Media and Information Literacy Policies in Croatia (2013)ppemi.ens-cachan.fr/.../rapports/CROATIA_2014.pdf · 2014-05-23 · According to the report Mapping Digital Media – Croatia

ANR TRANSLIT and COST “Transforming Audiences/Transforming Societies”

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Media and Information Literacy Policies in Croatia (2013)

Experts:

Igor Kanižaj, Faculty of Political Science, Journalism Department, U. of Zagreb

Viktorija Car, Faculty of Political Science, Journalism Department, U. of Zagreb

Lidija Kralj, OŠ Veliki Bukovec

May 2014


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1. 1. Dimension (Short) Historical background

The Republic of Croatia is a South-East European and Mediterranean country, at the

crossroads of the Pannonian plain, the Balkan Peninsula, and the Adriatic Sea. The area

of Croatia is 56,594 km². It has a population of 4.29 million, according to the census

carried out in April 2011.

After the Second World War, until 1990, Croatia was one of six republics within the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During the socialism regime, media culture

was important part of especially elementary school’s curricula. It was a part of Serbo-

Croatian language courses, and it was focused on theatre, film and television. The most

valuable was a wide range of extra-curricula activities for pupils, that included drama

classes, puppet classes, school choir, art group, writing and poet group, and excellent

journalistic groups where students of the age 10-14 had a possibility to work as a real

journalist for the school magazine, and for a wide range of national children magazines,

radio program on state radio, even some television children programming. Once a year,

the most motivated and active pupils from this classes and groups, gathered together at

the Republic’s Meeting for children’s’ drama, writing and journalism, or at Novigrad

Spring journalism school, etc.

The first multi-party elections in Croatia were held in 1990, as relations among the

Yugoslav republics worsened. In 1991, the Croatian War of Independence (“Homeland

War”) started, and with portions of the country under effective control of Croatia’s Serb

minority, armed and supported by the Yugoslav People’s Army, the government

declared independence. The War ended in 1995 and during that period it was almost

impossible to define or open any agenda on media education policies. At the time,

changes in educational system were focused mostly on history textbooks and Croatian

language, while because of the financial reasons, activities like drama, puppets,

journalistic or poet and writing groups, lost motivated teachers as they were not paid for

leading them. There was no official policy on media education.

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) governed the country until its leader, President

Tuđman, died in office at the end of 1999. At the parliamentary elections in January


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2000, a centre-left coalition of six parties took power and launched a series of reforms

of the existing state structures. Croatian politics changed from isolationist to pro-

European as the pro-reform coalition put Croatia on track to join the European Union

(EU). The country underwent many liberal reforms.

In the November 2003 general elections, a less nationalist HDZ regained power. A

series of political, legal and social reforms led to the opening of Croatia’s EU accession

negotiations in October 2005. In the 2007 elections, HDZ won in coalition with three

smaller parties and representatives of national minorities. In April 2009, Croatia joined

NATO. Negotiations on accession to the EU were formally concluded in June 2011.

HDZ lost power in December 2011. Social Democrats regained power this time in the

so-called Kukuriku coalition (consisting of four parties: Social Democratic Party,

Croatian People’s Party, Istrian Democratic Assembly and Croatian Party of

Pensioners). A referendum in January 2012 produced a vote in favour of acceding to the

EU. Croatia became the 28th member of the EU on 1 July 2013.

Education system in Croatia

In 2012, 47,959 pupils graduated from primary school (23,399 female pupils), 43,248

pupils graduated from secondary school (21,906 female), 11,557 graduated from

colleges (6,504 female), while 25,407 got University diploma (15,487 female). 1,338

got PhD (730 female)1.

It is interesting to compare data for last five years (2008-2012): the number of

professional theatres attendance raised from 1.067,000 to 1.211,00, of cinemas

attendance from 3.283,00 to 4.064,000, public service TV subscribers from 1.498,000 to

1.676,0002.

According to the report Mapping Digital Media – Croatia (Car & Andrijašević, 2012)

Croatian households are well equipped to access content provided by digital media. The

most popular source of information in Croatia is television, which is present in 98.8% of

households. On the other hand, the PC is present in 55% of households. According to

the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (Državni zavod za statistiku, DZS), in the first quarter

1 Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Croatia in Figures 2013, Zagreb, http://www.dzs.hr/ 2 Ibid. pp.30


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of 20123 68% of households were equipped with personal computer, while 66% have

the internet access. 98% of youth in the age of 16-24 use computers and internet. 85%

of individuals used the internet for reading magazines and newspapers (a 19% increase,

compared to the same period in 2008), 46% used internet radio or TV, and 56% used

social networks. The most widely used media platform in Croatia is the mobile phone

with a penetration of 116% in 2012 (it was 143.45% in 2010)4. Broadband development

began with a considerable delay: in 2003 there were only 4,400 broadband internet

connections and a penetration of 0.01%. At the end of 2004, the government introduced

a new legislative framework and began drafting the first national strategy for broadband

access, especially in underdeveloped and isolated areas. In 2010, the number of

broadband connections reached 1,132,212 (26% penetration)5 and in 2012 it was

28.40%6.

The number of internet users has increased significantly; from 1.47 million in 2005 it

rose to 2.67 million in 2010, with particularly significant growth in broadband

penetration.

According to the Trust in Media research project, conducted in 2009 by the Faculty of

Political Science of the University of Zagreb and the independent research centre Media

Metar, Croatians trusted the Catholic Church more than any other institution (3.44),

followed by scientists, educational institutions, the army, certain trusted intellectuals,

and the leader of their preferred political party. Domestic media (2.78) and journalists

(2.73) came after all these. The information platform most trusted by citizens is the

internet (45%), followed by radio (39%) and television (35%).7

3 Croatian Bureau of Statistics, The First Release No. 2.3.2., 3 December 2012; Usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Households and by Individuals, 2012, first results, http://www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/publication/2012/02-03-02_01_2012.htm (accessed 19 November 2013). 4 http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2013/e_trziste/GOD%20ENG%202012_mobile% 20penetration.pdf (accessed 19 November 2013). 5 Croatian Post and Electronic Communication Agency, at http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2011/e-trziste/GOD%20Broj%20korisnika%20Interneta%202010.pdf; http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2011/e-trziste/GOD%20Broj%20priklju%C4%8Daka%20%C5%A1irokopojasnog%20pristupa%20internetu%202010.pdf (accessed 23 May 2011). 6 http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2013/e_trziste/GOD%20ENG%202012%20Broadband% 20penetration.pdf (accessed 19 November 2013). 7 Research is conducted on a nationally representative, proportionally stratified and probabilistic sample, of 1,000 adults (examinees) in Croatia. A Likert scale and five-level Likert item was used (1 = do not agree at all, 5 = fully agree). See results in V. Car, “Television in new media environment” Media Studies 1 (1-2), pp. 91-104.


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According to research published in 2012 by GfK (www.gfk.hr) when looking at

institutions, Croatian citizens had the biggest trust in scientists as a profession (4,9 on

Likert scale from 1-7), in school system (4,5) Catholic Church (4,4) followed by trust in

banks, army, superiors on work, Croatian National Bank/governor, president of the

Republic of Croatia, banks in general, police, businessmen, media (3,1) judiciary,

European Union, Prime Minister, etc8.

