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ERG 1 (Revised 5/05)
The Implementation of Media education in Hong Kong’s Secondary Curriculum: Reasons, Means, and Impact
The 10th APEID International Conference
Learning Together for Tomorrow
Education for Sustainable Development
6 -8 December 2006, Bangkok
Author: Dr. C.K. Cheung (Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong)
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Acknowledgement: This project is funded by the RGC Competitive Earmarked Research Grant
Abstract
The major influence of today's media is well documented. Kellner (1995) stated that a ‘media culture has emerged in which images, sounds, and spectacles help produce the fabric of everyday life, dominating leisure time, shaping political views and social behaviour’. A decade later after his comment, there are more types of information and entertainment, much more interactive modes for consuming mass media's message in a more interconnected global village than ever before. Studies in many countries show that many students spend much of their time watching, listening, and interacting with the media. The situation is similar in Hong Kong. In view of this, the call for the inclusion of media education in the curriculum of schools is opportune. Such curricula have been adopted successfully in several countries, including Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. In Hong Kong, calls for media education have grown louder in the past few years. With the proposal of curriculum reforms in year 2000, which stressed 'key learning areas' instead of traditional subjects, new curricular spaces are opening up for media education.
This paper is based on different projects that the author conducted in the last few years to ascertain the reasons why these schools have decided to do so, how they have implemented media education, and whether the implementation of media education in lessons have any impact on students, especially towards the nine generic skills as emphasized in the recent curriculum reform.
Introduction
During the past few decades, the mass media in Hong Kong have simultaneously developed an environment in which people now live. Today, people know what is happening around them through radio, television, and newspapers, etc. With the advance of the telecommunication technology, people also get familiar with the use of personal computers, Internet and so on. In order to keep themselves updated, the mass media have become a continuing necessity for all of the people.
In fact, this is not a unique situation found in Hong Kong but is a worldwide phenomenon. In view of this, the innovation of a new curriculum ¾ media education or the study of mass media ¾ has been recommended. Media education has been formally introduced into the classrooms in many Western countries for years now for various reasons. In the U.S., the negative influence of the media has been noted. Halloran and Jones (1992) stated that ‘Young people needed to be protected against what was considered to be very harmful and powerful influences of the mass media’. That was how media education was perceived by many, as a protection against the adverse influence from the media, when it was first called into the picture. Like the situation in the U.S. media education in U.K. first started as an inoculation to prevent the negative media influence. Later on, it is noted that students could be empowered in the learning of media education (Buckingham, 1998).
In many parts of Canada, however, media education has found its way into the curriculum as a result of curriculum reform (Pungente, 1996). In many other places, media education is the concern of religious groups. Buckingham (2003: 100) noted that: ‘in many counties, churches have played a major role in promoting media education outside the formal education system. In some cases, media education has been seen as a means of opposing the ‘consumerist’ and ‘anti-Christian’ values which are seen to be promoted by the media.’ Media education is thus considered as a possible ‘inoculation’ solution, equipping pupils with the ability to discern media messages, and empowering them through analyzing media messages, practicing media discourse, and participating in media production. This, it is argued, will help the moral development of pupils. In the United States, Sister Elizabeth Thoman founded the Centre for Media and Values in 1977 to provide leadership for a media education movement. In some parts of Africa, the Catholic Church has taken the lead in the development of media education (Buckingham 2003). In Malta, media education is taught in all Church schools, and the Church of Malta coordinates the curriculum and development of media education. In the Philippines, media education began in 1988 in Catholic schools as a response to a call made by Jesuit priests (Enriquez, 2003). In Hong Kong, some Christian-based organizations have been active in promoting media education and producing many teaching kits on media education. For example, in 2003, “Bringing Media into Classrooms – A Sharing on Lesson Plans and Teaching Experiences” was published by the Hong Kong Christian Service and Team Games for Media Education by Breakthrough. Later research investigated the relationship between media education and other parts of the curriculum. The importance of media education in citizenship education and ethics education has sometimes been noted (Buckingham, 2000). Aufderheide and Firestone (1993: 1) argued that the purposes of media education are ‘citizenship, aesthetic appreciation and expression, social advocacy, self-esteem, and consumer competence.’ Ahonen and Virta (1999: 248) claimed that ‘citizens’ action and critical thinking in the information society are linked with communication skills and the capacity to influence others. Media education can therefore be considered a key area in civics.’ In 1999, a study of civics education across twenty-four countries was conducted and the term ‘mass media’ and ‘media education’ appeared very frequently in nearly almost every country (Torney-Purta, Schwille, & Amadeo, 1999). Countries such as Romania (Bunescu et. al. 1999) and the Netherlands (Dekker, 1999) have incorporated media education into schools across many subjects, whereas in Belgium it has strong links with civics, Language, History and Social Studies (Blondin & Schillings, 1999).
How about the situation in Hong Kong? Is media education merely the concerns of a few enthusiasts or does curriculum reform serve as a catalyst? What is the involvement of ordinary people and the government in the implementation of media education? What is the impact of media education on students?
Definitions and Aims of Media Education
When tracing the origin of media education, it is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, which, in 1973, firstly introduced the concept of media education as:
"…the study, learning and teaching of, and about, the modern media of communication and expression as a specific and autonomous area of knowledge within educational theory and practice, distinct from their use as aids for the teaching and learning of other areas of knowledge, such as mathematics, science and geography" (IFTC, 1977, p.3).
In Britain, Masterman (1992:102) states the most crucial aim of media education is ‘to develop in pupils enough self-confidence and critical maturity to be able to apply critical judgments to media texts which they will encounter in the future’.
