Report about the Media Literacy Situation in the Basque School Community

Abstract

This article gathers together the results of a quantitative and qualitative piece of research conducted between 2007 and 2010 by the HGH Hedabideak, Gizartea eta Hezkuntza (Media, Society and Education) research team at the University of the Basque Country. The main aim of the research was to examine the situation of Media Literacy in the Basque Country’s school community. One of the newest aspects of this research was the study of the school community as a whole, at a specific moment and in a specific field; in other words, the students, teachers and parents of the same community. The results of the quantitative study have been taken from a survey done among 598 young people between 14 and 18 years old enrolled in Secondary or Further Education, or in Vocational Training courses. The qualitative study took into account the information extracted from ten focus groups and six in-depth interviews. Young people between the ages of 14 and 18, parents between 40 and 55, and eight experts of different ages took part in the discussions. Through the in-depth interviews the research team observed the opinions of eight educators who teach Education in Media. According to the results, the education system should include media education among its priorities.