Name of the project: Index and Methodology for measuring the acquisition of media literacy skills of high-school students
Implementing organization: Media Literacy Coalition
Implemenatation period: 29.01.2020 – 29.09.2020
Financial support: Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria, Small initiatives scheme
The Index and Methodology for measuring the acquisition of media literacy project will create a single national index for media literacy skills in upper secondary education and Methodology for measuring them. The goal is the targeted and comprehensive development of media literacy in Bulgaria – both through the national educational network channels and via projects of the non-state sector.
This goal requires bringing together the expertise and the resources between different organizations of the civic society in support not only of the public education but also the informal.
The Index for media literacy skills in upper secondary education will build on the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp 2.1). Still, it will identify the necessary scope of the knowledge specifically for high-school education.
In the context of the drafting, Media Literacy Coalition will bring together the main organizations working in the field of media literacy for incorporation ot the expertise and the understating of this matter.
Why are we doing it?
Media literacy in Bulgaria remains at one of the lowest levels in Europe according to the Open Society Institute-Sofia index for 2018. At the same time on the European Union level media literacy is recognized as a crucial competence for the XXI century and have been reflected in the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (EU/1808). A pan-European framework for the core competencies of media literacy was created. The Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science touched upon the media literacy integration in schools barely, and the primary training comes from non-governmental organizations (predominantly members of the Media Literacy Coalition) who work in parallel for the development of skills mostly with high-school students.
At the same time, there is no one uniform national framework for both the school subjects and the non-state sector projects to refer to. That calls for the creation of an index of the primary skills and Methodology for measuring in favour of both the MLC members for more focused work on the matter and the Ministry of Education and Science.
Having regard to the fact that most of the non-governmental organization work with high-school students for the development of their media literacy competencies, the first stage of the MLC strategy for Index of ML skills will cover this particular stage of the public education.
Who will benefit from the project?
We will provide The Index and the Methodology to the Ministry of Education and Science in particular. The working party aims to set up a national concept for the application of the pan-European framework. In this way, the Ministry of Education and Science will have specific tools for the implementation of the framework in schools.
Still, the products of this project are aimed primarily at the civic sector who currently make divergent, and in many cases, competitive efforts on the matter of media literacy. Our goal is to support this sector in particular because it is independent of the political conjuncture changes at the state level. MLC brings together the leading organizations that work on this matter for years. That will ease the process of coordination of the Index and the Methodology.
What are the activities?
The Index and the Methodology for measuring the acquisition of media literacy skills of high-school students will be delivered for coordination to all the organizations working on the matter of media literacy and the experts of the Ministry of Education and Science. After their validation, they will be pilot tested in five schools in the country. The results of the project will be presented at an event in September 2020.
The Index and Methodology for measuring the acquisition of media literacy project is backed by 9 900 EUR from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. Its main goal is the targeted and comprehensive development of media literacy in Bulgaria – both through the national educational network channels and via projects of the non-state sector.
This website was created with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. Media Literacy Coalition takes the overall responsibility for its content and under any circumstances cannot be assumed that this website reflects an official statement of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Fund Operator.