Bernard launched A Wider Literacy, Northern Ireland Screen’s education strategy to embed the use of film and moving image as a support across the school curriculum at both primary and secondary level education in Northern Ireland.
The strategy is delivered in partnership with Northern Ireland’s three Creative Learning Centres (CLCs) and Into Film, the BFI national initiative that provides film clubs, free film screenings, teaching resources and careers advice for schools and young people across the UK.
He works with Northern Ireland’s three Creative Learning Centres, the Nerve Centre in Derry/Londonderry, Nerve Belfast and the Education Authority’s Amma Centre in Armagh, providing training for teachers, students and young people and youth leaders in community settings in the use of creative digital technologies and media literacy programmes.
A Wider Literacy was an initiative coordinated and supported by the former Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure, now part of the Department for Communities. It was developed by NI Screen in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI) along with stakeholders from schools, teachers, broadcasters, teacher education institutes, screen industry representatives, film educators, the Education and Training Inspectorate and government departments.
Providing careers advice and mentoring by screen industry professionals for young people interested in pursuing careers in the screen and related industries is a key part of the job. To this end, Bernard works in partnership with Into Film (the BFI supported UK-wide film education programme involving over 1,000 after-school film clubs across Northern Ireland) to deliver the ScreenWorks programme.
“In recent years we have been faced with a growing demand across the screen industries for new, talented individuals that can follow the vast range of careers in those industries – everything from animators, visual and special effects designers to screenwriters, producers, set designers and constructors. We’ve created a multi-faceted programme that provides pathways and access to these careers.“
Bernard McCloskey
Bernard is also Chair of Examiners for CCEA’s Moving Image Arts, the GCSE qualification in filmmaking for 16-year-old students.
Moving Image Arts is the first qualification in filmmaking at GCSE and A-Level level for 15-18 year-olds in the UK and involves young people in developing and producing short films for the qualification along with an online exam where students view film clips and answer questions which are submitted and marked online by examiners.
The qualification was developed in a partnership between NI Screen, the BFI, the Nerve Centre and CCEA, the Northern Ireland exams and curriculum body.
“At its core, our education strategy acknowledges the complex world faced by young people in relation to the moving image, social media and digital technologies. Awareness of these media and providing young people with the skills to understand, interpret and create their own stories and messages should be an important dimension to every young person’s skills base.“
Bernard McCloskey
A key objective for the CLCs has been to provide learning programmes for the most disadvantaged young people and those experiencing social exclusion. Over 80% of CLC activity takes place in schools with high numbers of disadvantaged pupils.
The CLCs, along with Cinemagic, the young people’s film festival, also deliver BFI Film Academies across Northern Ireland that provide industry led filmmaking programmes for young people aged 16-18.
NI Screen’s programme also includes academies for animation, visual effects and film design.
Formerly, McCloskey was Chair of Cinemobile, Ireland’s mobile cinema and before that was a TV commercials producer/director and worked internationally in the advertising sector as a Creative Director for Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann-Erickson.
