MEDIA EDUCATION: GLOBAL PROSPECTS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN UKRAINE (ON THE EXPAMPLE OF THE IREX “LEARN AND DISTINGUISH” PROJECT)

The paper highlights the strategic guidelines for the media education development outlined by international organizations (UNESCO, EU). The authors analyse the implementation of media education in Ukraine. The authors analyse the implementation of the media education in the Ukrainian education starting from the adoption of the Concept on the Implementation of Media Education in Ukraine (2010). The implementation of media education into the secondary education is confirmed by example of the State Standard of Primary Education (2018) and Typical Educational Programmes for 1st-2nd and 3rd-4th grades developed under guidance of O Savchenko (2019). The authors analyse the findings of the project “Learn and Distinguish” (L2D), implemented by the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) in partnership with the Academy of Ukrainian Press and StopFake aimed at integrating media and information literacy skills into curricula. It was piloted in 50 schools in Ukraine, reaching approximately 5,425 students in 8th and 9th grades. The authors made conclusions that value of the L2D lies in transferring the participants’ media knowledge. No less important is the project’s input into capacity development. The authors underline the added value of the project. It promotes further harmonization of the Ukrainian education with the trends/standards of the world community providing the development of the efficient media education system in Ukraine. And secondly, it serves for the dissemination of innovative knowledge and practices at the horizontal level (between teachers, schools, students).

Introduction. Under information age the amount of knowledge is rapidly growing. According to B. Fuller until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century and by the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years (Chamberlain, 2020). Today it happens almost every few years. Such situation requires a new set of skills to master by individuals. The top skills and skill groups which employers see as rising in prominence in the lead up to 2025 include such as critical thinking and analysis as well as problem-solving, and skills in self-management such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility (The Future of Jobs Report 2020). The ability to identify misinformation and build emotional resilience to it as well as the ability to reflect on one's own information consumption are important components of critical thinking. In view of this, media education is becoming more and more topical. Today it is viewed as a process of personal growth through and on the material of mass media (media) with the purpose of forming a culture of communication with media, creative, communicative abilities, critical thinking, skills of full perception, interpretation, analysis and evaluation of media texts, self-expression through media. As a result of this process, media literacy is formed providing an individual with understanding and using mass media in either an assertive or non-assertive way, including an informed and critical understanding of media, the techniques they employ and their effects (UNESCO, 2013).
Studies of L. Naidonova & M. Slusarevskiy (Naidonova & Slusarevskiy, 2016); G. Onkovych (Onkovych, 2014), O. Voloseniuk, V. Ivanov & V. Rizun (Voloseniuk, Ivanov & Rizun, 2012) show that media (satellite TV, video, cinema, computer channels, the Internet, etc.) has the increasingly impact on the public consciousness in Ukraine. In these circumstances, the Ukrainian authorities begins implementing the media education into the formal education. At the same time, Ukraine has already experience in implementing media education projects by non-governmental/international organizations. This article is devoted to the analysis of the findings of such a project.
According to a study of the European Audiovisual Observatory a third of media literacy projects have been implemented by NGOs over the past five years in 28 EU countries (Mapping media literacy, 2016) In Ukraine, such organizations are the Academy of Ukrainian Press, Media Detector (primarily via the MediaSapiens website, which is a part of the Media Detector portal, as well as specialized online resources such as MediaDriver and "News Literacy"), IREX (Media Literacy for Citizens Program in 2015-2016, "Study and Distinguish" project), Deutsche Welle Academy (trainings for adults), StopFake (in fact-checking projects). Media literacy initiatives are implemented by USAID PACT / ENGAGE, volunteer and educational project "Yellow Bus" and others.
Methodology. The logic of the article presupposes the analysis of the state of the media education in Ukraine within the world context. The strategic documents of UNESCO and EU were analysed to characterise the benchmarks of the media education development at the global and European levels. The authors analysed the state of media education in Ukraine by studying the normative (the State Standard of Primary Education and the Typical Educational Programs for Primary Education developed under the guidance of Academician O. Savchenko) and conceptual (the Concept of the Implementation of Media Education in Ukraine) documents. The findings of the IREX "Learn and Distinguish" Project were used to demonstrate the importance of a complex approach, including the use of project technologies.
