1. +
The history of Media
Education
Charlotte Whitney

2. “A common view of education is that it
doesn‟t do us any good unless it hurts”
Pete Fraser, Manifesto for Media Education

3. “Entertainment, journalism, the internet
appear to have no mystery about them
because we use them every day.”
Proffessor John Ellis, Royal Holloway, University of London

4. +
Why should Media Studies have a
place in education?
Gives access to
To teach the new technologies
importance of the where economics
Media‟s influence would otherwise
on people‟s lives hold some
students back
Media Studies
It engages gives students
students in the other skills of
subject through analysis in the
active involvement context of the
media

5. +
Media educators Vivienne Clark and
Richard Harvey say:
“The media have offered us other ways of
recording human experience and creativity and in
Media Studies we look at how these methods of
communication work and why they have such a
prominent place in our daily experience”

6. +
Where did it begin?
1930s F. R. Leavis and Denys Thompson
Culture and Environment: The Training of
Critical Awareness (1933)
In their book, Leavis and Thompson argued
that „high culture‟ was to be protected and
the study of English needed to remain
traditional. Many have argued that his views
helped to add seriousness to English
education, while the emerging mass media
was seen as a corrupting influence

7. +
1920s onwards
The Frankfurt School theorised the
possible effects of then-modern
media in response to German
fascism‟s use of radio and film for
propaganda purposes
The Media Students Book

8. +
1950s
Raymond Williams
He argued that his education came from both his upbringing and
his formal education, and neither one was more superior than the
other
“This expansive notion of education, in which Williams saw great
democratic potential, ran counter to education as traditionally
conceived from the nineteenth-century forward; that is, as either
the perpetuation of elite culture, or as a means of vocational
training” Josh Cole

9. +
1960s
Marshall McLuhan…
…writes about mass media theory and becomes a
best seller with Understanding Media: The Extensions
of Man (1964)
He coins the phrase:
“The medium is the message”

10. +
1980s and 1990s
Len Masterman
Teaching about Television
A rationale for media education
Masterman saw media education as a constant challenge:
“Simply keeping abreast of media developments in the nineties, and
ensuring the relevance of what we teach to the life experiences of our
students, will continue to provide a serious challenge to dominant notions
of what constitutes effective teaching and learning in most European
educational systems.”

11. +
And then it changed…

12. +
1991
Sir Tim John Berners-Lee
invents the World Wide Web and
changes the world (including
media and education) for good

13. +
The Media and new technologies have only
grown in the last 20 years and it seems that
now, more than ever, we need to
understand what people are consuming
and why

14. +
But what has Media education been
up against?
“50% drop in students
taking French or German
A's
500% increase in students
taking Media Studies
A level pass rate
increases from 84.2% to
97%”
Private Eye, 2005

15. +
Negative reports and
opinion pieces
Manipulation of figures to make a negative point
about Media education
Research into how Media Studies alone is
responsible for the decline in take up of the sciences
and maths….

16. In 2012 the Higher Education Policy
Institute looked at what courses universities
and colleges are offering…
+
…And found that while media studies
has tripled in the last decade, the
number of institutions that teach physics
has slumped by almost a third

17. + story was picked
This
up by many of the
major national
newspapers as
another way to
debate the relevance
of the subject
No one questioned
whether teaching
elsewhere needs to
be made more
engaging for modern
students

18. +
“On the one hand, Media Studies is
condemned for its lack of vocational relevance
(in terms that are rarely extended to other
academic subjects); while on the other, it is
slated for its absence of academic rigour.”
David Buckingham

19. +
“Media courses, often seen as essentially
leftist, have displeased many of those who
would prefer to keep their own practices free
from critical scrutiny.”
Stuart Price

20. THE FUTURE

21. +
What are the challenges that might stop
the necessary growth of Media
education?
 Financial pressures brought  Suggested changes to GCSEs
about by budget cuts which by Michael Gove
allow growth of other subjects
 More scapegoating by the  Students loosing faith in a
Media highly beneficial subject

22. + 80‟s power of prime
time
The Media is always
90‟s tabloid
changing… influences
and
scandals
10‟s social
00‟s internet
media and
obsession
digitalization
have taken
over

23. +
And so should Media education
In 2007, Media theorist David Gauntlett wrote an article about „Media
Studies 2.0.‟ Here he replaces traditional ideas of Media Studies with
suggestions that it should include (among other things):
“An attempt to embrace the truly international dimensions of Media
Studies – including a recognition not only of the processes of
globalization, but also of the diverse perspectives on media and society
being worked on around the world;
Recognition that the internet and new digital media have fundamentally
changed the ways in which we engage with all media;
The notion of super-powerful media industries invading the minds of a
relatively passive population is compelled to recognise and address the
context of more widespread creation and participation.”
For the full article, see http://www.theory.org.uk/mediastudies2.htm

24. +
David Gauntlett on Media 2.0
“Media Studies should not
simply sing in praise of
particular kinds of technology,
any more than it should always
be critical of everything it sees.
That's why we need an
intelligent and sophisticated
Media Studies which helps us to
properly and critically
understand the media of today.”

25. +
Where should we be going?
Does Media education have
any place in the curriculum?

27. +
Even if people want to argue that
Media education is not an academic
subject, it‟s influence should be felt
throughout the other subjects…
“The idea of booking an „IT room‟ for a special session
should be outdated, we should be brininging handheld
devices into classrooms rountinely and using online
learning contexts as „everyday‟”
Julian McDougall and Nick Potamitis, The Media Teachers Book

28. +
“[Media] Literacy is critical: it is about taste
and pleasure, and the kinds of judgements
these involve”
Andrew Burn and James Durran, Media Literacy in Schools:
Practice, Production and Progression

29. +
What do I think?
Students need an understanding of
where the Media started, how it
has developed and therefore where
it might go. The Media has a
massive influence on our lives
and, as this continues to
grow, Media Studies is as
important as ever in education

30. +
Final thought…
“We believe that the objectives of media education
should be ambitious, challenging, open ended and
liberating. But they must be precise. For we wish,
above all, to promote rigourous teaching and
learning about the media.”
Len Masterman