According to the GfK research, in 2011, 96% of youth in Croatia use internet at home,

while more than 50% of them consume internet between 60 and 240 minutes daily. 48%

of youth in Croatia trust internet, 29% trust television, 12% trust daily newspapers,

while 6% trust radio (GfK.hr, 2011). „(…) Besides spending time with friends (of the

same age), media consuming is the most common free-time activity of children and the

youth.“ (Ilišin, 2012: 148)9

Before 2010 it was only the Electronic Media Act which recognizes media literacy, in

its article 64. Media literacy is listed as one of the principles that should be achieved for

allocating funding from the Fund for pluralism and electronic media diversity (annually

it is distributed about 5 million EUR from the Fund to local radio and television

stations).

In 2010 National Curriculum Framework for pre-school, education and general

compulsory and secondary education (further in this text National Curriculum

Framework, or NCF – the fundamental educational policy document of the Ministry of

Science, Education and Sport) was accepted and it recognises Media Culture as a part of

Croatian language course curricula at primary, secondary and high schools. In NCF key

competences, including digital one are listed also in technical and ICT area and in cross-

curricular topic ICT use. However, if we focus primarily on media culture, as planned in

NCF, media literacy learning outcomes can’t be achieved because it is not covering all

aspects: access to medium, ability to analyze media text, to validate it and to produce

new content.

8 Research is conducted on a nationally representative, proportionally stratified and probabilistic sample, of 1,000 adults (examinees) in Croatia. A Likert scale and seven-level Likert item was used (1 = do not agree at all, 7 = fully agree). http://www.gfk.hr/imperia/md/content/gfkaustria2/pdf/nlo33.pdf, (p.4) 9 According to the UNICEF research only 16 % of children in Croatia find children program as their favourite, while only 6 % find educational program as their favourite. At the same time, youngsters say “there are no opportunities in media to talk on their needs and to recognize and respect their opinion” (UNICEF, 2010).


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We can say that children and the youth in Croatia through the existing educational

system had only a partially approach to media and media education (primarily through

film culture educational units) and creating media content (through school newspapers

or magazines, school radio, work in journalistic groups). But, the majority of them have

never been taught to analyze and critically validate media text and services. Media

education itself and its quality have been abandoned, and it is only up to the teachers’

enthusiasm if they will to do some extra-curricula programs with children, mostly

without any official financial school support. There are great differences in the everyday

practice in the work and support to media education programs from the schools

principles, and from county to county. Just recently, in 2012, the program “Media

culture in elementary school” has been started, as an extra-curricula activity, with the

support of the Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA). Still, Croatia

is one of the EU countries without official media education policy.

Although, since 2000, there are more and more academic researches on media literacy

and media culture in Croatia (Erjavec & Zgrabljić, 2000; Vujević, 2001; Mikić, 2002;

Ilišin & Radin, 2002; Ilišin, 2003; Miliša, Tolić & Vertovšek, 2010, 2009; Miliša &

Tolić, 2008; Tolić, 2011, Labaš, 2011)10, on the institutional level, in Croatian

educational system, except for media culture there are no other programs on media

education. Media education was not presented as a tool to address the contemporary

crisis in educational systems, and it was not associated to major reforms or reform

movements.

Preschool education in the Republic of Croatia encompasses education and care of the

children of preschool age, realized though educational, health care, nourishment and

social care programs for children from six months of age until school age. Eight-year

elementary education is compulsory and free for all children between the ages of six and

fifteen. Following elementary education, secondary education enables everyone, under

equal terms and according to one’s capabilities, to acquire knowledge and skills

required for work or continuation of education (Mzos.hr, 2013). There are lots of public

and private one-year and two-year programs for post-secondary school specialization in

10 Lana Ciboci, Igor Kanižaj and Danijel Labaš in 2012/2013 have been publishing columns in the oldest school newspapers in Croatia “School Newspapers” on media education. Through our project “Djeca medija” (Children of Media) together with 30 associates they held 250 workshops for more than 3000 attendees. On our web site – djecamedija.org we our continuously publishing articles on a daily basis, and through all our activities we met a large number of teachers and parents willing to share their experiences.


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different fields. Higher education in Croatia is predominantly public, it follows Bologna

program. BA studies are of three or four years, while MA studies are of one or two

years. In Croatia there are 7 public and three private universities. Post-graduate

programs can be PhD programs or shorter post-graduate specialization programs.

Since 1991 not much has been done on building up the Croatian media education

policies, although according to researches (Ilišin, 2003, GfK 2008, 2011, DKMK and

Ipsos Puls, 2013) children and youth in Croatia are to a great extent exposed to media in

their everyday life.

In the period from 1990-2000 one can identify new approach to the media culture

program in primary schools. According to interview with Krešimir Mikić, author of one

of the first media culture textbook, there were many new initiatives with the primary

goal to include other media, and not just film in media culture programs, especially new

media. In this decade there was increase in the number of conferences, workshops and

other similar events with the goal to raise awareness in the public. It was mostly done

by Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA). These actions were also in line

with changes in university curricula and can be recognized by new programs for teacher

education at the university level. Although one has to admit that they were not

implemented in the greater part at the local level in our primary and secondary schools.

Information literacy

Professors Jadranka Lasić Lazić, Sonja Špriranec and Mihaela Banek Zorica from the

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, define

information literacy as skill of using different sources of information (libraries, online

data bases, etc.). Taking into account different concepts and definitions, they conclude

that the information literacy framework “is defined with search, access, evaluation and

use of information” (Špiranec and Banek Zorica, 2008: 31).

During the socialist regime in Yugoslavia, such skill was developed under the program

of ‘education of users’. Before 1990, the focus was especially on libraries. At a time,

librarians were not educated for their job. Usually they were Croatian language

professors, and they only had to accomplish so called librarians’ exam.


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Today, at the University level, in few departments there are information literacy

courses, like at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences where it is optional

course, offered for students from all departments of the University of Zagreb.

In document called Nastavni plan i program za osnovnu školu, chapter 12 on school

library, duties of school librarian is to learn pupils how to use library, and how to reach

information they need. In National Curriculum Framework for secondary schools,

digital literacy is mentioned in chapter 4, and chapter 5 is on Learning how to learn.

Huge efforts were done by Croatian Association of School Librarians through many

workshops organized throughout Croatia.

In 2009 and 2010 Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency developed a

program on information literacy for elementary and secondary schools’ librarians. There

were two levels: basic and intermediate. One day workshops wee organized in three

Croatian regions (Zagreb, Istria and Kvarner, Osijek and Baranja), only in Dalmatia it

was not organized. Similar workshops were organized in cities Čakovec and Zagreb for

120 kindergartens’ educators.

Although, colleagues from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the

University of Zagreb are experts in information literacy field, they were never consulted

during the process of writing the National Educational Strategy.

Computer literacy became recognized as important in primary and secondary schools.

Therefore, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport organized ECDL education for

educators, computer usage courses for teachers which were expected to continue with

education in their schools. Schools were equipped with new computers, but computer

literacy was not integrated into the education plan. There is an initiative to implement e-

directory in schools, but teachers still do not know how to use tablet. However, CARNet

(Croatian Academic and Research Network) is running a special project ICT Edu in

2009. The goal is to educate all teachers and provide them with digital competencies.

Together with project partners Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and ETTA

they have organized and implemented 2190 workshops in the primary and secondary

schools for 45284 teachers. 97% of all schools in the Republic of Croatia participated in

this project. It covered a wide range of topics: electronic identity, business

communication for principals and teachers, on line safety, digital competences, and

multimedia in the classrooms. Participants also had the opportunity to learn the


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fundamentals of the on-line research, using databases, search engines, but they were

also educated on how to use media in the classroom, how to make presentations,

interactive posters, quizzes11…

Visual literacy is integrated from kindergarten’s, elementary schools’ and secondary

schools’ programs within art classes, painting and visual creativity exercises. Croatia

has a long tradition in film literacy. The founding father of film literacy in former

Yugoslavia and Croatia was Stjepko Težak. “In 1952 he proposed the first curriculum

on film literacy. In 1958 it is Stjepko Težak who published the first scientific article on

“Film as an object of studying in mother language class”. These efforts together with

initiatives from several other colleagues have made it possible to include film literacy in

the Croatian language curriculum. Film literacy was strongly emphasized in the coming

changes of curriculum in 1964 and it is from that time that film literacy has become

institutionalized. Stjepko Težak has initiated two new courses on Film and radio-tv

culture, and Radio, television and film. In the primary schools programme in 1972, film

literacy was equated with other teaching modules in mother tongue”12. In last 20 years

Professor Krešimir Mikić from the Faculty of Teacher Education has made huge efforts

to improve the quality of film literacy, raising awareness in the general public on the

importance of film literacy.