In U.S.A., Thoman (1995) suggests that media education is a study of the mass media for increasing people’s critical understanding of ‘what’ mass media are, ‘how’ they work and produce meaning, and most importantly, ‘how’ people interpret and analyze the media meanings.
Reasons
Inoculation
When media becomes students’ first curriculum and schooling comes in second, what can be done? An increasing number of educationalists regard Media Education as one of the attempts to return students to the influence of schools by encouraging them to take a critical stand toward the popular media (Lee, 1997). However, there are many approaches to Media Education with different reasoning behind each one. Many commentators criticize contemporary schooling for its inability to compete with the diversity, sensuality, and drama of the world. Compared to the ever-changing media, schools are indeed more marked by an ‘essential sameness’ (Henry et al., 1988, p. 60). Schools often take the social values of the real world as being hostile and the enemy of canonical learning. In many cases, Media Education will be employed as tools to inoculate, preventing students from the overexposure to media messages, helping them to say no to media.
In Hong Kong, a study was conducted from September 1998 to July 1999 (Chu, 2003), noting that informants, who were teachers and school principals, saw the media as a competitor to education and they took it as their mission to counteract the negative influences brought by the mass media. Two views emerged when it came to discussions about Media Education. One view saw Media Education as education through media, believing that more programs should be produced for ‘good’ educational purposes. Another view saw Media Education as education about media: Students should be able to tell the good from the bad after receiving such education. These indicate that informants had only a vague understanding about the notion of ‘Media Education’. Further study (Cheung 2005) also noted that schools often take an inoculative approach to media education, with students being taught about the bad effects of the media.
Empowerment
Media education is more than a tool with which to warn students about the bad effects of the mass media; it can empower students to be more analytical, participative, and motivated to learn. While the inoculative approach was dominant in the early stages of media education, later stages have seen a shift in emphasis. In Hong Kong, for example, research by Lee and Mok (2003) looked at the contribution of media education into the knowledge economy and found that media education had made a pioneering attempt to cultivate active learners who would be able to meet challenges in the years to come. The findings were in line with Cheung’s claim (2006) that media education ‘enables students to construct knowledge and develop a global outlook to cope with the changing and interdependent world in the 2lst century, and develops students’ lifelong learning skills (to enjoy learning, to enhance effectiveness in communication, to develop creativity, to develop a logical, critical, and analytical mind) as stipulated in the aims of current educational thought.’.
Means
There has been considerable debate, notably in England, on the most appropriate place for Media Education in the school curriculum, and this remains an important issue. Hart & Hicks (2000) suggested teaching it in social science subjects. If media education is to be taught, the essential questions are where, when and by whom. Should it be taught as an independent subject, an integral part of language, a cross-curricular subject, or as an extra-curricular activity? In Cheung’s survey (2004), when respondents were asked where in the curriculum media education could be introduced, the three favourite options chosen by primary teachers were Civic Education, General Studies (only offered in primary curriculum), and as a cross-curricular subject (14.1%). In the case of secondary teachers, the options were Civic Education, Liberal Studies (only offered in secondary curriculum) and a cross-curricular subject).
In Hong Kong schools the timetable is tight and the curriculum is crowded, and it is very difficult to add a new subject. Besides, the examination driven syllabus has prevented the discussion of many ‘meaningful’ issues. Thus, it will be difficult for teachers to teach media education in their existing examination-oriented subjects.
Moreover, many schools are afraid that once they commit to include media education (or indeed any other new subject) in the regular timetable, they will have to invest significant money and manpower to make it a success. It is therefore safer as a first step to have media education to be taught on a small scale basis, by devoting to it a few lessons in a subject where assessment in terms of examination is minimum. If the result is promising, then the school might consider launching it on a wider scale.
Civic education
The relationship between media education and civic education is clear. Katz (1993) states: ‘Democracy is meaningless without multiple voices.....it is simply impossible to talk about citizenship training in modern society without reference to mass communication’ (p.37). Aufderheide & Firestone (1993) argue that the purposes for media education are ‘citizenship, aesthetic appreciation and expression, social advocacy, self-esteem, and consumer competence’ (p.1). Ahonen & Virta (1999) argues: ‘Citizens’ action and critical thinking in the information society are linked with communication skills and the capacity to influence others. Media education can therefore be considered a key area in civics’ (p.248). In 1999, a study of civic education across twenty-four countries was conducted and the term ‘mass media’ and ‘media education’ appeared very frequently in nearly almost every case (Torney-Purta, Schwille, Amadeo, 1999). The connection between media education and civic education is acknowledged. Media education either appears as a topic discussed in the civics curriculum, as in Romania (Bunescu et. al. 1999) and the Netherlands (Dekker, 1999); or it is discussed in other subjects with a strong link with civics, such as like Language, History and Social Studies, as in Belgium (Blondin & Schillings, 1999). In Finland, media education is regarded as part of civics. Ahonen and Virta (1999) states:
Through media education, the students have an opportunity to practice active and analytical information acquisition and also how to have influence through different media. In addition to media education oriented to social criticism, emphasis has been placed on students’ skills in using the media. Media education no longer sees students as passive receivers but as communicators with an active role….Schools include elements of media education in the syllabi of mother tongue or history and social studies (p.248).
With recent advances in telecommunications technology, the mass media have now become an important source of information about politics and government. Its role in civic education is recognized in Bulgaria (Balkansky et. al, 1999), Lithuania (Zaleskiene, 1999), and Colombia (Rueda, 1999). Media education can equip students with the ability to distinguish between factual information and opinion, see and read in an analytical and critical manner, and assess the truth of the information they receive.
In other cases, the influence of mass media on students is so strong that schools have employed media education to help students understand media messages as part of citizenship education, as in the cases of Slovenia (Strajn, 1999) and Switzerland (Reichenbach, 1999).