Media Literacy in the School Curriculum Cary Bazalgette

Media literacy as entitlement: some issues! Statutory provision of media education for all children will look very different from optional courses taken by some students in older age-groups, or as special projects. “Entitlement” means looking at legacy, sustainability, transferability and large- scale application. Real change in education takes a long time.

How “Media” get defined by educators By industrial divisions: news, advertising, film, TV, press, radio, etc? By technologies: analogue, digital, broadcast, cinema, print, etc? By assumed uses and effects? But how appropriate are these definitions as a basis for curriculum design in schools?

Typical curricular locations for media education Arts Information Technology Citizenship/social studies Specialist subject Cross-curricular Mother tongue

Contrasting approaches to media in schools Instrumental use (ie no real curricular change) Stimulus to talk/writing Film/TV version of the book or play Issues for personal/social education and Citizenship Crowd control Cultural diversity As object of study in their own right Media languages Generic features Modes of production and consumption Creative exploration (NB – these can enhance instrumental usage!)

But how are media actually used in our culture? To organise and retrieve information To circulate and disseminate information, stories and ideas To express and communicate ideas, stories and information To maintain or contest political power …..etc

Media in children’s lives 59% of children have started watching TV by the age of six months Jackie Marsh et al, Digital Beginnings University of Sheffield 2005

Before they come to school… 45% of 3 year olds can use a mouse to point and click By age six, 34% of children are looking at websites on their own Over 70% of children turn on TV by themselves by age 2 final-report.htm

What children learn from TV/film viewing at an early age They acquire a repertoire of literacy skills eg inference, prediction, character type, genre recognition. They can interpret moving image media at a more sophisticated level than they can with the print texts on offer to them as early readers. (and also see Kathleen E. Kremer et al, (2002) “Role of Early Narrative Understanding in Predicting Future Reading Comprehension” AERA Conference 2002, available at

…and therefore They can engage with richer, more complex and challenging films/TV than those they usually encounter (ie films/TV that are more demanding than the books they are reading). SO They should be given opportunities to do so!

Moving image media: a key component of media literacy Literacy is a broad repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills, not just a set of basic or functional competences; The ability to understand and analyse moving image media is part of being literate; The study of moving image media makes an important contribution to literacy as a whole; Moving image media are worth studying in their own right, as part of our cultural heritage, not just as a support or stimulus to other learning.

Education for media literacy Media Literacy should have three integrated and interdependent strands: Cultural: broaden learners’ experience of different kinds of media form and content. Critical: develop learners’ critical skills in analysing and assessing media outputs. Creative: develop learners’ creative skills in using media for expression and communication, and for participation in public debate. Source: Charter for Media Literacy -see

EDUCATION FOR MEDIA LITERACY: THE THREE “C’s” Cultural Learning Critical Learning Creative Learning MEDIA LITERACY

Tensions in the “3Cs” model (with acknowledgment to Andrew Burn) CULTURAL CRITICAL CREATIVE Popular vs heritage (or does it just mean “diversity”?) Analysis vs appreciation (protectionism vs discrimination?) “Child art” vs industrial models (how might general entitlement differ from both?)

Conclusion Models of media literacy need to be built on our knowledge of media learning in early childhood. Media literacy needs to be offered to education policy-makers as a positive contribution to learners’ development as individuals and as citizens – in fact, as part of literacy. Media literacy as a general entitlement for all children requires some significant changes in pedagogy and substantial investment in training, equipment and resources.