Prague, March 3 (CTK) – The Czech school system does not view media education as significant, though three-quarters of secondary school teachers consider it important, mainly for boosting the critical thinking of students, a poll the People in Need NGO has conducted together with the Median agency.
Four in five surveyed teachers said media education is not viewed as important within the educational system.
Many of the polled teachers said most people consider such educational efforts controversial.
According to 36 percent of the respondents, the most important goal of media education is the development of the critical thinking of students.
It also contributes to students’ orientation in the media (17 percent) and enhances their skill of searching and selecting information (16 percent).
Eighty-two percent of the respondents said much time is left in school lessons for media education.
Over 50 percent of teachers are for media education to be applied across more school subjects as has been the case until now.
Seventeen percent said they would prefer a special media education subject, while 27 percent would prefer media education being taught as an optional subject.
Almost 50 percent of teachers would like media education to be taught by specialised teachers or experts such as journalists. At present, media education has been most often taught as part of the civics and the Czech language and literature.
Three quarters of the polled teachers said they are short of quality educational materials, and four fifths said they lack the necessary knowledge and methodology, along with information about courses for teachers to upgrade their education in this respect.
Asked which of the Czech media they trust the most of all, the respondents most often mentioned public Czech Television and Czech Radio, followed by the mainstream Internet news servers and the serious printed dailies. Their trust in daily tabloids and commercial TV stations is the lowest of all, showed the poll surveying 218 secondary school teachers in December and January.