In regard to European recommendations (AVMSD) and other documents Croatian

officials and all governments didn’t introduce new media literacy policies, prior to EU

accession but also, no changes were done in the first six months of Croatian

membership in EU.

11 Information gathered based upon intervju with CARnet represenatitve Renata Ivanković, head of ICT Edu program and private correspondance. 12 Težak D. (2001), Stjepko Težak (1926 – 2006) – ljubav prema filmu i svijest o potrebi uključivanja filma u školu, http://www.hfs.hr/novosti_detail.aspx?sif=2867#.UxT0zON5Nzq.


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2. 2. Dimension Legal policy framework

In most of the previous studies published in Croatia, authors used the term "media

literacy" and "media education" as synonyms (cf. Tolić, 2009.). In this paper, the term

media education has a much broader meaning.

"In order for media education to be successful, it is necessary to develop all fields of

media education research, starting with media literacy, media competences, media

didactics and methodology, education and socialization, culture and media ethics (...)

Media literacy is the basic level of acquiring general skills in order to recognize visual

symbols and work on computers and other media resources. The entireness of the

relationship of media literacy and media education is included in the concept of media

competence." (Tolić, 2009: 99-100).

If we take a look at the official Croatian policy documents, we can say that media

culture is dominating as a fundamental term, although even in the present time, just by

checking the content of many scientific and professional conferences, media literacy is

understood as an umbrella term used to describe media culture, media education and

media competences, which some representatives of academic society find to be

misleading and false. We can say that even the policy makers don’t give detailed

explanation of terms they use, such as “media culture”.

After becoming a new member state of the European Union, Croatia is expected to

prepare first report on media literacy according to DIRECTIVE 2007/65/EC and

DIRECTIVE 2010/13/EU. However, there is still no official media education policy in

Croatia. Croatian educational system does not have any legal definition of media

education. The only definition is of media culture stated in the National curriculum

framework for pre-school education and general compulsory and secondary education

(2010)13, of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport (programs on media culture

defined in the NCF do not differentiate media literacy from media culture or media

education).

13 http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?sec=2497 (accessed 15 November 2013).


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Although, according to the latest public opinion survey done by the Association for

Communication and Media Culture (DKMK) and IPSOS PULS, 62% of all respondents

say that media education should be included in Croatian educational system, all relevant

educational strategy documents do not include or foresee the necessity for media

education. We will give several examples to illustrate this.

The National Youth Program 2009-201314 does not mention media education, while the

word ‘media’ is mentioned only three times in 107 pages of this document. The

National Action Program for Youth (2002) does not mention media education as well. It

has 57 pages and ‘media’ is mentioned only six times15. The only strategic document

that, just to a lesser extent, anticipates media education is National Activity Plan for the

Rights and Interest of Children 2006-2012 of the Ministry of Family Affairs,

War Veterans and Intergenerational Solidarity, at the time. Only four measures inside

this document concern activities within few ministries.

Furthermore, there is no coordination between Croatian ministries regarding media

literacy programs. There is no official inter-ministerial body or committee or any other

institutional body that would coordinate this issue.

To conclude, there is no official designation and legal definition of media education in

Croatia. Media, media education, media culture and/or media literacy can't be found in

the fundamental Law on Education in Compulsory and Secondary Schools (Zakon o

odgoju i obrazovanju u osnovnoj i srednjoj školi). Ministry of Science, Education and

Sports in June 2013 introduced new changes to the Law, but they also didn't foresee the

possibility to include media education. In NCF (2010), Media Culture is planned as a

non-compulsory course through module No.4 named Film, Media Culture and Art. On

16 September 2013 Croatian Government introduced new Strategy of Education,

Science and Technology as the cornerstone for new policies. Media literacy or media

education are not mentioned not even once in 180 pages of this document.

In Croatia there is no law that designates a clear authority to oversee media education.

Media literacy is officially mentioned only in the Electronic Media Act, not in any

educational context but just as one of the measures for allocation funding from the Fund

14 Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2 July 2009. 15 This document was prepared by the Central Bureau for the Protection of Family, Motherhood and Youth (Državni zavod za zaštitu obitelji, materinstva i mladeži).


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for pluralism and electronic media diversity. Media literacy is mentioned in Croatian

Radio-Television Act (public service RTV) in chapter on program principles.

The importance of media culture is also not recognized by the committee of the

Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, which prepared “Guidelines for the strategy

of education, science and technology” (Smjernice za strategiju odgoja, obrazovanja,

znanosti i tehnologije) a year ago. The terms "media literacy" or "media culture" or

“media education” cannot be found either in the “Vision, mission and objectives of the

Ministry of Science, Education and Sports” (Vizija, misija i ciljevi Ministarstva

znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta) (13.07.2012). Consequently, these concepts is difficult

to find in the “Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports for the

period 2012-2014” (Strateški plan Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta za

razdoblje 2012. ‒ 2014.), and in the “Government Programmes Strategy for the period

2012-2014” (Strategija Vladinih programa za razdoblje 2012.-2014.), and even in the

Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports for the period 2013-

2015 (Strateški plan Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta za razdoblje 2013.-

2015.).16

As already mentioned, in Croatian compulsory school media education is based on

media culture programme defined by NCF, as a part of the Croatian language course.17

"Croatian language course is the most extensive and most connected with other

compulsory school courses. It consists of four teaching areas: Croatian language,

literature, language expression and media culture" (Miliša, Saravanja, 2011: 181).

According to the curriculum following tasks of teaching media culture are listed:

"Training for communicating with the media: theatre, film, radio, newspapers, comics,

computer; reception of theatre, film, radio and television programs; training for

evaluation of radio and television shows, and films" (Curriculum for Compulsory

Schools, Nastavni plan i program za osnovnu školu 2006: 25). Although the document

is from 2006, it is obvious that there is disproportionately small part, or thematic units,

devoted to Internet, especially new challenges such as cyberbullying.

16 Even in an experimental program of civic education for primary schools, authors did not consider media education or media literacy as part of civic education. (http://www.azoo.hr/images/Kurikulum_gradanskog_odgoja_i_obrazovanja.pdf (accessed 12.8.2013). In the Health Education Curriculum word "media" is mentioned six times. http://www.azoo.hr/images/zdravstveni/Kurikulum_ZO.pdf (accessed 12.08.2013). 17 NCF has 296 pages and it mentions media 25 times.


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After examining the above documents, we can say that children and young people in

Croatia through the educational system had the possibility of partial media education

(primary film, television, radio) and some media production (school newspaper, school

radio, film production, etc.), and only a small amount of the critical evaluation of

content. According to the existing school programs, pupils are not sufficiently taught to

analyze and critically evaluate media content, programming and services.

