Elementary school students in Montenegro will from the next school year 2023/2024. to study media literacy as an elective subject, the Institute for Media announced.
They assessed that this is a significant step forward in the direction of greater inclusion of young people in schools, training them for a better understanding of the role of the media in everyday life and increasing their ability to communicate better through the media.
The Institute explained that the National Council for Education approved the subject program for the subject "Media Literacy" for elementary schools and that students will be able to choose it in the VII, VIII or IX grades, and the subject will be taught by all teachers. who receive adequate training.
The subject program is available at the link: https://www.mminstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/MEDIJSKA-PISMENOST-Izborni-predmet-za3.ciklus-osnovne-skole.pdf
They announced that the program was prepared by relevant practitioners in the teaching of media literacy, on the initiative and with the coordination of the Media Institute of Montenegro, which formed a working group for the development of the program in the accompanying textbook and submitted the program to the National Council for consideration and adoption.
As they said, the expert review was entrusted to a wider team of experts, pedagogues, psychologists, and methodologists.
The Media Institute welcomed the decision of the National Council and the recommendation of the Institute of Education to offer media literacy as an optional subject in elementary schools, "which is a significant step forward compared to the current situation where media education is the privileged knowledge of high school students, who have been studying this subject since 2009. years".
"Educational strategies in Montenegro that rely on European and global media literacy policies contribute to the development of key competencies for the 21st century. Studying the contents provided for in this subject program unequivocally contributes to the development of critical thinking, creativity, successful problem solving, information literacy, communication literacy, responsible attitude towards health and the environment, and especially the development of socio-emotional skills such as teamwork, tolerance, creativity, patience and others", stated the author and author of the program Svetlana Jovetić Koprivica and Miroslav Minić.
The Institute's announcement adds that the decision to introduce media literacy in elementary schools is the result of years of work and efforts by a group of enthusiasts from educational institutions and the civil sector.
They also state that in the following months, the program will be promoted in primary schools, in parallel with the training of teachers, and the final stage is the preparation of textbooks for teachers.
"It is of great importance that the interest of teachers in the subject of media literacy is growing, which is shown by the increasing number of teachers who have undergone accredited training and so far the largest number of accredited programs for professional development in this field approved by the Institute for Education". they said from the Institute.
In order for such teacher training to be sustainable in the long term, they say that it is important to establish long-term cooperation between the Institute of Education, schools, the University and the media, as well as to include training in media literacy and media pedagogy in the curriculum of all future teachers - effective of using media in teaching.
"The challenges of the digital and networked society, in addition to significant opportunities, also bring special problems for societies in the form of campaigns of lies, misinformation, hate speech and other toxic and harmful content that abounds in media platforms, which very often endangers democratic societies. In response to these challenges media education is of great importance," they stated.
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