ANR TRANSLIT and COST “Transforming Audiences/Transforming Societies”

Media and Information Literacy Policies in (2013)

Experts:

Igor Kanižaj, Faculty of Political Science, Journalism Department, U. of

Viktorija Car, Faculty of Political Science, Journalism Department, U. of Zagreb

Lidija Kralj, OŠ Veliki Bukovec

May 2014

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1. 1. Dimension (Short) Historical background

The Republic of Croatia is a South-East European and Mediterranean country, at the crossroads of the Pannonian plain, the Balkan Peninsula, and the . The area of Croatia is 56,594 km². It has a population of 4.29 million, according to the census carried out in April 2011.

After the Second World War, until 1990, Croatia was one of six republics within the Socialist Federal Republic of . During the socialism regime, media culture was important part of especially elementary school’s curricula. It was a part of Serbo- courses, and it was focused on theatre, film and television. The most valuable was a wide range of extra-curricula activities for pupils, that included drama classes, puppet classes, school choir, art group, writing and poet group, and excellent journalistic groups where students of the age 10-14 had a possibility to work as a real journalist for the school magazine, and for a wide range of national children magazines, radio program on state radio, even some television children programming. Once a year, the most motivated and active pupils from this classes and groups, gathered together at the Republic’s Meeting for children’s’ drama, writing and journalism, or at Novigrad Spring journalism school, etc.

The first multi-party were held in 1990, as relations among the Yugoslav republics worsened. In 1991, the Croatian War of Independence (“Homeland War”) started, and with portions of the country under effective control of Croatia’s Serb minority, armed and supported by the Yugoslav People’s Army, the government declared independence. The War ended in 1995 and during that period it was almost impossible to define or open any agenda on media policies. At the time, changes in educational system were focused mostly on textbooks and Croatian language, while because of the financial reasons, activities like drama, puppets, journalistic or poet and writing groups, lost motivated teachers as they were not paid for leading them. There was no official policy on media education.

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) governed the country until its leader, President Tuđman, died in office at the end of 1999. At the parliamentary elections in January

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2000, a centre-left coalition of six parties took power and launched a series of reforms of the existing state structures. Croatian politics changed from isolationist to pro- European as the pro-reform coalition put Croatia on track to join the European Union (EU). The country underwent many liberal reforms.

In the November 2003 general elections, a less nationalist HDZ regained power. A series of political, legal and social reforms led to the opening of Croatia’s EU accession negotiations in October 2005. In the 2007 elections, HDZ won in coalition with three smaller parties and representatives of national minorities. In April 2009, Croatia joined NATO. Negotiations on accession to the EU were formally concluded in June 2011. HDZ lost power in December 2011. Social Democrats regained power this time in the so-called Kukuriku coalition (consisting of four parties: Social Democratic Party, Croatian People’s Party, Istrian Democratic Assembly and Croatian Party of Pensioners). A referendum in January 2012 produced a vote in favour of acceding to the EU. Croatia became the 28th member of the EU on 1 July 2013.

Education system in Croatia

In 2012, 47,959 pupils graduated from primary school (23,399 female pupils), 43,248 pupils graduated from (21,906 female), 11,557 graduated from colleges (6,504 female), while 25,407 got (15,487 female). 1,338 got PhD (730 female)1.

It is interesting to compare data for last five years (2008-2012): the number of professional theatres attendance raised from 1.067,000 to 1.211,00, of cinemas attendance from 3.283,00 to 4.064,000, public service TV subscribers from 1.498,000 to 1.676,0002.

According to the report Mapping Digital Media – Croatia (Car & Andrijašević, 2012) Croatian households are well equipped to access content provided by digital media. The most popular source of information in Croatia is television, which is present in 98.8% of households. On the other hand, the PC is present in 55% of households. According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (Državni zavod za statistiku, DZS), in the first quarter

1 Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Croatia in Figures 2013, Zagreb, http://www.dzs.hr/ 2 Ibid. pp.30

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of 20123 68% of households were equipped with personal computer, while 66% have the internet access. 98% of youth in the age of 16-24 use computers and internet. 85% of individuals used the internet for reading magazines and newspapers (a 19% increase, compared to the same period in 2008), 46% used internet radio or TV, and 56% used social networks. The most widely used media platform in Croatia is the mobile phone with a penetration of 116% in 2012 (it was 143.45% in 2010)4. Broadband development began with a considerable delay: in 2003 there were only 4,400 broadband internet connections and a penetration of 0.01%. At the end of 2004, the government introduced a new legislative framework and began drafting the first national strategy for broadband access, especially in underdeveloped and isolated areas. In 2010, the number of broadband connections reached 1,132,212 (26% penetration)5 and in 2012 it was 28.40%6.