Driven by a number of reporting on violations, primarily of parents and activists

reporting, the Ombudsman for Children Ms Mila Jelavić (www.dijete.hr) has repeatedly

advocated launching a public debate about media culture and the establishment of a

special centre for media and children, and particularly emphasized the importance of

effective protection of children from potentially harmful content published or

broadcasted in electronic media.18 "The emergence of projects in the field of media

culture, through the action of civil society organizations, confirms that there is a wider

circle of interested and motivated to strengthen the rights of children in the media, but

we still miss a systematic approach to this issue." (Annual report on the work of the

Ombudsman for Children, 2011: 158)19.

However, thanks to many programs initiated by NGOs throughout Croatia great effort

can be recognized in raising awareness on media education in Croatia (primarily

activities for safer Internet). Pupils in Croatian compulsory primary and secondary

schools are producing many media outlets and programs thanks to their teachers’

enthusiasm, although without hardly any structural and systematic institutional support.

In last two years new educational programs have been established on postgraduate level

with primary task to strengthen capacity of the teachers in Croatian schools. According

to present curricula they are expected to teach on media culture but without sufficient

education.

18 More at www.dijete.hr in Ombudsman’s for Children reports. 19 Association for Communication and Media Culture and Media Division of Matica hrvatska at the scientific symposium "Media and Children" held on 14 and 15 June 2012, brought the Declaration on media culture (Deklaracija o medijskoj kulturi), which was signed by more than twenty university teachers and researchers, and representatives of civil society organizations, together with the Ombudsperson for Children Ms Mila Jelavić. The Declaration also encouraged the establishment of the “Centre for research in media and children relations” (Centar za istraživanje odnosa medija i djece), development of university curricula for training of media educators. http://www.djecamedija.org/?p=62 (accessed 25 August 2013).


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There is a weak cooperation between private (industries) and public sectors. We see an

urgent need to raise awareness in this respect. It is still not clear who is expected to

report to the State or European Union.

3.1 3.1 Dimension Capacity-building: teacher training

Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA, 2013) is a public institution

responsible for the provision of professional and advisory support in the area of general

education in Croatia. There has been an institute for teacher support since 1874, and its

role has changed through time. Its legal successor, the Institute of Education of the

Republic of Croatia was founded in 2002 (OG 153/02) and was re-named and

restructured as Education and Teacher Training Agency by the Act on Education and

Teacher Training Agency (OG 85/06), enacted by the Croatian Parliament in 2006.

ETTA’s scope of work is:

• providing professional and advisory assistance in education

• monitoring, improvement and development of education, from pre-school to high-

school level, adult education, the education of Croatian citizens abroad and the

education of foreign nationals in Croatia.

• participation in the preparation, development and implementation of the national

curriculum

• providing assistance and guidelines to educational institutions, their principals, pre-

school, primary and secondary-school teachers, and school-counsellors in relation to

education

• organising and implementing in-service training of pre-school, primary and

secondary-school teachers, school-counsellors and school principals

• license examinations for pre-school, primary and secondary-school teachers, and

school-counsellors, in accordance with special regulations


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• reviewing and giving opinion on programmes in pre-school education, primary and

general secondary education, general education programmes in vocational schools and

adult education, unless regulated differently by special regulations

• reviewing and giving opinion on general education programmes in the procedure of

the certification of educational institutions

• monitoring the development and implementation of Croatian National Educational

Standard as a part of the national curriculum

• lesson observation and teacher evaluation

• participating in the organisation and implementation of student competitions and

annual reviews

• participating in the development and professional support to the implementation of

national programmes

• information and documentation service and publishing

• participating in the systems of compulsory reporting on the implementation of

ratified international conventions and recommendations related to education

• other activities in education, in accordance with the law and regulations adopted by

the minister responsible for education.

The professional staff of ETTA is 110 subject-specific Senior Advisers working in the

Central Office in Zagreb, and three regional offices in Split, Rijeka and Osijek.

Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA) is public institution which has 87

advisors responsible for improvement and development of education programmes of

more than 60.000 educators in compulsory and secondary education in Croatia. They

are also responsible for adult education and education of children of Croatian citizens

living abroad and children of foreign citizens in Croatia.

There are no public reports on the amount of resources that has been invested in all

media education programmes on national and regional level. In last five years no more

than approximately several thousand EUR per year (according to the correspondence we

had with ETTA representative), have been invested in all media education programmes


16

on national and regional level organized and prepared by ETTA. They have a close

cooperation with Ombudsman for Children, Ministry of science, education and sport,

Council for Electronic Media, and different Parliamentary Committees. The annual plan

of the ETTA is organized through regions, throughout Croatia. Looking at one of their

Manuals for Professional Development (for Zagreb region) we can see that media

literacy program is covered just in a small part of their activities

(http://www.azoo.hr/images/izdanja/Prirucnik-MSU-web.pdf).

Thanks to activities and efforts of their regional higher advisors, especially for Croatian

language, ETTA organized many conferences on media education and media literacy.

From 2007-2012 there have been 17 regional professional conferences, five national

professional symposiums, according to data collected by ETTA higher advisor for

Croatian language Srećko Listeš. We can say that in last five years ETTA has increased

their efforts in raising awareness and capacity building for such a huge number of

educators on national level, but they are facing insufficient Government support for

capacity building in media education programmes. One has to acknowledge that even

with weak capacities and such small financial support they are trying to organize many

professional programmes in order to empower teachers through Croatia. Through their

activities they covered almost all aspects of media education, although obviously,

without any media education strategy.

In the field of extracurricular activities (part of the official program) through which

many newspapers, magazines and radio programmes are produced in elementary and

secondary schools, in last two years 2012-2013 they organized 23 professional

education programmes covering wide range of media literacy. ETTA is strongly

supporting the national competition Lidrano (Croatian School Festival of Literature,

Drama and Journalism Creativity).

ETTA is also responsible for providing support in implementation, monitoring and

evaluation of the new subject Health education. In 4th grade of elementary school

pupils are supposed to learn about Media and means of addiction, The role and pressure

of media in puberty, The role of media and peers towards means of addiction, The role

of media in peers relations. In total, out of 92 hours only 7 hours, on any kind of media

related content are planned in elementary compulsory school, and 0 hours for the role of

media in secondary school.


17

ETTA is participating in the development, monitoring and evaluation of the new

experimental programme Citizen Education. Learning on media is planned from 5-8th

grade of elementary school but with no detailed plans or activities, and with media

literacy on margins.

What is the current situation in Croatia?

According to the NFC Croatian language teachers are expected to teach media culture

within Croatian language courses. But they lack knowledge and training. We would like

to identify several weak spots. In the curriculum of undergraduate single-major and

double-major study of Croatian Language and Literature of the Faculty of Humanities

and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, there is not a single course within the

scope of media culture. The media as a teaching course is mentioned only at the second

year of the education-major of graduate double-major and single-major study of

Croatian Language and Literature.20

Integrated undergraduate and graduate study programme for teachers, at the University

of Zadar, which lasts for five years, only at the very end of the programme (in 9th

semester) offers a course on Media culture. It includes one hour of lecture and one hour

of exercise per week. There are also courses that just to a lesser extent relate to media

education, such as Sculpture, design and new media.

ICT courses (Informatika) based upon ICT literacy are present in the majority of

university studies, but they include only the first level of media education21. Single

major undergraduate university degree Croatian language and literature has no course

on media culture in the curriculum. In the second year there is the possibility to choose

an elective subject from the study Theory and practice of media, that it is possible to

choose between the three mentioned courses22.

