Exploring film education in neurodivergent and economically deprived pedagogical settings in conversation with Del Pike of Hugh Baird University Centre

While creative subjects such as music, art and film have been deprioritised and defunded under the United Kingdom’s Conservative Government, the social and pedagogical utility of their study, particularly in areas of economic deprivation and within neurodivergent cohorts, is clear. This article draws forth these issues in a conversation with Del Pike, the leader and convenor of the Moving Image Production degree at Hugh Baird University Centre, Bootle, UK, a course which uses the study of cinema as a form of social corrective, and which encourages frequently marginalised learners to participate explicitly in the creation and analysis of culture. Our discussion details the pedagogical opportunities offered by the practical and theoretical study of film, and considers the challenges of film education in a further and higher learning institution located in a deprived area of England that engages with a high needs student body as an aspect of policy. The article seeks to understand how the practical study of film within a neurodivergent teaching context creates new expressive possibilities regarding film form and film education pedagogy.