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Description
The latest amendments to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (EU) as of 18.10.2018 envisage that the EU Member States will adopt measures to develop media literacy. In 2018 the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) included media literacy in the education process by introducing a total of 9 classes for the whole period of 12 years. Apart from the insufficient number of classes, yet another major challenge is lack of clarity about the needed skills and how they will be developed at different education levels. The lack of common understanding of media literacy skills has also affected the civil sector. The Media Literacy Coalition (MLC) proposes to develop an index of skills for secondary school students that describes the necessary skills according to age, social requirements and the curriculum. The index will be discussed with all organizations working on media literacy projects and the MES experts to achieve national consensus and a reference framework. Based on this index, a methodology will be proposed to evaluate the students’ skills at this stage of education. The index and the methodology will be proposed by MES but will be mainly used by the members and partners of MLC so that they can better focus their media literacy projects and evaluate their results.
Summary of project results
A Media Literacy Index, developed according to the reference framework of the European Commission for Digital Competences DigComp 2.1, as well as a Methodology with test units based on the PISA model through real situations from the learning process of high school students – these are the products of the project “Index and methodology for the study of media literacy skills for high school students”, implemented by the “Media Literacy Coalition”.
The methodology was tested in 50 schools in the country, instead of the initially planned 5. All members of the coalition participated in the consultation of the index and the methodology, as well as in the test study itself. The Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science was also involved in the implementation of the project, providing support for the study and external validation of the methodology.
The project is considered as a start of long-term cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science and other stakeholders in the country. Based on the tested methodology, a final version of the study will be developed after editing some of the test units. The aim is to conduct an annual nationally representative survey and adapt the projects of the civil sector in the field and the curricula to the identified deficits in the media literacy skills of Bulgarian students. As a result of the survey, more than 100 schools expressed a desire to participate in the activities of the Project promoter. New members from different cities in Bulgaria joined the collation. The results of the project can be found at https://gramoten.li in the sections: Projects, Surveys, Analyzes and Resources.