Finnish  Perspec,ves  to      Media  and  Informa,on  Literacies  

 Rauna  Rahja  

Finnish  Society  on  Media  Educa4on    Vree  Mediawijze  dag  /  Brussels  /  28.1.2014  

 

Finnish  Society  on  Media  Educa,on    •  Associa4on  opera4ng  na4onwide  in  two  main  languages  (Finnish  

and  Swedish)  •  Aims  to  develop  and  promote  the  field,  research  and  prac4ces  of  

media  educa4on  and  media  literacies  in  Finland  •  Founded  in  2005  by  Finnish  researchers  and  professionals  on  

media  and  media  educa4on  •  Funded  by  Ministry  of  Educa4on  and  Culture  and  its  members  •  Over  200  personal  and  student  members,  50  community  

members  

 ‏  •  

Finnish  Media  Educa,on  in  brief  •  Small  country  with  a  vivid  field  of  media  educa4on  –  wide  variety  of  actors  

•  ”The  promised  land  of  associa4ons”    –  but  also  a  bunch  of  various  projects…  

•  Changing  media  landscape  and  growing  use  of  media  challenges  media  educa4on  

•  New  actors  and  policies  evolving  •  Co-­‐opera4on  and  mul4professionality  is  the  key!    •  Different  views  but  a  same  common  goal  to  improve  media  literacy  in  Finland  

Source:  KAVI,  2014  

Poli,cal  decision  making  and  media  literacy  

Child and Youth Policy Programme (2012-2015) Responsible ministries: Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Transport and Communication and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health

Act on the Finnish Centre for Media Education and Audiovisual Programmes 2011 -> Act on Finnish Audiovisual Institute 2014

Good Media Literacy: National Policy Guidelines 2013-2016 Responsible actor: Ministry of Education and Culture

New National core curricula on basic education (2013-2016), followed by the core curricula in upper secondary school education in 2016 Responsible actor: National Board of Education

National Knowledge Society Strategy (2007-2015) Responsible actors: Ministry of Education and culture, Finnish National Board of Education, Ministry of Justice/democracy unit, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Finnish Broadcasting Company

‘Good  Media  Literacy’  Guidelines  

 ‘Good  Media  Literacy’  –  

Na4onal  Policy  Guidelines  2013–2016  (Ministry  of  Educa4on  

and  Culture    in  co-­‐opera4on  with  

other  actors)  

hep://www.minedu.fi/OPM/Julkaisut/2013/Hyva_medialukutaito.html?lang=fi&extra_locale=en    

What  is  good  media  literacy  then?  

•  Not  only  about  informa4on,  skills,  competence  and  mastering  the  use  of  media  

•  Involves  par4cipa4on,  being  ac4ve  as  a  ci4zen,  cri4cal  thinking,  crea4vity  and  self-­‐expression    

•  Approaches  ML  in  a  broad  sense  •  Is  acquired  in  many  different  senngs  •  Links  many  sectors  of  society  

 

1.  Regional  inequality  2.  Funding,  problems  considering  project  funding  3.  Challenges  in  target  group  thinking  4.  Challenges  in  educa4on/training  5.  Lots  of  material,  but…  6.  Difficul4es  in  coopera4on  7.  Copyright  challenges  8.  Lack  of  conrete  evalua4on  models  and  methods  

 Posi4ve  views:  will  to  con4nue  the  work  and  to  co-­‐operate,    

will  to  develop  the  quality  and  sustainability  of  media  educa4on!    

 

Char,ng  the  challenges    of  Finnish  media  educa,on    (Actors  in  the  Finnish  field  of  media  educa,on  /  FSME  Survey  2012)  

Media  Educa,on  in  Finnish  Libraries  

  The  development  of  media  educa4on  in  public  libraries  has  been  supported  for  years.      From  2004  on  libraries  have  been  highlighted  as  public  cultural  ins4tu4ons  that  can  func4on  as  important  providers  of  media  educa4on.      Libraries  are  also    men4oned  as  central    actors  in  the  promo4on    of  digital  equality    between  the  regions.  

