Members
British Board of Film Classification

The BBFC is the regulator  responsible for classifying the many thousands of films, DVDs and video games  that get released onto the UK market every year. The BBFC has made a conscious  decision to take up a pro-active media education role with the aim of providing  youngsters with clear and accessible information about the history of film  regulation and the importance of its current regulatory role. The BBFC has a  committed education team who work with schools, colleges, film festivals and  universities as well as media educators such as the BFI,  Film Education  and First Light. Activities include lectures and guest speaker events,  interactive workshops in schools, tailored teacher training and after screening  discussions. When visiting schools and colleges, the team use clips from recent,  often borderline works, to generate debate and offer a clear insight into the  decision making process. Students are offered the opportunity to classify short  works such as trailers and adverts, and discuss the issues raised by longer  clips of contentious moments.

The  BBFC has two regularly updated education websites: www.sbbfc.co.uk  and  www.cbbfc.co.uk Sbbfc is a dedicated site for media and film students and  teachers ranging from secondary to further education. It includes case studies,  news articles, features exploring issues such as cuts, historical censorship,  current practices in regulation and famous decisions.  There are also  dedicated resources for teachers to provide clear, accessible information about  the work of the Board. For younger children www.cbbfc.co.uk is an exploratory  site, allowing users to classify clips, learn about the history and workings of  the Board and submit their own reviews and ideas encouraging media literacy and  awareness of classification. Cbbfc also includes dedicated information for  parents on forthcoming releases - this offers detailed advice about the content  of film releases. This service is to be enhanced and expanded in 2007 with the  arrival of Parents BBFC, a website devoted to providing parents with guides to  the classification process for films, DVDs and video games as well as specific  information about issues within individual films.