reasonable to expect that the}' will be produced and put on the market. 

 Moreover, until the stage of individual experiment is passed and a large number of 

 workers in the realm of education have adopted the instrument and have tested its 

 possibilities in their particular fields of instruction, it is impossible for would-be 

 producers to ascertain the precise nature and extent of the demands to be made upon 

 them. 



In comparison with the gramophone and wireless, the cinematograph has made 

 di.9appointingly little headway as an instrument of education during the last few 