20 http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/kroat/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1335%3Aopa-struktura-diplomskoga-studija-kroatistike&catid=75%3Aopa-struktura-studija&Itemid=107 (accessed 12 August 2013). 21 http://www.unizd.hr/ucitelji-odgojitelji/Studijskiprogrami/Preddiplomskiidiplomskistudijzau%C4%8Ditelje/tabid/3292/Default.aspx (accessed 12 August 2013). 22 http://www.unizd.hr/kroatistika-slavistika/Studijskiprogrami/HJK/Preddiplomski/tabid/535/Default.aspx (accessed 12 August 2013).


18

Undergraduate Program Pedagogy of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rijeka,

through six semesters has no course that covers the area of media culture23. At the same

university single major undergraduate study programme Croatian language and

literature also does not give any option for mandatory or elective course in media

culture24.

Faculty of Philosophy (University of Split), in the curriculum of integrated

undergraduate and graduate study program for Master of primary education, gives a

possibility for students to choose between two courses: Media in Education (fourth

semester) and Media Culture (tenth semester)25. In the curriculum of undergraduate

double major study Croatian language and literature there is a course in the field of

media culture26. Graduate double major study at the same university has a course

Speech and mass media, that only to a small proportion covers the media culture in

relation to NFC27.

By contrast, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, offers integrated

undergraduate and graduate university study. In the third year of study there is

mandatory course in media culture. Croatian language Module in the fourth year has

additional courses: Traditional Media and Croatian language study and Multimedia and

Croatian language study28.

This gives us the arguments to say that in Croatia for the most part the main prerequisite

criteria (education of teachers) for the realization of NFC have not been met. Although

media culture is defined as one of four teaching areas in the Croatian language class the

teacher education programmes and university curriculum are not harmonized with NFC.

For that reason pupils can't be provided by appropriate and efficient media culture

programmes.

Further, initial training for ICT teachers does not include any media education.

Continues and In-service training for teachers relay mostly on their personal interests,

23 http://www.ffri.uniri.hr/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PED-1P-Preddiplomski-studij-2010.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 24 http://www.ffri.uniri.hr/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/HJK-1P-Preddiplomski-studij-2010.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 25 http://www.ffst.hr/odsjeci/uciteljski/izvedbeni.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 26 http://www.ffst.hr/odsjeci/hrvatski/izvedbeni_pd.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 27 http://www.ffst.hr/odsjeci/hrvatski/izvedbeni_d.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 28 http://issuu.com/uciteljski.fakultet.zagreb/docs/vodic_kroz_studij_uciteljskog_fakulteta-2012-2013 (accessed 12.08. 2013).


19

so some teachers have additional education in area of media literacy. Opportunities for

such training grew when Croatia joined LLP program in 2009

(http://www.mobilnost.hr/). In-service LLP trainings are available for all school level.

Therefore, media education is part of training only for teachers of Croatian language.

ICT or Science teachers do not have such courses, nor optional nor compulsory.

Curriculum development is not part of teacher’s education in Croatia at all.

3.2 Dimension Capacity-building: Teaching/training

Materials and other relevant content

In our research we see this as the least developed part of our media education system.

As previously pointed out teachers (among them many without sufficient knowledge) in

our compulsory and secondary schools are expected to give lectures on media literacy

but with almost not even one appropriate media literacy textbook. Even those existing

ones are focusing mainly on film literacy, and just in small part covering wide range of

internet challenges.

Such resources are not available by law or policies, only by a number of NGOs. Such

teaching materials mostly combine eSafety with digital literacy. We can say there are

only few such teaching resources, and the quality varies.

Some teaching resources were produced by experts, teachers and students as part of

National campaigns “Safer internet for children and Youth” (http://ucitelji.hr) in 2010-

2013. Raising awareness about eSafety was successfully combined with media literacy

especially in students’ works for Multimedia exhibitions in 2011, 2012, 1013:

http://ucitelji.hr/Sigurnijiinternet/Sigurnijiinternet2011/Izložba2011.aspx



Miliša and Šaravanja (2011) analyzed the content related to the media culture and media

in textbooks from second to eighth grade of primary school that are used in the


20

Herzegovina - Neretva Canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in textbooks Wings of

words (Krila riječi) which were used in Croatia from the fifth to the eighth grade. They

argue that in the analyzed textbooks the media culture generally is never devoted more

than 10% of the total content of the text, and they conclude: "( ... ) in the textbooks are

present media contents that help develop media literacy among children. Different

media are analyzed: film, radio, comics, television, print media and computer. However,

we note the lack of content related to cell phones, the Internet and computer games,

keeping in mind their popularity among children. Just a few examples encourage pupils

to think critically." (Miliša and Šaravanja, 2011: 193) It is important their note that there

is a need to introduce media culture as a single course in schools, since the existing

short media culture program within Croatian language course is not sufficient.

Universities in Croatia have a leading role in raising the awareness on media literacy

importance, especially through education of teachers and journalists. University of

Zagreb (Faculty of Political Science – Journalism Department, and Croatian Studies) in

last five years established new courses on Media Pedagogy, Media and Children, Media

Culture for graduate students. They organized several public round tables and

conferences on media literacy and media education. But in the same time they failed in

producing supporting textbooks and/or manuals for the activities and competencies

planned by NCF.

Resources which are used in media literacy programmes are created in form of leaflets,

brochures, classes, interactive games, social games, posters, presentations, cartoons.

They are covering topics about use of social networks, e-mail, personal data protection,

copyright, online rights and responsibilities.

In last 15 years librarians were “the founding fathers” of ICT literacy and were educated

through many programmes organized by the Education and Teacher Training Agency

and also through yearly conferences of the Croatian Association of School Librarians

(www.husk.hr). They managed to provide a variety of workshops inside compulsory

schools but lack strong and efficient support from the institutions.

Media Centres do not exist in most of schools, although many primary schools have

their school media like newspapers, radio programmes and sometimes TV shows. NGO

Telecentar from Zagreb participates in EU funded programme Media literacy for 21st

century together with Graphic School in Zagreb and Rijeka. This is indeed the example


21

of best practice. For more than 10 years they are introducing new media programmes in

their school curriculum. Program was prepared for 24 secondary school professors and

for 14 professors from their partner school in the town of Rijeka (more about Telecentar

on page 25).

One of the good examples where children together with their teachers prepare new

textbooks, mostly on voluntary basis is present in school in town of Popovača. In

February 2012 pupils in fifth, sixth and seventh grade, together with their teachers

produced the manual “For those who think that know everything on online safety”. In

next year they plan also some similar editions that pupils, parents and teachers find very

useful.

We see here huge possibilities for close cooperation between publishers, schools and

universities. With their joint cooperation they could overcome the existing gap in this

field of quality textbooks and manuals.

3.3 Dimension Capacity-building: funding

Media education policies are funded primarily through the Ministry of Science,

Education and Sports, through the Education and Teacher Training Agency which is the

main state institution for the education of teachers in Croatia.

Data on the proportion of such funding in relation to the total education system

revenues is not available. There are no yearly financial reports. None of these

institutions ever published an report on investments in media literacy programmes.

There are also several good examples where regions and municipalities finance a large

number of programs and activities on local level. They engage experts from academia,

run specialized programs and support new initiatives. Good examples are City of Velika

Gorica and City of Zagreb.


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4 4. Dimension Role of actors (outside school system)

Media education policies do not take into account partnerships outside the school

system.

According to the Electronic Media Act, Electronic Media Council is responsible for

media literacy programmes and they have a special budget for these activities but in last

five years this was not their priority activity. Ombudsman for Children is in charge of

monitoring the media concerning the protection of children’s rights.

Private sector rarely takes initiatives. Telecentar, previously mentioned is one of the rare

examples. Industry in general is not present in media literacy programs.