In  general  The  na4onal  development  of  media  educa4on  provided  by  public  libraries  has  been  supported  in  2006–2010,  a  total  of  EUR  680,000:      Opera4onal  models  and  materials  for  media  educa4on  carried  out  by  libraries  and  training  for  library  professionals.      Training  for  regional  providers  of  media  educa4on  for  libraries,  a  collec4on  of  ar4cles  and  learning  material  for  the  purpose.      A  media  educa4on  website  for  library  professionals.    Current  topics:  games  and  different  literacies,  also  projects  aiming  to  establish  ME  in  libraries  

 Libraries  and  Media  2012  (Ministry  of  Educa4on  and  Culture)    

Research  focuses  on:   the  status  of  media  educa4on  in    municipal  public  libraries  in  Finland   antudes  and  concep4ons  with  reference  to  media  educa4on,     the  visibility  of  media  educa4on  projects  and  materials  and     the  realisa4on  of  media  educa4on  in  the  daily  ac4vi4es  of  libraries.    

–  study  results:  importance  of  ME    

  Library  is  considered  to  be  a  very  important  provider  of  media  educa4on  by  1/3  of  the  respondents  and  rather  important  by  half  of  the  respondents.      The  most  important  goal:  inspiring  children  to  read.    Central  topics  in  media  educa4on:  informa4on  management  skills  and  the  ability  to  differen4ate  fact  and  fic4on.  

–  study  results:  projects  and  staff  

  Past  2  years,  4/5  libraries  involved  in  some  na4onal,  regional  or  local  media  educa4on  project.      16  per  cent  of  the  libraries  are  involved  in  some  network  related  to  media  educa4on.      In  25  per  cent  of  the  libraries,  media  educa4on  or  the  promo4on  of    media  literacy  has  been    incorporated  into  the  job    descrip4on  of  a  staff  member.    

–  study  results:  ME  in  ac,on  plans  

  1/5  of  libraries  either  incorporate  media  educa4on  into  the  ac4on  plan  or  a  separate  media  educa4on  plan  has  been  prepared.      In  1/3  of  the  libraries,  a  plan  for  library-­‐school  coopera4on  had  been  drawn  up  in  coopera4on  with  the  schools  and  in  1/3  the  coopera4on  plan  had  been  drawn  up  independently.  

–  study  results:  working  methods  and  target  groups    The  most  common  working  method  in  media  educa4on  carried  out  by  libraries  is  school  visits  and  so  called  story  hours.    A  firh  of  the  libraries  also    provide  media  educa4on    on  a  regular  basis    to  0  to  8-­‐year-­‐olds.     More  than  half  of  the  libraries  provide  media  educa4on  at  least  occasionally  to  adults  and  senior  ci4zens.    

Ques,ons,  comments?  rauna.rahja@uta.fi  or    www.mediaeduca4on.fi    More  informa,on:  Reports  and  guidelines    Finnish  Media  Educa4on.  Promo4ng  Media  and  Informa4on  Literacy  in  Finland  (KAVI,  2014)    Good  Media  Literacy.  Na4onal  Policy  Guidelines  2013-­‐2016    (Finnish  Ministry  on  Educa4on  and  Culture,  2013)    Libraries  and  Media  2012.  Study  on  the  status  of  media  educa4on  in  public  libraries.  (Finnish  Ministry  of  Educa4on  and  Culture,  2012,  summary  in  English)    Research  and  publica4ons  about  Media  Educa4on  in  Finland,  media  use  of  children  and  young  people  etc.  by  Finnish  Society  on  Media  Educa4on  

Thank  you!  

Organisa,ons    Finnish  Society  on  Media  Educa4on's  website  provides  news,  publica4ons  and  informa4on  about  media  educa4on  in  Finland  -­‐  also  a  newsleeer  in  English!    Na4onal  Audiovisual  Ins4tute  (KAVI)  and  The  Finnish  Centre  for  Media  Educa4on  and  Audiovisual  Programmes  (MEKU)    Verke  -­‐  Na4onal  Development  Centre  for  Online  Youth  Work    Libraries  in  Finland    Media  Educa4on  site  for  Libraries    (in  Finnish)    Video:  Libraries  as  Media  Educators