The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) is launching the process of introducing the concepts of media literacy in core subjects, in order to provide a broader perspective on this dimension. Thus, IJC and DW Akademie established a working group with the participation of experts from Ukraine, Romania and Lithuania to study the experience and the way through these countries regarding the integration of media literacy concepts in other subjects. The first meeting of the working group took place in online format on June 8, 2022.
At the beginning of the meeting, Nadine Gogu, the Executive Director of the IJC, highlighted the importance and value of media education, and Olena Ponomarenko, the Director of Programs in Moldova at DW Akademie, said that the time had come to take Media Education to a new level. “Experts from Ukraine, Romania and Lithuania are with us in this process, and Moldova must take the opportunity to learn from their experience,” said Olena Ponomarenko.
Marcela Adam, the Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sport and the Media said that “five years after the introduction of Media Literacy in schools, the time has come to realize that in order to have a society that thinks critically, an optional subject alone is not enough”. “It is important that media education becomes part of every subject. Today’s target and the challenges we face speak to the need to rethink the educational process. It is important to have a long-term perspective”, considers the deputy.
Daniela Tirsina, Senior Consultant in the Directorate General of Education at the Ministry of Education and Research, emphasized the support provided by the Ministry for the introduction of the optional subject Media Literacy in the school curriculum and welcomed the initiative to integrate media education concepts in core subjects. “It is a long way, which we hope will be successful,” said Daniela Tirsina.
The members of the working group from Ukraine are Oksana Voloshenyuk, the Ukrainian Press Academy, Irina Staraghina, the author of educational programs for young people, and Ruslan Shalamov, a university professor and author of textbooks. Romania is represented in the working group by the executive director of the Independent Journalism Center in Bucharest, Cristina Lupu, and Lithuania – by the project manager of Media Education in this country, Arminas Varanauskas.
All the experts gave short presentations in which they outlined the main stages taken by their countries in the process of integrating the concepts of media education in the core subjects.
Next, the leader of the working group, media expert Natalia Griu, will have individual consultations with experts from Ukraine, Romania and Lithuania, and as a result a document will be prepared setting out the steps to be taken by the Republic of Moldova so that the concepts media literacy to be reflected in the core subjects. “So far we have flirted with the optional format, but today’s realities, in particular the information war that threatens our security as a state, no longer allow us to have a fragmented approach. A system-wide approach is required, with a natural, logical and coherent integration of media literacy in the context of formal education subjects”, concluded Natalia Griu.
The working group is created within the project “Strengthening of Media and Information Literacy in the Republic of Moldova” with the support of Deutsche Welle Akademie and with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova.
