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Media Education in Quebec  This section comprises a curricular overview (below), as well as information about professional development for media education, and information about media education associations in Quebec (in the sidebar). Also included in the sidebar is a list of competency charts for elementary lessons (Cycles One, Two and Three) available from MNet’s Lesson Library. These charts include an overview of each lesson, and related competencies from the English Language Arts curriculum. Last updated, July 2002. Curricular Overview Since 2000, Education Québec has undertaken its broadest reform in the last 30 years. At the heart of this reform has been the elimination of grades, which have been replaced by cycles. Under Quebec’s new education program, Cycle One includes kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2, Cycle Two includes Grades 3 and 4, Cycle Three includes Grades 5 and 6, Cycle Four will consist of Secondary I, II, III and Cycle Five will include Secondary IV and V. Cycle One was implemented in 2000-2001, Cycle Two was implemented in 2001-2002 and Cycle Three will be implemented over the 2002-2003 school year. The secondary program, Cycles Four and Five, will be implemented by 2006. Quebec's education reform stresses the following approaches: cross-curricular competencies and learning, interdisciplinary teaching strategies, collaborative student centred instructional strategies, project-based learning and lifelong learning. Lifelong learning focuses on issues young people face everyday and is covered by World View, Health and Well Being, Social Relationships, Personal and Career Planning, Environmental Awareness, Consumer Rights and Responsibilities, Media Literacy and Citizenship and Community Life. Media-related elements can be found in each of these broad areas of learning, especially Media Literacy, which aims to "develop students’ critical and ethical judgment with respect to media and to give them opportunities to produce media documents that respect individual and collective rights." The media are omnipresent in children’s daily lives. The press, books, audio and video cassettes, radio and television programs, multimedia games, the Internet, music, and so on, all play an important role in the cultural lives of students and give them access to a world of knowledge and impressions that need to be channeled. They also influence the development of students’ personalities and their choice of values. To help students become autonomous, responsible citizens, schools must teach them to maintain a critical distance with regard to the media, to perceive the influence of the media on them, and to distinguish clearly between virtual and real situations. In elementary school, students are still fascinated by media productions, but they are beginning to be capable of reflection about them. They learn to measure the amount of time they spend consuming various media and to compare it with the amount of time they devote to their other activities. They can distinguish between different media, discuss the content of messages conveyed and compare the goals of different media. They explore the elements of media language, and become aware of the effects it has on them. They can distinguish between virtual situations, such as those presented in video games, and real situations. They learn to judge the place and role of the media in their lives and in society and become aware of their influence on their own values. In this way, they learn to maintain contact with reality and develop their critical, ethical and esthetic judgment. Focuses of development for media literacy at the elementary level are [a student's]: - awareness of the place and influence of the media in his/her daily life and society
- understanding of the way the media portray reality
- use of media-related materials and communication codes
- knowledge of and respect for individual and collective rights and responsibilities regarding the media
Québec Education Program
Preschool and Elementary Education, 2001 As a result of the above, the interest in media literacy in Quebec is increasing among many educators, especially within the English Language Arts sector, where "representing literacy in different media" is one of four key sector competencies. Key features of this competency include the student's ability to: - apply appropriate strategies for constructing meaning
- follow a process to respond to media texts
- construct her/his own view of the world through the media
- follow a production process in order to communicate for specific purposes to a specified audience
- self-evaluate her/his development as a viewer and producer of media texts
Media literacy is also part of the competency for reading and listening, where "reading" is understood to include "listening to" and "viewing" texts. Because curricular documents for Cycles Four and Five have not yet been finalized or implemented, competency charts will be offered for Cycles One, Two and Three only. As the new secondary curriculum is developed, appropriate competency charts for secondary lessons will be added. | PROVINCIAL OVERVIEWS AND MEDIA EDUCATION OUTCOMES |
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