Results and Discussion.

Media Education: Global Prospects
The media education and media literacy are becoming increasingly important with each decade. This necessitates the development of media education strategies, which has become the prerogative of international organizations. UNESCO considers media education as a priority of the education in 21 st century. UNESCO has adopted a number of strategic documents in the area of media education. These are the Prague Declaration UNESCO positions media education very wide defining it as learning theories and practical skills for the mastering of modern mass communication, considered as a specific part of the autonomous area of knowledge in educational theory and practice; it should be distinguished from the use of media as an aid in teaching other education sectors, such as, for example, mathematics, physics or geography" (UNESCO, 2016).
UNESCO's media education strategy focuses on the development of media and information literacy at all education levels, i.e. from primary to higher education, teacher training. UNESCO carries out its activities relating: -awareness raising on the importance and role of media and information literacy for education; -promoting the development of media and information literacy policies and professional strategies at the international, regional and national levels; -raising the level of qualification of educators and other specialists of education system, university employees/faculty, of librarians, as well as the development of appropriate educational materials and tools; -promoting inter-institutional, interdepartmental, and interdisciplinary cooperation of all stakeholders (UNESCO, 2016).
The Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) is a joint initiative of UNESCO and other key stakeholders, including the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), UNICEF, other UN agencies, the European Commission, etc. The main goals of GAPMIL are: -development of partnership of all countries in the media and information literacy area at the global level; -discussion of critical issues relating media and information literacy, primarily at the policy level; -improvement of media and information literacy strategy, which is seen as a concept that provides a common platform for networking around the world, strengthening global influence and more.
The EU is a key organisation in developing media education strategy for Europe. Among the basic documents of the EU on media education are: the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on film heritage and the competitiveness of related industrial activities (2005) The EU views media literacy as a phenomenon, concerns different media (broadcasting, radio), different distribution channels (traditional, Internet, social media) and meets the needs of all age groups. Media literacy is positioned as a tool for empowering citizens, as well as raising their awareness and helping to counter the consequences of disinformation campaigns and fake news spread through digital media. The EU urges Member States to promote the development of media literacy skills among the population (Audiovisual Media Services Directive, 2018).

Development of Media Education in Ukraine
In the Concept for the Implementation of Media Education in Ukraine (2016) media education is interpreted as "a part of the educational process aimed at the formation of media culture in society, preparing the individual for safe and effective interaction with the modern mass media system, including both traditional (print media, radio, cinema, television) and the new (computer-mediated communication, Internet, mobile telephony) media, taking into account the development of information and communication technologies" (Naidonova & Slusarevskiy, 2016).
G. Onkovych proposes to understand media education as "an active process of personal development and self-development with a support for the media" (Onkovych, 2014).
O. Konovets points out that media education is a process that is an important component of civil society and aims to form an active, intelligent, independent, criticalthinking consumer of media capable of public communication (Konovets, 2007).
L. Naidonova proposes to understand media education as a process of education and development of person on the material of ZMK in order to form a culture of communication with the media, creative communicative abilities, critical thinking, and ability to interpret, analyse and evaluate media texts (Naidonova, 2016) O. Voloshenyuk and V. Rizun state that knowledge and understanding of the basic laws of media functioning, ways of distortion of reality, study of the principles of work and mechanisms of influence of media are essential factors for successful and effective media education. The purpose of media education is increasing the level of media literacy of peoples and developing their skills to analyse and evaluate surrounding media content (Voloseniuk, Ivanov & Rizun, 2012).
T. Krainikova states that the Implementation of media education projects and programs should be aimed at "transcoding" relevant ideas and symbols to stabilize the national value system, expand the competencies of the citizen in the conditions of formation of information society and knowledge economy (Krainnikova, 2015).
