Karmen Erjavec/Zala Volcic
Ten years of Media Education course in Slovenia
Introduction
There has been a growing scholarly interest in the
concept of media, citizenship, and education in the era
of globalization (Hall 1999), especially in the context of
the expansion of the European Union. Following the
above, Slovenia was among the first post-socialist
countries of Central-Eastern Europe that introduced
and implemented a Media Education course into its
educational curriculum.
In Slovenia, Media Education is defined as a process of
teaching about media through the media. If Media
Education attempts to develop and create critical
understanding and active participation in classrooms,
Media literacy denotes a larger project that involves
not only students in classrooms, but includes parents,
teachers, and in short, the general Slovenian public.
Different media events, lectures, performances,
workshops are continuously organized on a national,
regional, and local level in different places, such as
public squares, public libraries, and city-halls. In that
way, the public is included in an overall process of
thinking, negotiating, and understanding the media
practices.
From 1996 on, the Media Education course is officially
and formally a part of an educational curriculum –
from kindergarten to university levels. The course
involves an examination of the techniques,
technologies and institutions that are a part of media
production and consumption, and furthermore,
provides the ability to critically analyze media
messages, and the recognition of the active roles that
audiences play in making meaning from media
messages (Curriculum for Media Education, 1997).
However, how successful is the integration of the
course into the Slovenian educational system really?
Almost ten years after, it seems appropriate and
necessary to explore the situation on the ground. On
the basis of participant-observation and in-depth
interviews, the aim here is to briefly present and
critically assess the Media Education project in
Slovenia and to offer some creative suggestions for the
future.
The development of the Media Education
in Slovenia
During the transformation of the education system in
Slovenia (1990–1998), the Media Education project
received political and public support, and the detailed
national program was created by the Media Education
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Curriculum Research Group. The research group
framed the curriculum in a theoretical and practical
productive manner. Ultimately, the reason behind the
course was to craft such an educational framework
that makes it possible for the students to be able to
speak independently, politically, and with confidence
about the forms and pleasures of a range of different
kinds of media texts. This process, the authors argued,
necessarily involves and encourages students in
becoming more active media agents, citizens, and not
merely consumers. Thus, during the transformation
processes of political and economic systems, the
Slovenian Media Education project did fulfil its
potential for a democratic empowerment and social
change and did encourage the creation of open
democratic spaces of dialogue and discussions. The
Media Education textbooks for teachers and students
alike have been written and translated. In addition,
there has been a supported video-material introduced
to the course. At the university level, the Faculty of
Social Sciences in Ljubljana started to offer a Media
Education training course (90 hours) to the students
who may want to teach the Media Education course in
primary schools. The course covers both the concepts
and knowledge of media studies and the pedagogical
skills required to teach them effectively. Media
Education course teachers are organized in the
Slovenian Association of Media Education teachers’
that provides grounds for the organization of
individual initiatives, project proposals, workshops, and
summer schools.
In what follows, two different Media Education
models, as integrated into curriculum, are presented
and evaluated, based on qualitative research
methodologies. First, Media Education as an optional,
independent course on the level of primary school is
analyzed. In the second model, Media Education as
integrated within established courses is described.
Media Education here presents a topic within other
different courses at the kindergarten level, primary
and secondary school curricula alike.
Media Education as an optional,
independent couse
The optional Media Education course is a part of a
nine-grade primary school system, designed for the
last three grades. In that, Media Education is
composed of three different one-year independent
courses: the Press; Radio; and Television and the
Internet. Overall, this adds up to 35 hours per year or
one hour per week.
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T en years of Media Education course in Slovenia
The first year focuses on the topics related to print
media. Media Education informs students about how
the press functions in a democracy, why it matters that
citizens gain information and are exposed to diverse
opinions, and why people need to participate in policy
decision-making at the community, state and federal
levels. Students learn the basic principles of mass
media, and the similarities and differences between
media messages. After the first year course, our
evaluation shows that students do indeed understand
that the media create and construct the world and
do not reflect it. Furthermore, they are able to
comprehend how messages have social, political,
aesthetic and economic purposes. They familiarize
themselves with the history of media, and the role
that the press plays in private and public spheres. At
the end of the year, students produce their own
newspaper.
The second year course explores the medium of radio
and its characteristics. Students are invited to create
their own radio show and they discover how
individuals actively construct and make meaning from
messages. According to our evaluations again, they
learn successfully about different effects of the mass
media. The most popular topics discussed in classes
include themes such as media violence, media heroes,
and predominant media stereotypes.
