All children and adolescents will enjoy a growth environment that offers better potential for developing good media literacy. Children and adolescents will learn to exercise discretion and selectivity in their dealings with media, to analyse and assess media critically and to use media for learning, self-expression and participation in society and culture in an age-appropriate way. Children and adolescents will also become more active and enthusiastic actors with media, being able to enjoy the experiences offered by media in a more versatile manner.
Educators will become more media literate. They will gain greater awareness and understanding of media education and its potential. Media literate educators who possess media education skills will be able to support the development of good media literacy in children and adolescents in a more versatile manner and to guide children and adolescents to operate safely with media.
Finland will become a society where media literacy is appreciated and the significance of media literacy is understood better. A society that is appreciative of good media literacy is disposed to invest more in media education.
Good Media Literacy
National Policy Guidelines 2013–2016
by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland
http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Julkaisut/2013/liitteet/OKM13.pdf?lang=en
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has drawn up Cultural Policy Guidelines to promote media literacy for 2013–2016. The Guidelines draw on the objectives set out in the Government Programme, on the growing range of media education actors, on the constantly evolving media environment and on the field of media education.
One of the Ministry’s strategic cultural policy priorities is to strengthen the position of media education. The Ministry’s audiovisual culture policies have set good media literacy as one of its priorities.
These media literacy guidelines examine media education from various angles, in particular in terms of social inclusion, active citizenship, critical thinking, creativity and self-expression.
Foreword
Media literacy is the literacy of today. We all need media literacy skills in our different roles in the information society: as citizens, consumers, employees and students.
Good media literacy enables us understand and critically appraise the world and the culture we live in. Hence it is also relevant for our growth as human beings and for living a good life.
These policy guidelines for good media literacy build on the principles set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. An important basic assumption in the Convention is the belief that children and adolescents are active subjects.
Being active also manifests itself in the relationship that children and adolescents have with media: they use media to play and pursue their hobbies, experience various emotions, learn something new and take part in different communities.
Experiences should thus take centre stage in media education. Interaction between generations is also vital. Adults play a key role in promoting good media literacy in children and adolescents.
Media education in Finland has made headway in recent years. Awareness of media literacy has spread. The field of media education has changed and expanded. Media education cuts across different areas of society, and a range of actors from the fields of cultural policy, child and youth policy, education, social welfare and health care and consumer education are all involved in providing media education.
The Centre for Media Education and Audiovisual Media, which was set up to replace the Finnish Board of Film Classification, has been operating in Finland since 2012. The Centre for Media Education and Audiovisual Media will merge with the National Audiovisual Archive at the beginning of 2014, and key tasks of the resulting new agency, the National Audiovisual Institute, will include promoting media education.
These media literacy policy guidelines and their implementation aim to help achieve the goal in the
Government Programme of making sure that every child and adolescent has the prerequisites for participating and accessing the information society. Good skills in media literacy are an important element for participation and inclusion in society.
The shared principles in these policy guidelines allow us to develop media education by fostering equality, diversity and quality. In the future, our need for media literacy can only increase.
Paavo Arhinmäki
Minister of Culture and Sport