V. Ivanov and T. Ivanova believe that media education should provide knowledge on how to: 1) to analyse, critically reflect, and create media texts; 2) to identify the sources of media texts, their political, social, commercial, cultural interests and context; 3) to interpret media texts; 4) to select the appropriate media to create and disseminate their own media texts and to attract the interested audience; 5) to allow free access to media for consumption and production of own media products (Voloseniuk, Ivanov & Rizun, 2012).
Introduction of media literacy into the Ukrainian education started after the adoption of the Concept on the Implementation of Media Education in Ukraine in 2010. The Concept was developed by the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. In a year the first stage (2011-2016) of the experiment was launched by the order of the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine "On the conduct of the All-Ukrainian experiment on the introduction of media education in the educational process of general educational institutions of Ukraine" (On the introduction of the course, 2013). 82 schools in Kiev and eight regions, including Crimea became participants of the experiment since September 2011. During this period, the optional experimental "media culture" course was introduced in the 10 th grades of the pilot schools. The experiment covered more than 40 thousand students in 250 secondary schools (Dorosh, 2013).
In 2016 the Concept was updated in the aspect of revision of the main tasks and principles of introducing media literacy in schools. In particular, the content was enriched with information about media retraumatization of victims of military conflict at the East of Ukraine, etc. (The concept, 2016).
In 2017, the next stage of the experiment on media education has been started, which will last until 2022. At this stage, the existing cross-cutting model of teaching media literacy will be piloted. Also, the level of media competence of teachers and university students of the pedagogical and psychological profile will be increased.
Inclusion of the media literacy into the new State Standard of Primary Education (2018) is a new stage of the media education implementation. The media education at the level of primary school teaches students to think critically, to search and verify information, analyse media messages and create such media products on their own. The Standard is a competence based; it does not transfer media knowledge but is aimed at media literacy formation of primary school students.
Based on the State Standard the new Typical Educational Programs for Primary Schools (grades 1 -4), have been developed with the guidance of the Prof. O. Savchenko, Academician of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine. The Programs include the content line "Explore Media" aimed at supporting students to master three basic skills: to find various types of information, to use it correctly, and create primary media products .
In 10 th grade, the course "Civic Education" is taught comprising "The World of Information and Media" module.
Thus, media education is gradually being implemented into the secondary education in Ukraine both at the level of normative documents and in the school practice.
NGO/international agencies projects working in the media education area contribute to the development of media education in Ukraine. The "Learn and Distinguish" is implemented by the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) in partnership with the Academy of Ukrainian Press and StopFake. The project is supported by the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, and funded by the US and British embassies. Besides Ukraine, the project is also being implemented in other countries, including Jordan, Serbia, Tunisia and the USA.
IREX "Learn and Distinguish" Project helps people of all ages develop healthy habits for engaging with information, online and offline. Unlike traditional media literacy approaches, "Learn and Distinguish" Project responds to the current needs of media consumers. It was designed for a polarized, hyperconnected, and impatient world. "Learn and Distinguish" has been used around the world in public health initiatives, classrooms, libraries, community centres, fellowship programs, peer-to-peer networks, and other contexts. Impact studies have shown that the approach is effective with a diverse range of participants -from adult populations to kids in classrooms.
The goal of the project in Ukraine is to master media literacy skills by the Ukrainian students: the ability to analyse and ask questions; ability to distinguish facts from judgments; ability to analyse the context, prerequisites and causes of events; the ability to use modern content and tools to verify and study information; the ability to interpret the undisclosed parts of the story; the ability to draw parallels with the present; ability to work with sources of information verification; ability to express an opinion and prove it with facts; the ability to search and verify various sources; ability to distinguish preconception, distortion, misinformation and deception; the ability to work with texts (determining the target audience, the purpose of the message, searching for marker words, identifying points of view, etc.). The project helps to develop effective and sustainable models for integrating critical information perception skills into the educational process of public secondary education. The Project: -is piloted in 50 schools in Ukraine, reaching approximately 5,425 students of the 8 th and 9 th grades; -integrated media and information literacy skills into the curricula; -is aimed at training educators on teaching media and information literacy within the curricula. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, a project partner, on its part organized the selection of educational institutions. Motivation was a criterion for selection.