The third year course deals with television and
Internet. The students address questions of global
imbalance of power, the history of broadcasting, and
the concepts such as public television, and global
media. In cooperation with local TV stations, students
are encouraged to create their own TV show, as
imagined. The most popular format chosen among the
students was a talk-show. At the end the year, students
analyze the media content and write a letter to various
editors in which they present their initiatives for
change in the television content.
It seems that the advantages of establishing Media
Education as an independent course, i.e. as a subject
specialty, are considerable. The objectives and goals of
Media Education are easier to achieve within a
specialized, independent Media Education course,
which has its own identity, its own teachers,
classrooms and equipment, its own resources.
Research shows that in the 2004/2005 school year,
approximately 37 percent of Slovenian students in 7th
grade chose Media Education course as an optional
course.
Indeed, the interviews with the students further show
that they are very content. Out of 1230 students
currently taking Media Education in primary school,
81% claimed that it is their favorite course because of
the topics that are close to their own life-experiences.
They enjoy practical work, and appreciate research and
production work (filming, editing). At the same time,
they are interested in visiting media institutions and
conducting their own media research.
Media Education’s potential – so it seems – comes
from its promise of including everyone in class
lectures, seminars, projects, and discussions. Students
respond positively when they are invited to participate
and share from their own media habits and
experiences (67%). They appreciate when they need to
critically reflect upon their own personal media habits.
Most of the students claim that they find topics of
Media Education useful for their everyday life, and
future studies. One of the interviewed students in
Jesenice says, “everyone likes this course… not because
it is easy, actually, the teacher is very sharp… but
because Media Education is so full of concrete
examples… It helps me to better understand the media
and the world… and my parents…”
Why do they choose Media Education? Mostly, they
say, because they are interested in media, and because
they spend a lot of time with the media (86%).When
asked what is the most important media topic that
they will remember, the students respond that the
argument as of how media do not mirror reality (65%).
They want to be prepared for the mediated world and
they expect to get some knowledge and skills out of
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T en years of Media Education course in Slovenia
this course. An important part, not surprisingly, in the
selection process of this course is the teacher – if
she/he has a good reputation among the students,
they also select a course.
The interviews with Media Education teachers
themselves show that they are very supportive of the
course. They stress the importance of teaching the
critical media skills, and feel that the structure and
organization of the course fulfills their needs. Most of
them use textbooks and video-material, and have
finished some kind of Media Education training. The
teachers belong to younger generations, and in that,
they claim, they are able to understand the children
more, since they share the experience of growing up in
an increasingly mediated world.
The teachers were, however, critical of the educational
authorities on local and national levels. Most of them
expressed frustration and anger because they have to
legitimize the course in front of the authorities over
and over again. In the words of a Maribor teacher, “The
course has not established itself as a really ‘necessary’
one… so I am not taken seriously yet…as if teaching
history gives you a credibility, and teaching Media
Education is something only for fun…No one
understands and really supports the course within my
school, except the students.” A teacher in Ljubljana
claims that, “My dean has no idea about the
importance of this course. He is 65 years old, and does
not take media seriously at all. He believes it should not
belong to school… so I need to fight back constantly.”
Also, the teachers are unsatisfied with the
technological equipment – they lack, for example,
video cameras for filming. In general, there is a lack of
financial support for it – so teachers have limited
resources to work with. In the words of a Skofja Loka
teacher, “this is a poor region, and we have little money
on the school level… but the Ministry of Education
doesn’t help us. More and more, they require that we
find private, commercial sponsors for our courses…
What are we suppose to do? Go to American
McDonalds’ and ask them to give us money for videocameras?” This is a standard response: there is a lack of
institutional support for the course, and a lack of
moral support from the school authorities. However,
the students and parents alike find it very helpful and
want more hours of Media Education.
of the initiative at this level is to help pre-school
children (4-6 years) to develop an understanding of
the difference between fiction and non-fiction, ads
and news, real and make-believe.
Our evaluation as of how and if the teaching of media
topics on the ground takes place, shows the limited
inclusion of media themes. Any type of media
activities seems to be rather rare – and according to
most of the interviewed teachers, this is because of
the lack of resources, un-willingness and ignorance of
teachers and educational authorities alike.
