This presentation was prepared within framework of the international training course ’’MediaED Lab’’. 8-days training course "MediaED LAB" took place from 07.05.2012 to 16.05.2012 and connected 26 young professionals who are working to advance media literacy among youth - the ability to interpret, understand and evaluate media and its messages and to produce media content. "MediaED LAB" aims to create critical, knowledgeable and responsible leaders of creative and media education, capable of initiating, developing and embedding new understandings and techniques in their learning space. Information about state of media education in different European countries was shared and participants learnt and exchanged methods, tools and strategies that can be used to develop and implement media literacy workshops and courses for pupils, the most vulnerable consumers of media. Project took place in Latvia and involved non-governmental organizations working in the field of media education from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia and France. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This presentation reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

1. MEDIA EDUCATION
- ROMANIA-
Riga, 8 May 2012

2. Context
 The Romanian educational system
 has suffered numerous reforms in the last 20 years
 the reforms mainly involed adapting it to the modern
society
 emphasis on ICT, e-learning, social competencies and
more recently entrepreneurship and only some
interest in media education

3. Media education
How is it defined?
 Ability to read and properly understand media messages
Who provides it?
 Mainly NGOs through various programmes
 A few schools which offer media education as a
complementary course
To what age groups?
 Highschool students
 Sometimes secondary school students

4. Media education – Best
Practices
 The media education programme 1997-2008 ran by
Active Watch – the Press Monitoring Agency
 dedicated to highschool students and their teachers
 aim:
 to promote media education and create an
appropriate curriculum for a complementary course
 to train teachers in the field of media
education

5. Media education – Best
practices
 Achievements 1997-2008
 Competencies in mass media became a
complementary course of the national curriculum
 A teacher`s guide was created
 The development of different research
programmes aimed at setting a theoretical and
empirical base for future efforts in this domain
 Media education courses for teachers are
currently still being delivered on a constant basis
 Mostly only involved the southern part of the country

6. Media education – Best
practices
 The SHARP – A Project for Sharing and Re/Presenting
project (Active Watch and ELMI Foundation through the
Lifelong Learning Programme of the EU)
 The project took place in April 2011 and was addressed
to 20 students aged 11-14 years old from Slatina, a
small town in the south of Romania
 They developed mini-audivisual projects based on their
daily interests (graffitti, football, dancing, music etc.)
and concerns (prejudicies about their school, the way
people behave etc.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7mvqLCsIbY

7. Media education – Best
practices
 EducaTIFF
 Started in 2009 as part of the Transilvania
International Film Festival efforts of supporting
media and cinema education
 Aim:
 to create an educated film audience at an early
age
 to complement the Romanian national educational
curriculum
 Includes screenings of films especially created for
children and teenagers and support materials for
discussing them afterwards
 Audience 2009-2011: 3.500 students

8. Issues remaining
 Not yet promoted enough in schools; lack of media and
film literacy competencies in the school national
curriculum
 Unless beneficiaries of a media education project most
teenagers are not aware of it and deprived of such an
important tool in life
 Most projects and implemented by NGOs
 E-Learning much more developed that media education

9. This presentation was prepared within framework of the international training course ’’MediaED Lab’’. 8-days training course
"MediaED LAB" took place from 07.05.2012 to 16.05.2012 and connected 26 young professionals who are working to advance
media literacy among youth - the ability to interpret, understand and evaluate media and its messages and to produce media
content. "MediaED LAB" aims to create critical, knowledgeable and responsible leaders of creative and media education,
capable of initiating, developing and embedding new understandings and techniques in their learning space. Information about
state of media education in different European countries was shared and participants learnt and exchanged methods, tools and
strategies that can be used to develop and implement media literacy workshops and courses for pupils, the most vulnerable
consumers of media. Project took place in Latvia and involved non-governmental organizations working in the field of media
education from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia and France.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This presentation reflects the views only of the
author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.