Usually, civil society organizations take initiative on awareness rising, they organize

trainings (Djecamedija.org, GONG, Mreža mladih). Within them, the level of youth

participation is large. Students are often engaged in such activities.

Journalists and news professional organizations are not engaged.

Croatian Association of School Librarians (CASL) has been actively promoting media

literacy through their activities on local level in primary and secondary schools. They

also organized round tables on media for the members of the Association. There is a

huge interest for round tables such as the one that was organized on 3rd of October in

Sisak: The role of mass media in children and youth education. We see a great

perspective of CASL due to the fact that each public school in Croatia is obliged to have

library and two librarians, providing solid infrastructure for many future programs on

media education.

There are some specific events, like LiDraNo (National Festival of Literature, Drama

and Journalism of primary and secondary schools), Šibenik Children Festival, or

programs like Novigrad Spring, Communication School (Komunikološka škola), Dr.

Ante Peterlić Media Culture Days (Dani medijske kulture dr. Ante Petrlić), where

primary and secondary school pupils, and students are thought how to create media

content – how to perform as journalists, how to edit school magazines, school radio

programming, to produce short TV packages, short documentaries, even films.


23

In the last ten years, civil society organizations in Croatia have launched several

projects of media education.

Communication School organized by Matica hrvatska (www.matica.hr) each year

brings together 12 outstanding students of journalism and communication science from

Study of Journalism and Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. Experts, academics,

artists and journalists from 2005 participate voluntary in this interdisciplinary program

discussing the following topics: media and violence, media and children, cyberbullying,

etc. This program is recognized and supported by the University of Zagreb and rector of

the University was also one of the prominent guests of the programme on several

occasions. 72 participants are gathering through alumni since 2005. Two years ago they

made a huge research content analysis research study on the coverage of children in

seven Croatian dailies (3453 articles) and the report was published as a book: “Djeca

medija - od marginalizacije do senzacije” (Children of Media – From Marginalization to

Sensation). We consider this as a good example how students can be empowered to

make their own media analysis and achieve sustainability through publishing. This book

is now listed in the syllabus of several university courses.

Another good example is Association for Communication and Media Culture (DKMK),

founded in 2011. From then, as voluntarism they organized and implemented 250

workshops for pupils in elementary and secondary school, but for their teachers, and

parents as well on cyberbullying, sensationalism, representation of children in media

and many others. More than 3000 attendees participated in their programmes

throughout Croatia since 2011. DKMK (www.dkmk.hr) has just produced new brochure

on Internet safety for the project implemented in town of Velika Gorica. With the

support from local authorities they organized and implemented 36 workshops in just

one month, for 1100 pupils in 6 different schools in Velika Gorica town and region. 60

students of journalism and communication science under supervision of two university

professors every day produce content for their web page www.djecamedija.org. They

are using the advantages of social networks effectively. Special group of students is

preparing a radio program called Djeca medija on Radio Marija, once a month.

Together with EAVI (European Association for Viewers Interests) they made Croatian

version of the video clip – A Journey to Media Literacy.


24

Although media education policies do not take into account partnerships outside the

system, there is one good example of partnership. The public already widely recognizes

the National Centre for the Safety of Children on the Internet (Nacionalni centar za

sigurnost djece na internetu) which was founded in 2012 by the Croatian Academic and

Research Network - CarNet , Polytechnic of Zagreb (Tehničko veleučilište), Ministry of

the Interior Affairs, Ministry of Public Administration, Centre for Children Protection in

Zagreb (Poliklinika za zaštitu djece grada Zagreba), the Agency for the Protection of

Personal Data (Agencija za zaštitu osobnih podataka), and the civil society organization

Partners in Learning (Suradnici u učenju). 29

Another example of empowering children and teachers is the web page www.mediji.hr,

primarily focusing on the role of movies in media culture. They are also organizing

lectures and giving many useful suggestions through their web site on a regular basis.

One of their primarily target groups are students from Faculty of Teacher Education,

University of Zagreb.

One of the pioneers in promoting Safer Internet was the Center for Missing and

Exploited Children (Centar za nestalu i zlostavljanu djecu) from Osijek. Through their

web www.cnzd.org they are providing 24/7 help for exploited children focusing

primarily on Internet safety programs. Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a

nonprofit organization established in 2006 in Osijek, modelled after similar

organizations in the world. The motive for the establishment of this kind of

organization, the founders of the Center have found in a real lack of state protection of

children from sexual exploitation and abuse through the Internet and the spread of child

pornography and paedophilia, and other forms of abuse associated with use of the

Internet. In November 2013 they introduced new helpline for exploited children. One of

their main goals is to inform children on risks and threats coming from Internet, but

they are also offering special software for safer Internet, not just for children but for

their parents as well.

Further, important contribution to media education development in Croatia gave the

following associations: CINAZ, Pragma, Society for communication and media culture

(Društvo za komunikacijsku i medijsku kulturu), Telecentar, Brave phone (Hrabri

29 www.sigurnijiinternet.hr (accessed 10 November 2013).


25

telefon), and already mentioned programs with long-lasted tradition the Dr. Ante Petrlić

School of Media Culture, and Matica hrvatska Communication School.

The parent associations and media/information professionals are mostly not

collaborating in media education programs.

About Telecentar

http://medijska-pismenost.telecentar.com/

Telecentar from Zagreb is a non-governmental organization founded in 2005. In the last

eight years Telecentar has implemented several media literacy projects, including

education and training complemented by the media production of promotional and

documentary films and videos.

In 2009-2010 Telecentar has carried out 2 projects Perimetar and Multimedia School,

which included workshops and a production of video materials covering topics such as

the civil society, lifelong learning, arts and culture. In 2010-2011 Telecentar

participated in the creation of vocational standards, qualification standards and

curriculum for a formal education of media technicians.

In the period 2012-2013 Telecentar participated in the Media Literacy for the 21st

Century project, with 2 Graphics Schools. Telecentar carried-out a study of Media

Literacy in Croatia and coordinated publishing of the first VET textbooks for

photography, audio and video. During the project, Telecentar has initiated networking

of the media literacy stakeholders in Croatia with international partners from Telecentre

Europe and Media and Learning Association.

From 2012-2014 Telecentar is participating in the Telecentre Multimedia Academy

project, implemented by the consortium of 8 partners within the Grundtvig lifelong

learning programme for adults. The project will include development and piloting of the

learning pathways for media literacy training of adults.

From 2013-2015 Telecentar is participating in the iProfessional project, implemented by

the consortium of 9 partners within the Erasmus lifelong learning programme for higher

education. iProfessional aims to build, test and distribute a research based model

framework that will assist the education sector to match the curriculum in Media and

Arts Studies with the professional requirements expressed by the community of media

and arts businesses.


26

5 5. Dimension Evaluation mechanisms (inside and

outside school)

Media education policies are not used in Croatia to test media accountability. There are

no legal mechanisms to ensure and measure the efficiency of media education policies

due to the fact that there are no policies.

There are no evaluation of the performance of media education resources, programmes

and actors.

There are no quantifiable data on how many people are targeted (among youth, poor,

excluded…) or on how many programmes and of what types are made available to

them. There are only reports that stress how needed media education is in Croatia.

For example, according to UNICEF report, in Croatia in 2010, 34% of children aged 10-

15 years have experienced once or twice a month some form of bullying through online

media.30 Clinic for the Child Protection Zagreb (Poliklinika za zaštitu djece grada

Zagreba) and civil society organization Brave Phone (Hrabri telefon) conduct a survey

in 2008 among students aged 11-18. Out of 2003 respondents, these 814 (41%) said that

they got intimate questions about themselves, their bodies, or questions of a sexual

nature during meetings and communications over the Internet. 31 In 2013, there have

been several disturbing examples of cyber bullying through social networks in towns

Lobor, Vinkovci, Osijek and Županja. For the first time in Croatia young people used

social networks to create hate groups like "Vinkovci whores". In this group, an

unidentified administrator released pictures of teenage girls and, without any evidence,

presents them as promiscuous. Further problem is that more than 2.500 Facebook users

“liked” this Facebook page.