The project was launched within a pilot training program. It included the first five target subjects for integrating media skills into them through development of methodological materials for teachers of the selected grades -Ukrainian language (8 th grade), Ukrainian literature (8 th grade), Ukrainian history (8 th grade), World history (8 th grade) and Arts (9 th grade). It is presumed, these subjects involve interaction with historical sources and their interpretations, work with texts of all kinds and styles, and the visual context in modern ways of consuming information.
The following tools are used in the process of learning: methods of critical analysis; information verification tools; use of media discourse as a subject of analysis for various disciplines. These tools were used to create a positive image of the institution in the process of communicating with the media and using media resources in the educational process (Table 1). Analysis of messages, narratives (media messages), language manipulations, work with facts/influence of text ideas11 point, bold Visual context has predominant role in modern consumption, including manipulation through emotions, "eyewitnesses," video testimonies, music, etc.
The participants were provided with information about what media is and how it influences the personality, what are the tasks of media education, what kind of media education from worldwide and Ukrainian experience can be used, how educators can use the capabilities of media for professional activities, etc.
L2D-S training materials help to develop such knowledge and skills (Table 2). Media Literacy knowledge of how media works: owners, journalistic standards, editorial policy, (gatekeeping, agenda setting); -understanding the issue of the target audience; -knowledge of what is "censorship" and "selfcensorship"; -understanding of jeans and advertising (social, commercial, PR); -knowledge of media types (TV, radio, print, online); -understanding of journalistic styles and genres; -ability to distinguish between propaganda and its types; -ability to distinguish between fakes; -knowledge of manipulation tools (experts, captions, photos, videos, text, statistics); -ability to distinguish between bots and trolls 2 Information Literacy -skills for effective information retrieval; -ability to search and work with sources and sources; -awareness of copyright and plagiarism 3 Critical Thinking ability to evaluate and interpret events; -ability to draw parallels with the present time; -ability to analyse the background and causes of events; -ability to analyse context (who what, when, how, why, where); -ability to systematize information, hypothesize and evaluate alternatives; -ability to justify their own position and make informed decisions; -ability to ask questions 4 Media Security knowledge of social security rules; -knowledge of the basics of Internet security; -basic cybersecurity skills; -knowledge of ethics and communication on the Internet Exercises for development of skills are integrated into academic subjects. It was emphasized to the children that they would be taught the skills of media literacy or critical thinking, so they should be focused on that. These were ordinary lessons, but with new elements, approaches and techniques. It is interesting that answering the question in the survey "What school lesson do you like most?" pupils of schools mainly name those subjects where media literacy skills are integrated (Malynka, 2019). According to StopFake`s spokeswoman Victoria Romaniuk, "the use of modern media context and content allows us to look at traditional topics differently. For example, when teaching history, a teacher can use examples of historical fakes and disprove them together with students" (Malynka, 2018).
In history lessons, it is explained to the children how various kinds of narratives and historical events can manipulated. During those updated classes, students are encouraged to use thematic films, online sources, historical documents, articles and the like.
The main focus at the Ukrainian language and literature lessons is work with texts: the ability to distinguish style is trained, theses and narratives in media texts are analysed, and linguistic manipulation is determined. But art lessons are focused more on visual content: how can authors manipulate emotions by their choice of the aspect of events coverage and usage of music.
Programs for checking photos, browsing social networks etc. are also used in art classes. Much attention is paid to development of visual literacy, to ensure understanding of frame and image concepts and the role of editing.
The process of video content forming is explained to students, as well the influences and threats of such content, and also that a video is created by the author from various fragments, like pieces of text. For example, in the lessons on the topic of "Television", students are told about advertising, public funding, the role of television channel investors. The concept of the target audience, importance of taking it into consideration in advertising and creating a content strategy is explained also.
