Mediakasvatustietoisuuden jäsentäminen varhaiskasvatuksessa

Authors

• Saara Salomaa Kansallinen audiovisuaalinen instituutti, Finland

Keywords:

Media Education, mediakasvatus, Early Childhood Education and Care, varhaiskasvatus, Educational Consciousness, kasvatustietoisuus, Media Literacy, medialukutaito

Abstract

Various media are a part of children’s, everyday lives in Finland. However, media education that promotes media literacy has not been systematically included in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The need to enhance ECEC professionals’ media educational competences has been aknowledged both nationally and internationally. This acrticle discusses media literacy orientated media education from the viewpoint of ECEC goals and pedagogy. The role of educational consciousness has been considered important in steering educators’ educational actions. Hence, this article scrutinises media education drawing from aspects of educational consciousness constructed by Finnish educationist Hirsjärvi. The article presents a model for media educational consciousness in institutional ECEC that has been constructed from research in the fields of media education and ECEC and is complimentary for Hirsjärvi’s general model of educational consciousness. The baseline for the construction is that early years media education needs to respect the ECEC’s nature as a combination of education, pedagogy and care and follow the principles of ECEC pedagogies. The presented model for media educational consciousness in ECEC should preferably be further examined in empirical studies. It could be utilized for example in scrutinising how ECEC professionals express their educational consciousness regarding media education or how professional texts, such as training materials or guiding curricular documents promote media educational consciousness.