Many recent affairs including cyberbullying are calling for a revision of the existing

system in order to prepare the educational institutions, teachers and pupils for new

challenges.

30 N= 5.215 children aged 10-15. Source: Mišljenja i stavovi djece i mladih u Hrvatskoj, UNICEF, 2010, http://www.unicef.hr/upload/file/351/175805/FILENAME/StavovidjeceimladihuHrvatskoj.pdf (accessed 6 August 2013). 31 N=2700 pupils (11-18). Source: http://www.poliklinika-djeca.hr/istrazivanja/istrazivanje-o-koristenju-interneta-mobitela-i-drugih-tehnologija/ (accessed 6 August 2013).


27

Encouraged by these data IPSOS Puls and Associatian for Communication and Media

Culture (DKMK) conducted in June 2013 national telephone survey on a representative

sample (N=1080) in which respondents were asked the following question: Do you

think that media education has to be included in our educational system in order to learn

media literacy and reflect upon media content? YES answered 62% of respondents. The

remaining answers are: NO, because the educational system already has too much

content – 11.8%, NO because it is not very important - 11.7% Do not know or no

answer - 14.5%32. Never before in Croatia was conducted similar research, not even

when six years ago when Croatian National Educational Standard (CNES) was

accepted. This is the first time we asked the public on their attitudes towards media

education.

There are no yearly reports of any kind on media education programs.

6 6. Dimension Main concepts and legitimizing values

Based upon what has been written we can say that regarding NGO activities main

educational paradigm is prevention with critical thinking as a key competence.

However, since there is no official institutional strategy defining paradigms and role of

actors it’s hard to identify concepts.

NGO’s are mainly focusing on prevention as a key paradigm. Participation is practiced

and implemented mostly inside the schools with activities my librarians and teachers.

As stated in previous chapters on-line safety is one of the biggest concerns and all these

programs are also coming from prevention paradigm.

7 7. Dimension General appreciation (and

recommendations)

32 N=1080, 10+, June 2013.


28

Without any strategy and with NGO's as the cornerstone of media education in Croatia,

children and youth are facing many media challenges, primarily cyberbullying, but also

sexting and grooming through social networks. With 96% of children consuming

internet on everyday practice this has become a huge challenge in Croatia. We

recognize solid preconditions for media education policy but also an urgent need to

raise awareness on the highest level in our society – among our Government officials.

There is no strategy on media education programmes inside and outside the school. We

see many NGO efforts but the efficiency and relevance has not been evaluated. There is

a need for the National Media Education Association through which the activities could

be coordinated and monitored. It’s necessary to initiate a close cooperation between

national media and journalists organizations and national school system.

Although with weak media education basis and without any media education strategy

we can identify the following strengths in Croatia:

- Raised awareness /public, children, parents, CSOs/

- Pioneer activities of Ombudsman for Children in media education programs and

initiatives.

- Solid structure of Education and Teacher Training Agency.

- Activities of NGOs.

- We need a Media Literacy Strategy.

- Solid cooperation with official institutions.

- Revision of educational programs in relation to media education at the university

level.

- There is an urgent need for new training materials.

- Necessity to build new bridges with partners from EU.

- Empowering stakeholders!

Looking at the existing threats we are emphasizing the following ones:

- Children are to a great amount exposed to media without sufficient knowledge.

- There is no media education policy at all.

- Poor and not consistent teacher education


29

- University programs are not in line with NCF.

- Poor textbooks and training materials.

- Croatian educational system does not have any legal definition of media education.

- No coordination between ministries.

- No official inter-ministerial body or committee.

- No law that designates a clear authority to oversee media education.

- No responsibility of public institutions in relation to media education programs.

In last several months our responsible ministries showed interest and recognized the

listed challenges. We see this as an opportunity to change the present paradigm on

media education in Croatia, where all responsible institutions didn’t see this as one of

priority activities, for the sake of the children, teachers and their parents, but also for the

Croatian society in general.

8 8. Dimension Good practices

1/ Children's safety on the Internet - creation of the school curriculum

Project Children's safety on the Internet is 16-month European Union-funded project

developed by OŠ Veliki Bukovec, together with partners OŠ Popovača, OŠ "Mladost",

OŠ "Gripe" and OŠ "Mato Lovrak", Croatia, financed from grant scheme Further

development and implementation of the Croatian Qualifications Framework

(Europeaid/131254/ M/ACT/HR). The project is taking place in the period 19th August

2013 - 19th December 2014.

Project is addressing these objectives: (1) To develop and implement school curricula

area for children's safety on the Internet; (2) Raise students, teachers, parents and

general public awareness and understanding of issues relating to the children’s safety

online in synergy with the EU policies; (3) Development of learning outcomes-based

school curricula area for children's safety on the Internet; (4) Development and

implementation of accompanying pedagogical model for student-centred learning; (5)

Improve primary school teachers’ educational skills and expertise for student-centred


30

approach; (6) Improve students’ digital competences and develop critical attitude

toward a responsible use of ICT.

Project pedagogical team carried out a research about existing school curriculum and

good practice examples in different schools from Croatia, European Union and

International. Results from that research are merged with Croatian tradition, modern ICT

implementation, student centred approach and parents involvement in order to create

holistic curriculum prepared for immediate implementation in Croatian primary schools.

School curriculum will consist of 4 courses addressing one of 4 age groups in primary

schools (students aged 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 years). Every course will be

supplemented with appropriate pedagogical model and resources for parents aiming at

continual awareness rising. One set of teaching/learning materials would include

textbooks for students, multimedia resources, teachers' guides and guides for parents.

Learning objects within teaching/learning materials will be created in form of text,

hypertext, pictures, animated stories, videos, audios, computer games, social games,

colouring pages, photos, interactive quizzes, learning quests. Special attention will be

paid to the flexibility of learning objects so students with disabilities can use them more

easily.

Every course will be described in terms of learning outcomes, as well as the knowledge,

skills and competences. That description will include theoretical knowledge, practical

and technical skills and social competences needed for responsible, safe and appropriate

use of the Internet. Evaluation methods, associating self-assessment, feedback

mechanisms and procedures for improvement will be planned in each course.

School curriculum area for children's safety on the Internet will cover at least those

topics; personal data protection, e-mail phishing and scams, netiquette, online

communication and collaboration, risks on social networks, responsible use of mobile

devices, sharing and authoring rights, identity theft, digital footprints, e-portfolios and

online presence, evaluation of information on the Internet, how to protect computer and

family.

Project is promoting gender equality and equal opportunities through carefully chosen

characters and their roles in all forms of learning materials. Project will give equal

opportunities for all students to reach standard learning outcomes in area of safe, legal

and ethical behaviour on the Internet and to prevent digitally isolated and unskilled


31

children. All materials will be published in digital form online and made freely available

on project web page www.petzanet.hr.

Project is directly addressing: 220 students, 220 parents, 200 teachers, medium term

reach is 2700 students and parents and 2500 teachers. The long-term project objective is

to reach every single primary school in Croatia through different national seminars and

online publication of freely available teaching/learning materials, teacher guides,

students’ textbooks, leaflets for parents and templates for acceptable use policy for ICT

in schools. General public will be positively influenced through raising awareness about

internet safety issues with news articles published during the project.

