The Status of Implementing Media Education in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

In Western countries, media education has been implemented into the curriculum for over a dozen decades. In Slovakia, there is no tradition of formal media literacy instruction. However, its implementation has been discussed since the beginning of the 21st century. Recently, several initiatives have been carried out with the aim of implementing the most beneficial media literacy practices in the educational process, including academic discussions; the creation of educational guidelines as a supplement to curriculum and learning materials; the organization of both training courses for elementary teachers and media education courses. Nevertheless, Slovakia still appears to be in its initial stage of the implementation of media education as a subject of study. The main problem is the absence of the independent institution which could be able to coordinate current activities for the purpose of increasing awareness of media literacy. Currently, the extent of media education is insufficient in its role as a cross-curricular subject randomly incorporated into the teaching process of the primary education.