This report presents the results of a global survey of media education, focusing primarily on schools. It summarises the responses made by participants from 35 countries, together with extrapolations from an extensive review of print and web-based materials relating to media education.
The response to this survey suggests that media education has tended to move away from an approach based on ‘inoculation’ towards one based on ‘empowerment’. The notion that media education should aim to defend or protect young people against media influence seems to have lost ground in the majority of countries. In its place, we can see the emergence of a more contemporary definition of media education, based on notions of ‘critical awareness’ and ‘democratic participation’.