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It has been developed to help students and teachers deal with media work in classrooms and to prove an opportunity for communication. In this English version, we provide you some information on Media Education in the Hungarian National Curriculum. We would be glad to read your opinion and questions.
Please contact us on the following e-mail account:fazek@mail.matav.hu
National Curriculum
In 1996, after 10 years of preparation, the 'Moving Image Programme' was accepted to aid in the implementation of the new subject, titled 'Culture of the Moving Image and Media Education', into the new National Curriculum. The new subject will be starting with the Curriculum from 1998/99. It will affect students in Years 7-12 (students of 12-18). The aim of creative media pedagogy is to improve visual language reading and writing skills as a vehicle for understanding the media and the world of images surrounding us. Media education has already had a long history within the aesthetic and semiotic tradition and has now combined with aspects of sociology and civic education.
The first initial teacher-training course was launched within the Aesthetics Department of a major Hungarian university (ELTE, Budapest) in 1994/95. It could serve as a model for the future media pedagogy training. The 35 students of this first course finished their studies in 1997/98. The training in the 8-term course takes 12-14 hours a week. It contains 8 terms of film history and analysis, 6 terms of practice for film structure and theory, 4 terms of mass-culture theory, practice of film criticism, theory of television genres, teaching methodology and practice. There are more initiatives in progress all over the country (in six institutions of higher education).
The implementation of the new subject needs experts with special professional and managing qualities. So 30 people were chosen to take a course of 600 hours in order to become moderators in the different counties. They generally have a great partnership with the members of the County Education Institute. Their tasks are to establish the Regional Media Education Centers (support network) and organize their work, manage the implementation process in their region, provide in-service training courses for teachers, and to offer a consulting service.
Since 1997, there have been in-service courses (30-120 hours) in six cities. About 20-40 people take part in each of them.
Their aims are as follows:
By 2002, the year of the first general exam (10. Year-16 years) of media education, we aim to have about 200 graduated teachers and 500 with basic practice in teaching media education.
Although the national Curriculum requires a minimal element of the 'Culture of the Moving Image and Media Education' from every student before taking the general exam, the school decides what kind of programme to chose between the three different levels: minimal, general or extra.
| minimal | general | extra | |
| 7-8. Years | 15-20 (lessons a year) | 25-30 | 45-50 |
| 9-10. Years | 20-25 | 35-45 | 65-75 |
| 11-12. Years | 35-45 | 65-75 |
Media education is a required subject either on its own or as integrated part of other curriculum areas such as Hungarian, History and Civic Education, Visual Culture and Information Technology.
The National Institute for General Education collects syllabuses for all types of media work. It has also ordered some samples, which are beyond the expectation of the attainment target and based on experiences. This database is available in every Regional Media Education Center and through the 'SULINET-IRISZ' (a closed-community Internet chain developed specially for schools) as well.
Teaching materials:
Textbooks, manual for teachers, readers, audiovisual teaching aids
Textbooks with different aspects of media work (aesthetic, semiotic, sociological or mixed) have already been released. One of them is designed for children ages 6 to 11 which have not yet been exposed to the statutory media curriculum.
There is a teaching pack with a textbook, a manual and a reader. This covers the entire requirements of the curriculum (Years 7-12-students of 12-18). It emphasises the study of the special moving image language and the working of the mediated communication. The textbook ('Culture of the Moving Image and Media Education for students of 12-18') is built up according to school stages (from 7 to 12 Year).
The contents in brief:
Year 7 (12-13 years old)| The age of technological images CULTURE OF THE MOVING IMAGE |
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The (photo)copy of reality Information and meaning The art experience Summing activities |
| MEDIA | |
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Summing activities |
Year 8 (13-14 years old) CULTURE OF THE MOVING IMAGE |
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Experience and memory The basic film language (plans, lighting, music etc.) Schemes for moving pictures Author's intentions, audience's expectationsRepresenting the realityGenresMedium of format |
| MEDIA |
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Television programme timing Summing activities |
Year 9 (14-15 years old)| CULTURE OF THE MOVING IMAGE |
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The metonymy Moving image narratology The narrative, the story and the plot Literature and film: Different arts - different languages |
| MEDIA |
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Types of TV broadcasting (public service and commercial TV; live and recorded) TV genres Soap opera The TV shows The Star Summing activities |
Year 10 (15-16 years old)| CULTURE OF THE MOVING IMAGE |
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The actor/actress on the moving picture What does the actor/actress say and how? The creation of the spectacle (the technical image) The relation between the camera and its object: the composition of the picture The mould for the expression by the moving image: The technology Film and reality |
| MEDIA |
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The advertisement The clip Summing activities |
Year 11 (16-17 years old)| The montage The double face of the culture of the moving image (high culture - mass culture) Popular film - "Author" film (art film) The genres of the popular film Some signposts for the analysis (the narrative structure and the style) |
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| MEDIA |
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The news (facts and opinions, impartiality, the nature of the news etc.) The news programmes |
Year 12 (17-18 years old)| CULTURE OF THE MOVING IMAGE |
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Some signposts for the analysis Some important styles of the film history: |
| MEDIA |
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The age of the TV screen New media and phenomena |
The content of the reader ('The age of Images') is fit well to the viewpoints of the textbook. It is a selection of 60 classical and contemporary texts on film and media by international and Hungarian authors. The manual is a methodological aid for teachers and also contains a wide ranging bibliography and a list of films suggested for film and media work.
The audiovisual aid of this pack provides teachers with samples for practical work using camera. It shows the work of 10 students together with a teacher and gives differing analyses of video pieces made by them.
The first piece of multimedia CD-ROM for media education is also under development. It contains the oeuvre of a major Hungarian film director, Miklos Jancso, with a colorful historical and cultural background.
A collection of films forms the basis of the education. It is important to make them available for the schools. The Hungarian Film Archive gives great attention to the renovation and the collection of the works but it can not supply all the schools in the country. The only solution is to store a collection of films on videotape in every Regional Media Education Center. With the cooperation of an art video-distributor (Odeon Art Video) a remarkable part of the film list has already been available.
As it has already been mentioned above this network serves to help in the implementation and ongoing work in schools. In the May of 1998, there were 23 Centers, at least one in each counties and 3 in the capital. The network has already set up libraries with an increasing number of special books and videotapes.
As part of their controlling work they conducted a research to investigate the preconditions of the media education in the schools. The result contains the answers of almost the all secondary schools (443) and some of the primary schools (398). 20% of the secondary schools have already had some kind of tradition in media education. Most of the cases included film aesthetic education within the literary curriculum and film clubs in the schools. The research found 347 teachers dealing with media education in some way.
About the equipment:
In an average secondary school there are:
Plans about the role of media education in the local schools' curriculum:
| Secondary schools | Primary schools | |
| On its own | 8% | 4% |
| Integrated in Hungarian cur. (literature and language) | 21% | 12% |
| Integrated in Visual Culture cur. | 16 % | 25% |
There were plans for the integration in Civic Education and Information Technology (as mentioned above), but a big part of schools remained undecided at the time of the research.
The level of the education (planned data):
| Secondary schools | Primary schools | |
| Minimal | 22% | 35% |
| General and Extra | 18% | 20% |
| Has not decided yet | 62% | 45% |
Attainment Targets
The 'Culture of the Moving Image and Media Education' appears in the General Examination Order as one of the optional subjects. The development of the attainment targets is in progress.
Hírek - Tollhegy - Iskolák - Pedagógusképzés - Szaktanácsadók - Tanítás - Taneszköz - Ajánlott filmek - Fórum - Irattár - Szakirodalom - Internet ajánlat - Felsőoktatás |