Lansdown Centre

Patrick read English Literature at Oxford and for the next ten years taught in literature in Southern Africa and the UK. A growing interest in Film and Television Studies, particularly in relation to ongoing interests in response studies led him to take a further degree at the University of London Institute of Education. Thereafter his work became more orientated toward Film, especially in looking at the relationship between academic work being done in the field and its translation into a viable curriculum subject in schools.

Throughout the 90s he was a keen advocate for Film Studies. In 1994 he established the first qualification in Film Studies at Cambridge University, working through their extra mural department. In 1998 he became Chief Examiner for A level Film Studies and in 2000 wrote the new AS / AL syllabus currently being taught extensively in schools and colleges throughout the country.

Patrick has spent almost half of his professional life working in schools and colleges. He has had a particular interested in lifelong learning – and for a number of years was director of a continuing education programme in Cambridge. This interest has extended into the area of ‘informal’ study – the experience of learning without access to any structured programme. He has contributed to a number of studies and working parties on informal in the area of Film Studies.

With his particular interests in teaching and learning in Film Studies, Patrick moved to Middlesex University in 1998. He has since then been responsible for developing the BA Single Honours Film Studies programme. His most recent work is in the development of an MA Professional Practice (Film Education) for teachers of Film Studies wishing to be accredited for skills developed in the work place and keen to further develop their knowledge. In his current role as Curriculum Leader for Media Arts, he is also working with colleagues at the new interface between film and digital interactive media.

Principal Teaching

• Film Historiography
• The relationships between Soviet, German and American Cinemas in the 1920s
• New Wave phenomena in Cinema of the 1960s
• Ethnographic Cinema
• Cinematic Affect and Response

Research Interests

• The consequences for Film Education of the Deleuzian theoretical 'turn'.
• Information technologies and learning development - particularly informal learning

His Understanding Film Texts was published by the British Film Institute in 2000. He has contributed chapters to Jill Nelmes (ed.) Introduction to Film Studies (London, Routledge 2nd edition, 1999 / 3 rd edition, 2003) and is currently working on a new book on issues in teaching and learning about film.