There were no additional requirements for teachers to participate in the projectjust a desire to learn and master new skills.
In order to enable teaching subjects in a new format, teachers were trained on basic skills. On average, individual media analysis skills of teachers grew by 95%. Before the training, only 9% of participants regularly checked the news. But after the preparatory session, 92% of teachers said they would check information from the media more often (Malynka, 2018).
Teachers used L2D materials in regular instruction. IREX conducted a baseline survey before L2D was integrated into schools. IREX conducted an end line survey to measure results of the pilot (IREX, 2018).
Summarizing the achievements the following key ones can be defined: Students who received L2D lessons performed better on all assessment tasks: identifying facts and opinions, false stories, hate speech, and demonstrated deeper knowledge of the news media sector (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The figure points how L2D students performed better on media literacy assessments
L2D students reported healthier media consumption habits and behaviour and viewed critical information consumption skills (CIC) as more useful in their lives. Students who received L2D enhanced curricula were 13% more likely to say they believe critical information consumption skills are useful in life, compared to control group students. Students who received L2D lessons were more likely to name L2D-enhanced subjects as their most memorable and interesting classes. Girls had bigger differences than boys between baseline and endline in the ability to separate fact from opinion, news media knowledge, and analysis skills (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: The figure points how L2D Students Had Higher Rates of Healthy Information Behaviours
Also the media analysis of skill assessment was measured. The students must have ability to identify: points of view, omitted information, intended audience, the purpose of the story, facts vs. opinions, how media messages are constructed. For example, respondents analysed a piece of disinformation about spinners written by the Academy of Ukrainian Press for this purpose. Students who received L2D-enhanced curricula outperformed control group students by 11%.
Pupils who were trained on new materials obtain better understanding of the benefits and practicality of media literacy skills in everyday life. Students -participants of the project gained better knowledge on how to look over information; they reached a high level of self-esteem in consumption of information and media, and their self-esteem of media literacy skills had increased also. The last survey question was about lessons and subjects that students remembered and liked the most. Subjects with updated educational materials were liked by the participants of the project 2-3 times more in comparison with students from control schools.
The project participants have better knowledge of checking information, higher selfesteem in information and media consumption, and increased self-esteem in information and media literacy skills. The answers to the question "What lessons and subjects have you memorized and liked?" were very interesting.
Compared to the students of the control schools, the project participants were 2-3 times more pleased with the subjects to which the educational materials were developed ( Figure 3).

Figure 3. The figure points which lessons and subjects the students memorized and liked
So, compared to the control group, L2D participants were: twice as likely to detect hate speech, 18% better performance at differentiating between facts and opinion, 14% more knowledgeable about the of the news media industry.
Educational materials are able to form and develop the skills of media and information literacy, critical thinking.
Conclusions. Recognizing the importance of media literacy in today's world, the global community is working to develop media literacy of population. International organizations offer comprehensive strategies for media and information education at the global, regional, national and local levels.
Ukraine is at the beginning of the path for the development of media education. There is integration of media education into basic educational documents (state standards, typical educational programs, etc.) and into practice. Media education projects are seen as important tools to pilot innovative ideas and test efficient technologies. The Study and Distinguish project (L2D) can be considered as one of such tools. The value of the project lies in transferring media knowledge to the participants (what media is and how it influences the personality, what are the tasks of media education, what kind of media education from worldwide and Ukrainian experience can be used, how educators can use the capabilities of media for professional activities, etc.).
We consider no less important is the project's input into capacity development. The project participants have gained skills of checking information, higher self-esteem in information and media consumption, and increased self-esteem in information and media literacy skills. Also, they twice as likely to detect hate speech, 18% better performance at differentiating between facts and opinion, 14% more knowledgeable about the of the news media industry, etc.
Generalization made it possible to speak about the added value of the project. Firstly, it promotes further harmonization of the Ukrainian education with the trends/standards of the world community providing the development of the efficient media education system. And secondly, it serves the dissemination of innovative knowledge and practices at the horizontal level (between teachers, schools, students).