2/ National campaign “Safer internet for Children and Youth”

NGO Suradnici u učenju is a teacher association dedicated to creating a positive and

supportive environment in which education professionals can share their experience, get

quality and current information, be innovative and creative and continue their

professional development.

NGO Suradnici u učenju promote a proper and purposeful use of educational

technology in all areas of education, lifelong learning of teachers and teaching and

learning about responsible, appropriate and safe use of internet.

Suradnici u učenju is Safer Internet committee, representing Croatia in Insafe and for

three years they organize the national campaign “Safer internet for Children and Youth”

to promote safer and more responsible use of the internet. In that campaign active part

take teachers, students and parents from all over the Croatia. Campaign was funded

from donations from Microsoft Hrvatska and Hrvatski telekom with about 10.000 € for

3 years.

Every year a wide range of activities will be conducted all over the country. Students,

teachers, teaching assistants and parents, together with everybody else who recognizes

the importance of child internet safety, are invited to actively participate in the event.

Activities for students include the creation of different multimedia files which will not

only highlight possible Internet dangers but also give advice on how to avoid them.


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Teachers and teaching assistants participate in the event by organizing seminars,

workshops and other types of activities that will engage their students. Teachers share

best practices, exchange ideas and give advice and information on online safety issues.

Parents and adults in general are called to attend online webinars and seminars which

are organized in libraries and schools all over Croatia. They learn about the advantages

and disadvantages of the Internet, different means of online communication, personal

data protection, cyber violence, cyber fraud, social networking dangers and traps and

the ways of protecting their children and their families against Internet dangers. The

seminars and the webinars promote effective, responsible and safe use of the Internet.

Special emphases are placed on the exchange of practical ideas, first-hand experiences

and useful advice to provide guidance for parents and children in the world of new

technologies.

From 2010 - 2013 lots of learning resources on how to teach children to use the internet

in a safe, responsible and effective manner are published and available online for free

on web page http://ucitelji.hr

Exhibition of student's multimedia works

2011 2012 2013

184 works 546 1016

400 students 1032 1835

9-16 yr. old 8-18 6-18

27 teachers 57 134

3/ Another good example is Association for Communication and Media Culture

(DKMK, www.dkmk.hr) (see page 23).


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9 9. Dimension References and resources

Car, Viktorija and Andrijašević, Ivana (2012) Mapping Digital Media – Croatia (country report). London: OSF. www.mappingdigitalmedia.org ; http://www.soros.org/sites/default/files/mapping-digital-media-croatia-20120906.pdf Erjavec, K., Zgrabljić, N. (2000) Odgoj za medije u školama u svijetu: hrvatski model medijskog odgoja. Medijska istraživanja, 6 (1) 89-107. ETTA (2013) Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency http://www.azoo.hr/index.php?option=com_content&id=1999&Itemid=343 Gfk.hr (2011) www.gfk.hr, http://www.gfk.hr/imperia/md/content/gfkaustria2/pdf/nlo25_final.pdf , page 4 Ilišin, V. (2003) Mediji u slobodnom vremenu djece i komunikacija o medijskim sadržajima. Medijska istraživanja, 9 (2) 9-34. Ilišin, V. (2012) Roditelji kao medijski odgajatelji: komunikacija djece i roditelja o medijskim sadržajima, in Zgrabljić Rotar, N. (ed.), Medijska pismenost i civilno društvo, pp. 131-152, Sarajevo: Media Centar. Ilišin, V., Radin, F. (ur.) (2002) Mladi uoči trećeg milenija. Zagreb: IDIZ/DZOMM. Jelić, A. (2012). Mogućnost implementacije odgoja za medije u hrvatski obrazovni sustav: istraživanje stavova učitelja razredne nastave i odgajatelja. Fakultet političkih znanosti, Studij novinarstva, neobjavljeni diplomski rad. Labaš, D. (2011). Djeca u svijetu interneta: zatočenici virtualnog svijeta – pedagoški modeli i otvorena pitanja, u: Ciboci, L. Kanižaj, I. Labaš, D. (ur.), Djeca medija – od marginalizacije do senzacije, 35-64. Zagreb: Matica hrvatska. Livingstone, S., Helsper, E. (2010). Balancing Online Opportunities and Risks in Teenagers' Use of the Internet: The Role of Online Skills and Internet Self-Efficacy, New Media & Society, 12 (2): 309 - 329. Mandarić, V. (2012). Novi mediji i rizično ponašanje djece i mladih, Bogoslovska smotra, Vol.82 No.1., str. 131 – 149. Mikić, K. (2002). Uloga medija u životu djeteta do desete godine starosti, Zbornik Učiteljske akademije u Zagrebu, 4 (1) 151 – 162. Miliša, Z., Tolić, M. (2008). Određenje medijske pedagogije s komunikacijskog aspekta. Medianali, 2008 (IV): 113-131. Miliša Z., Tolić M., Vertovšek, N. (2009). Mediji i mladi – prevencija ovisnosti o medijskoj manipulaciji, Zagreb: Sveučilišna knjižara, ICEJ.


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Miliša, Z., Šaravanja, M. (2011). Analiza medijskih sadržaja u čitankama za osnovne škole. Medianali, Vol.5, No.9, 179-196. Mzos.hr (2013) Ministry of Science, Education and Sports oft he Republic of Croatia, http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?sec=2497 Špiranec, Sonja and Banek Zorica, Mihaela (2008) Informacijska pismenost: teorijski okvir i polazišta. Zagreb: Zavod za informacijske studije Odsjeka za informacijske znanosti Filozofskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Špiranec, Sonja and Banek Zorica, Mihaela (2010) Information Literacy 2.0: hype of discourse refinement, Journal of Documentation Vol. 66 No. 1, 2010, pp.140-153. Tolić, M. (2009). Temeljni pojmovi suvremene medijske pedagogije, Život i škola, br. 22, god. 55., str. 97 – 103. UNICEF (2010). Mišljenja i stavovi djece i mladih u Hrvatskoj, www.unicef.hr, pristupljeno 12.8.2013. Vujević M. (2001). Politička i medijska kultura u Hrvatskoj. Zagreb: Školska knjiga.

Documents

Direktiva 2007/65/EC Europskog parlamenta i Vijeća Europske unije http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/audiovisual_and_media/l24101a_en.htm Direktiva 2010/13/EU Europskog parlamenta i Vijeća Europske unije http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:332:0027:0045:EN:PDF Nacionalni program za mlade 2009-2013 http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/upload/Youth/Croatia/Croatia_nacionalni%20program%20za%20mlade.pdf Nacionalni program djelovanja za mlade, http://umki.hr/docs/npdm_hr.pdf Nacionalni plan aktivnosti za prava i interese djece od 2006-2012 Nacionalni okvirni kurikulum za predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje te opće, obvezno i srednjoškolsko obrazovanje, http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?sec=2685 Nastavni plan i program za osnovnu školu, http://public.mzos.hr http://www.dijete.hr/hr/dokumenti-mainmenu-83/nacionalni-planovi-i-strategije-mainmenu-75/za-djecu-i-mlade-mainmenu-79/doc_details/76-nacionalni-plan-aktivnosti-za-prava-i-interese-djece-2006-2012.html Smjernice za strategiju odgoja, obrazovanja, znanosti i tehnologije, http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?art=11662


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Strateški plan Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta za razdoblje od 2013-2015, http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?art=10679&sec=1933 Strateški plan Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta za 2012-2014, http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?art=10679&sec=1933 Strategija Vladinih programa za 2012-2014, http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?art=10679&sec=1933 Vizija, misija i ciljevi Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta, http://public.mzos.hr