Study title

This study forms a part of the research programme Effectiveness of Teacher Education (1995-1999), funded by the Academy of Finland and led by professor Hannele Niemi. The survey studied media education in Finnish lower secondary schools and primary schools, concentrating on media teaching content and practices and teachers' attitudes towards the use of media as a source of educational material. Respondents were asked which classes and how many pupils they taught at the time of the survey, how many full-time teachers there were in the school and whether they themselves had had media education training during the past two years. Teachers assessed the extent to which media education had been taken into account in their school and rated the importance of thematic entities mentioned in the national comprehensive school curriculum (1994). Respondents were also asked to rate the importance of various aspects of media education (e.g. technology, concepts and theory, ethics, visual, audio and textual presentation in media, ways in which media constructs reality). Teachers' knowledge and interest in the subject were charted by several statements. Regarding the use of media in teaching, respondents were asked in which media forms they felt they needed more training and which media forms are suitable for teaching purposes. Teaching practices, material used and the methods used to assess pupil performance were examined. The pedagogy of media education was charted by asking which teaching methods respondents thought appropriate for the subject. Some questions focused on problems encountered in media education and development needs. Background variables included respondents' age, sex, region of residence, degree and teaching experience.