Undergraduate students are invited to apply for the 2026 Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB) Summer School, hosted by the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. The 3-day Summer School will run from lunch time/Monday 15 June to lunchtime/Wednesday 17 June 2026. The Summer School involves one full day and two half-days of film screenings, discussions, lectures and social activities.
Accommodation and Food will be provided for free for the duration of the summer school!
The 2026 theme is ‘Film & Philosophy of Education’.
Tik Tok, YouTube, Netflix streaming – film is everywhere, isn’t it? Well, yes and no. Netflix’s viewing data and UK cinema closures tell us that young people under 25 just do not watch long form films anymore. Yet, the digital visual image and short videos – just think emoticons, GIFFs, influencers, the viral video - are integral part of how we communicate in our social-media-saturated ways of life. Yet, despite the supposed film reception malaise and the recent trend towards the ‘short form’, we all have a favourite film (don’t we?). What about that film that ‘really moved’ us; the one that sticks in our mind, that we can’t get out of our head; the one that we watch over and over? How does film educate us when we are ‘moved’ in this way? What is film’s pedagogy? Why and how does film – the long-form visual story - address our mind, body and spirit in the way it does; to relate us to the characters, stories and worlds it conjures in front of our eyes? What ‘education’ is lost (for better or worse) when we stop caring about being moved by the moving image?
The 2026 PESGB summer will start from our love of movies to explore the pedagogical questions that lurk in the artform of the moving image.
Note for interested applicants:
Participants in the Summer School are not required to be experts, or already working, with film or the arts. The most important criteria for selection will be your curiosity and openness to explore the pedagogical nature of the artform of the moving image.
TO APPLY
Application Documents:
A letter of recommendation from an academic staff member.
A short review of your favourite film (or just a film) (around 500 words). Guiding question: What is your favourite film and why is it meaningful/important to you?
Application Criteria:
Be enrolled on an undergraduate course in any discipline.
Be willing to work collaboratively.
For any further questions or to apply, please send the required application documents by email to summerschoolpesgb@gmail.com
Application Deadline:
Please submit application materials to by 5pm (GMT) on Tuesday 1st April 2026.
Decisions will be announced by 14th April 2026.
This event, hosted by the ‘Advanced Pedagogical Theory’ (APT) subtheme at the Institute of Education at the University of Strathclyde, is generously funded by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.
For more info about APT: https://www.pedagogicaltheory.co.uk/
For more information about the work of the PESGB: https://www.philosophy-of-education.org