In this sense, teachers replace Media Education with
teaching through the media. For most of them, media
education means using the media. A typical statement
of a teacher in Celje represents this view: “Yes, of course
we teach Media Education. We use radio, camera,
television, and a video-recorder. Children listen to
diverse music… they watch fairy-tales on television…
and we use computers sometimes to draw…” Our
evaluation also shows that teachers themselves are
not really familiar with Media Education and its main
goals. Even more, while discussing media themes and
some of the main media theories, most of the teachers
show no essential media knowledge. In short, teachers
themselves are media illiterate.
Furthermore, at the primary school level, Media
Education is an obligatory component of the
Slovenian language course from the 5th to 9th grades.
The media topics within the Slovenian language
course provide information about the characteristics
of media texts (genres, media language and media
aesthetics). Media Education continues to be an
important part of a Civic Education and Ethics course
in grades 7 and 8 (Curriculum for Civic Education and
ethics course, 1997). The attempt here is to become
well informed about ethical issues in different areas of
communication: advertising, television, film, print
journalism, the Internet.
The research as of how well Media Education is
practiced within these two courses shows that media
topics are very rarely indeed a part of any lessons (up
Media Education as a topic within an integrated
curriculum
Media Education that takes a form of a theme within
other courses starts at a pre-school (level) phase. It
was envisioned and developed as an experimental
integration of Media Education in 46 carefully selected
kindergartens all over Slovenia in 2000. The main aim
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T en years of Media Education course in Slovenia
to five percent of the Slovenian language course). The
realization of Media Education objectives depends on
the personal commitment and enthusiasm of teachers
themselves. Most of the interviewed teachers feel very
alone, without any support or guidelines from
educational and school authorities and do not have
any necessary training in Media Education. The
majority of them are self-taught. They regularly
experience fears and difficulties in finding solutions to
financial and organizational issues within their
courses.
Thus, the main problem in teaching Media Education
across curriculum lies in the lack of a long-term
strategy and support for teachers from the
educational authorities – there is no serious
continuous educational vision, plan, or policy. The
Ministry of Education and Sport did not specify any
financial support for media equipment, teacher
training, material support, etc. A lack of institutional
support of teacher instruction for all those teachers
who are interested is one of the main problems of
Media Education in Slovenia. This reduces the
possibility of integrating Media Education across the
curriculum into Slovenian schools.
Similarly, the findings show that in secondary school
(since there is no Media Education as an independent
course available), Media Education has also been
integrated into the secondary school curriculum as a
compulsory part of the curriculum, such as the
Slovenian language, Sociology, Psychology and the
History of Art. Thus, the media construction of reality
topics is central to the Sociology course. Students also
learn about the media institutions, political, economic,
social and cultural contexts of the media
environments, media persuasion and main media
propaganda techniques (Curriculum for Sociology,
1993). According to the National curriculum for the
Slovenian language for secondary schools (1993:
10–12), the aims of Media Education within the
Slovenian language course are focused on linguistic
aspects of media: to examine different media text and
style forms, to develop the skills of analyzing the
grammar of media language and to understand the
basic characteristics of the essential journalistic
genres. Students taking Psychology get familiar with
the theories of media effects, and the focus is on
psychological aspects of media violence and
stereotypes (Curriculum for Psychology, 1993). In the
History of Art course, students learn how to evaluate
different media products and how to produce them
(Curriculum for the History of Art, 1993).
Our research shows that Media Education is really very
rarely a part of courses in secondary school. For
example, textbooks for Slovenian language course do
not include any of the proposed and recommended
media topics. Slovenian language teachers themselves
are not advocating Media Education as a part of their
courses. In the schools visited, there is rarely any media
equipment in the Slovenian language classroom.
Interviewed Slovenian language teachers claim to
have no media knowledge, express no willingness to
teach media topics, and generally want to reclaim a
high-culture approach in teaching only ‘traditional’
courses. They see a real danger in the decline of a
classical literacy, and they want to encourage
traditional reading habits. Most of them agree with a
teacher in Ljubljana, who stated that “students watch
too much television, they play too many video-games
per day, and they don’t read books anymore. The role of
education is to encourage readings of high-culture, and
not popular culture”.
In that sense, we recognised two distinctive groups of
teachers: the ‘critical users’, who do follow media/
technological developments and recognise that one
has to understand the realities of how the media
operate in order to become critical citizens; and the
‘protectionists’ of high culture, who see the media and
new technologies as a threat to national culture,
language, and identity. They see the audience, and
students, as part of a mass of passive consumers who
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T en years of Media Education course in Slovenia
BOECKMANN, K. (1992): “In-service Training for Teachers: Approaches
and Experiences”, pp. 84–88. In: C. Bazalgette, E. Bevort in J. Savino
(Eds.): New Directions: Media Education Worldwide. London: British
Film Institute.
