Media education should enable people to have access to the media, to teach them to analyse, to critically evaluate and create different messages of the mass media and to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for participation in a democratic system (Erjavec, 2009). When we discuss media education, we can not discuss only education as such, but also the concept, which comprises a wide variety of meanings and terms such as: education for media literacy or media literacy in short, education for media awareness, visual literacy and education for the media (Režek, 2005). Taking into account the above mentioned concepts of education and the educational, social, media system in Slovenia, the key purpose of the concept of media literacy, according to Karmen Erjavec (2009), is to educate a competent, an autonomous and a socially active citizen. An important role in the realization of this goal has the educator/teacher Kalin (2004) who believes that the role of the teacher/educator is still irreplaceable, therefore his/her qualification for the critical judgment and the proper selection when using the media is of essential importance. The author points out that the use of the media in the educational process requires planning and that the process and the characteristics of the planning has to be considered. In the present thesis, we examine whether the process of planning is really always thoughtful and targeted or it is merely a spontaneous activity that is often a filler, an excuse for non-planning of media education. The first part of the thesis presents a theoretical overview of contemporary Slovenian and foreign authors on media education. Next, the concept of media education is defined, the historical development of the media is described, media literacy is defined, the types of media are presented. Furthermore, the role of the media in the educational process and the implementation of the planned activities of media education in the kindergarten ,which are important for the understanding of the topics covered, are highlighted. The most important goals of media education are provided and with the help of the Kindergarten Curriculum (1999) the fields of activity, where the goals of media education could be found, are analysed. That is the foundation upon which the the empirical part of the master's thesis is built. In this part, the actual state of the realization of media education among kindergarten teachers in the Dolenjska region was surveyed and finally established.
A non-coincidental sample of 100 kindergarten teachers and educators in the Dolenjska region was included in the analysis. The analysis of the results of the questionnaire showed that the realization of media education in kindergartens is not the result of unplanned activities, as it was claimed in the general hypothesis. The results of the survey showed that the teachers and educators in kindergartens in the Dolenjska region believe that planning and integration of media education activities are important in the realization of media education in the kindergarten. We found out that teachers and educators often carry out planned activities of media education and thus media education and thus these are not a result of unplanned activities.
The traditional media forms are still more frequently used than the non-traditional ones, which can be associated with mediocre conditions for implementation of media literacy (place of the implementation, accessibility of the media in the playroom and general ICT infrastructure in the kindergarten). We researched that teachers and educators often carry out media education activities, regardless of the children's age group they work with. We should highlight that we confirmed the hypothesis, which says that older teachers feel that they are less media-literate than their younger colleagues. In the examined sample, we found out that age affects the self-assessment of the confidence about one’s own media literacy. Older teachers and educators evaluate themselves as being less media literate than their younger colleagues.
|
