Press Release
Date: Friday 14th May 2004 (NR/13/04)
CCEA highlights the need for Media Education at European conference
The work of the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment in developing media awareness among the young people of Northern Ireland will today be the focus of attention at a landmark education conference in Belfast’s W5.
CCEA’s work has helped place Northern Ireland at the forefront of European countries in its level of commitment to media education. Bringing together education figures from across the world, the Media Education in Europe conference at W5 has provided an opportunity to highlight CCEA’s achievements on an international stage.
Addressing the conference today, Anne Marshall, Principal Officer at CCEA, commented:
“The rapid development of a number of media channels, such as television, radio and the internet, means that a huge amount of information is now available to us in our homes, schools and workplaces. In light of these developments, CCEA believes it is crucial that media education programmes be put in place in order to ensure that all citizens are capable of accessing and understanding this information.
Media education aims to develop our understanding of the many different forms of media available to us and our ability to use them to communicate with each other.
CCEA has already carried out extensive work in the area of media education. In our recent review of what is taught in Northern Ireland schools, we recommended that Media Awareness should become a key part of young peoples’ education and should be a statutory entitlement for all 11-14 year olds. This will encourage the social and cultural development of our young people right through the curriculum.
In order to facilitate this, CCEA has also commissioned a number of innovative projects for the teaching of Media Awareness. For example, Moving Image Arts, a paperless AS level examination pioneered in conjunction with the British Film Institute, and the Digital Video Project for 7-8 year olds have opened up new creative opportunities for young people in Northern Ireland schools.”
The Media Education in Europe conference is organised by the British Film Institute and supported by CCEA. The conference opened in W5 at the Odyssey Arena on Thursday 13 May and will run until Saturday 15 May.
CCEA’s Anne Marshall will be speaking as a panel member at a discussion forum entitled ‘How can learning outcomes in Media Education be identified and evaluated?’ She will be joined on the panel by Geoff Lealand from the University of Waikato in New Zealand and Sirkku Kotilainen from the University of Tampere in Finland. The forum will be chaired by Richard Newell, 5-14 Development Officer at the British Film Institute. The discussion forum will take place from 11.00am-12.45pm on Friday 14 May at W5.
Moving Image Arts is currently in the first year of a pilot scheme involving AS level students in 7 schools in Northern Ireland.
The Digital Video Project is being piloted in a number of primary schools in Belfast. It allows Primary 3 and 4 pupils to film and edit their own digital video footage.
Media enquiries to Ruth Maguire on (028) 9026 1216, Mobile 07796947993. E mail rhmaguire@ccea.org.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors
CCEA is the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.
CCEA places learners and those who have a concern for their educational and personal development at the forefront of its thinking. CCEA's mission is:
"To enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised"
What we do
CCEA is a unique educational body in the UK , bringing together the three areas of curriculum, examinations and assessment.
Advising Government – on what should be taught in Northern Ireland ’s schools and colleges.
Monitoring Standards – ensuring that the qualifications and examinations offered by awarding bodies in Northern Ireland are of an appropriate quality and standard.
Awarding Qualifications
– as Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body we offer a diverse range of qualifications, such as GCSEs, including the new GCSE Double Award specifications in vocational subjects, GCE A and AS levels, Entry Level Qualifications, and Graded Objectives in Modern Languages.
- CCEA also offers a range of Awards and Certificates in Education, Training and Skills (ACETS) targeted at learners who want to get
the knowledge, understanding and skills needed
to hit the ground running in the world of work.