BUCHOLTZ, M. (2002): “Youth and Cultural Practice.” Annual Review of
Anthropology 31: 525–552.
BUTTS, D. (1992): “Strategies for Media Education. Commission 2”, pp.
224–229. In: C. Bazalgette, E. Bevort in J. Savino (Eds.): New Directions:
Media Education Worldwide. London: British Film Institute.
Curriculum for Art History (1993): Ljubljana: Ministry of Education and
Sport.
Curriculum for Sociology (1993): Ljubljana: Ministry of Education and
Sport.
Curriculum for Psychology (1993): Ljubljana: Ministry of Education
and Sport.
accept produced commodities in order to achieve false
satisfaction.
Conclusion
Curriculum for Media Education (1997): Ljubljana: Ministry of
Education and Sport.
Education for media and education with media 2004/2005 (2005):
Ljubljana: Education and Sport Institute of the Republic of Slovenia.
The research shows that Media Education skills can
indeed inspire young people to become more socially
interested in increasing their access to diverse sources
of information. Media Education is one of the most
popular courses in primary schools in Slovenia, and
most of the students see it as a positive asset as it
raises awareness of the vital importance of being
exposed to a rich array of diverse opinions and ideas.
However, it is not enough to include Media Education
into the school curriculum. What is needed is an
attempt to encourage Media Education to become a
lived and well-practiced course, with its strong
identity. At the same time, what is needed is an
engagement with teachers of the course. An attempt
has to be made from the Educational authorities to
offer them clearer guidelines and support, since the
realization of media education objectives depends on
the personal commitment of teachers. For those
teachers who are interested, training and workshops
should be provided and thus enabling them to teach
specialized courses (Butts, 1992). The ultimate
objective of the in-service training should not be to
transmit specialist information but to hire teachers
with enthusiasm for Media Education in order to assist
the cross-curricular principle on the road to success
(Boeckmann, 1992).
ERJAVEC, K. (2005): Zgodnje medijsko opismenjevanje. Sodobna
pedagogika, 56, 188–203.
ERJAVEC, K. and Z. VOLČIČ, (1997): Media Education in Slovenia.
Conference: Civic Education, Ljubljana.
ERJAVEC, K. and VOLČIČ, Z. (2000): TV- moj vodnik je lahko zaslon.
Ljubljana: Rokus.
ERJAVEC, K. and VOLČIČ, Z. (2002): “Slovenia”, pp. 110-122. In: A. Hart,
D. Süss (Eds.) Media Education in European Countries. Southampton:
Media Education Centre at the University Southampton,
Unpublished report.
HALL, K. 1999: “Understanding Educational Processes in an Era of
Globalization.” In Issues in Educational Research: Problems and
Possibilities (eds). E. C. Lagemann and L. S. Shulman. San Francisco,
Jossey-Bass.
HALL, K. (2002): Lives in Translation: Sikh Youth as British Citizens.
Philadelphia, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.
National Curriculum for Slovene Language for Secondary Schools
(1997): Ljubljana: Ministry of Education.
MASTERMAN, L. (1997): “A rationale for Media Education”, pp. 15–67. In:
R. Kubey (ed.): Media literacy in the Information age. London:
Transaction Publishers.
National curriculum for Slovene language for primary schools (1997):
Ljubljana: Ministry of Education and Sport.
VOLČIČ, Z. (2004): “Re-Mapping Media Spaces: Media Education and
its Role in Slovenia.” A paper presented at the AEJMC conference, at
the University of Colorado at Boulder, February 25–28.
Associate Professor Dr. Karmen Erjavec, Faculty of
Social Sciences, Kardeljeva pl. 5, SI-1000 Ljubljana,
Slovenia, e-mail: karmen.erjavec@fdv.uni-lj.si.
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Curriculum for Civic education and ethics course (1997): Ljubljana:
Ministry of Education and Sport.
Assistant Prof. Dr. Zala Volcic, School of Journalism and
Communication, University of Queensland, Cnr Hood
and Walcott Sts, St Lucia, Brisbane Qld 4072, Australia,
email: z.volcic@uq.edu.au
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