Teaching the Media: International Perspectives(Routledge Communication Series)

This study provides an international perspective which systematically examines empirical strategies for the teaching of media, focusing on the teaching of 14-16 year-old students. Many accounts of media teaching to date have been concerned with arguing a case - often polemically - for media education or providing resources and strategies for media teachers. Local research needs a global context and there is a need for comparative studies, so that the few local studies which have been attempted are not seen in isolation. This book describes an international project based on research which began in England. It aims to initiate a more fruitful dialogue about specific educational approaches within some of the major English-speaking nations throughout the world. It does not seek to offer a comparative evaluation of different paradigms for media education or different teaching models in practice, but to explore the diversity of educational concerns, goals and classroom practices. This exploration should help to define existing models in different countries more precisely and to make them more visible and more accessible. The purpose of this research is not evaluative but illuminative. By providing detailed case studies of current work in different parts of the world, this book enables tentative comparative analysis of various media teaching paradigms and practices in different cultures within the English-speaking world. It should enable and encourage readers in different parts of the world to gain new perspectives on media teaching, to examine teaching approaches which differ from their own, and to reflect on their own practices with a view to understanding them more fully and enhancing their effectiveness in the classroom.

Table of Contents:

Contents: L. Masterman, Foreword: The Media Education Revolution. A. Hart, Introduction: Media Education in the Global Village. A. Hart, Models of Media Education in England and the Secondary Curriculum for English. J. Collins, Media Education in Northern Ireland. S. Court, C. Criticos, Media Education in an Emergent Democracy: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa R. Quin, Media Education in Western Australia. R. Hobbs, Media Literacy in Massachusetts. R. Morgan, Media Education in Ontario: Generational Differences in Approach. A. Hart, Conclusion: Paradigms Revisited.

"This book is a welcome addition to a tiny amount of research which has examined the ways in which media education operates at the shop floor level....They have producted a book which is an important contribution to a field of educational activity which should become increasingly central to the development, international and intercultural educational strategies at the turn of the century."
—European Journal of Communication