The IJC launches a project which will support the piloting of an integrated approach to Media Literacy in schools
From 2023 to 2025, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), supported by DW Akademie will pilot a program that aims to integrate media literacy content within core school subjects.
Under the project `Strengthening of media and information literacy (MIL) in the Republic of Moldova: Piloting the integrative approach in formal education`, the IJC will create a network of 30 general education institutions with a representative geographical distribution in which this initiative will be piloted over the next three years. This initiative is based on the experience of other countries where the information and media education component is integrated into school curricula.
For each year of study over the three-year project, the IJC will identify ten educational institutions and select two teachers from each school who, following a complex training program, will pilot the integration of media literacy concepts within the Language and Communication Area subjects (Romanian and English languages).
The IJC experts will develop the methodology and modules required for the mentioned subjects at the middle school level (6th grade) and high school level (10th grade), and teachers will be mentored on how to use them during the trainings and professionalization programs held each year of the three-year-project.
The final list of schools in which the program will be piloted will be coordinated and approved by the Ministry of Education and Research (MEC), in accordance with the commitment to support the integrated approach of media education undertaken by MEC through the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the IJC in December 2022.
During the new project, the IJC will continue to organize other editions of the `Media Literacy – Priority in My School` competition, training programs for teachers on the implementation of the optional course Media Literacy, and Media Literacy Week to promote Media Literacy in general education institutions in the Republic of Moldova.
In October 2023, Internews in Moldova, DW Akademie, and IJC will organize the second edition of the Media Literacy Forum, which aims to discuss the latest themes and analyze challenges in the field of media literacy. An important aspect of the forum will be devoted to the integrated approach to media literacy.
`After almost six years of teaching the optional course Media Literacy in schools, we have realized that this field remains extremely important for educating the new generations of critical thinkers. Regardless of the profession they will choose in the future, upon graduating high school, students must possess sufficient knowledge to allow them to have a critical approach to everything that happens around them. That is why, to help as many students as possible learn to think critically, the IJC is piloting the program to integrate media literacy content within core school subjects. This initiative also came from the teachers who teach the Media Literacy course and who have realized how important is for students to be able to develop their critical thinking, educate their sense of responsibility, and demonstrate as much discernment as possible,` says Mariana Tabuncic, Program Manager, IJC.
Since 2017, the IJC has trained 606 teachers who have taught over 16,200 students within the optional course Media Literacy, helping them become active and responsible media consumers.
The project `Strengthening of media and information literacy (MIL) in the Republic of Moldova: Piloting the integrative approach in formal education` is implemented by IJC in partnership with DW Akademie and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