The number of internet users has increased significantly; from 1.47 million in 2005 it rose to 2.67 million in 2010, with particularly significant growth in broadband penetration.

According to the Trust in Media research project, conducted in 2009 by the Faculty of Political Science of the and the independent research centre Media Metar, Croatians trusted the Catholic Church more than any other institution (3.44), followed by scientists, educational institutions, the army, certain trusted intellectuals, and the leader of their preferred political party. Domestic media (2.78) and journalists (2.73) came after all these. The information platform most trusted by citizens is the internet (45%), followed by radio (39%) and television (35%).7

3 Croatian Bureau of Statistics, The First Release No. 2.3.2., 3 December 2012; Usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Households and by Individuals, 2012, first results, http://www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/publication/2012/02-03-02_01_2012.htm (accessed 19 November 2013). 4 http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2013/e_trziste/GOD%20ENG%202012_mobile% 20penetration.pdf (accessed 19 November 2013). 5 Croatian Post and Electronic Communication Agency, at http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2011/e- trziste/GOD%20Broj%20korisnika%20Interneta%202010.pdf; http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2011/e- trziste/GOD%20Broj%20priklju%C4%8Daka%20%C5%A1irokopojasnog%20pristupa%20internetu%20 2010.pdf (accessed 23 May 2011). 6 http://www.hakom.hr/UserDocsImages/2013/e_trziste/GOD%20ENG%202012%20Broadband% 20penetration.pdf (accessed 19 November 2013). 7 Research is conducted on a nationally representative, proportionally stratified and probabilistic sample, of 1,000 adults (examinees) in Croatia. A Likert scale and five-level Likert item was used (1 = do not agree at all, 5 = fully agree). See results in V. Car, “Television in new media environment” Media Studies 1 (1-2), pp. 91-104.

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According to research published in 2012 by GfK (www.gfk.hr) when looking at institutions, Croatian citizens had the biggest trust in scientists as a profession (4,9 on Likert scale from 1-7), in school system (4,5) Catholic Church (4,4) followed by trust in banks, army, superiors on work, /governor, president of the Republic of Croatia, banks in general, police, businessmen, media (3,1) judiciary, European Union, Prime Minister, etc8.

According to the GfK research, in 2011, 96% of youth in Croatia use internet at home, while more than 50% of them consume internet between 60 and 240 minutes daily. 48% of youth in Croatia trust internet, 29% trust television, 12% trust daily newspapers, while 6% trust radio (GfK.hr, 2011). „(…) Besides spending time with friends (of the same age), media consuming is the most common free-time activity of children and the youth.“ (Ilišin, 2012: 148)9

Before 2010 it was only the Electronic Media Act which recognizes media literacy, in its article 64. Media literacy is listed as one of the principles that should be achieved for allocating funding from the Fund for pluralism and electronic media diversity (annually it is distributed about 5 million EUR from the Fund to local radio and television stations).

In 2010 National Curriculum Framework for pre-school, education and general compulsory and (further in this text National Curriculum Framework, or NCF – the fundamental educational policy document of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport) was accepted and it recognises Media Culture as a part of Croatian language course curricula at primary, secondary and high schools. In NCF key competences, including digital one are listed also in technical and ICT area and in cross- curricular topic ICT use. However, if we focus primarily on media culture, as planned in NCF, media literacy learning outcomes can’t be achieved because it is not covering all aspects: access to medium, ability to analyze media text, to validate it and to produce new content.

8 Research is conducted on a nationally representative, proportionally stratified and probabilistic sample, of 1,000 adults (examinees) in Croatia. A Likert scale and seven-level Likert item was used (1 = do not agree at all, 7 = fully agree). http://www.gfk.hr/imperia/md/content/gfkaustria2/pdf/nlo33.pdf, (p.4) 9 According to the UNICEF research only 16 % of children in Croatia find children program as their favourite, while only 6 % find educational program as their favourite. At the same time, youngsters say “there are no opportunities in media to talk on their needs and to recognize and respect their opinion” (UNICEF, 2010).

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We can say that children and the youth in Croatia through the existing educational system had only a partially approach to media and media education (primarily through film culture educational units) and creating media content (through school newspapers or magazines, school radio, work in journalistic groups). But, the majority of them have never been taught to analyze and critically validate media text and services. Media education itself and its quality have been abandoned, and it is only up to the teachers’ enthusiasm if they will to do some extra-curricula programs with children, mostly without any official financial school support. There are great differences in the everyday practice in the work and support to media education programs from the schools principles, and from county to county. Just recently, in 2012, the program “Media culture in elementary school” has been started, as an extra-curricula activity, with the support of the Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA). Still, Croatia is one of the EU countries without official media .

Although, since 2000, there are more and more academic researches on media literacy and media culture in Croatia (Erjavec & Zgrabljić, 2000; Vujević, 2001; Mikić, 2002; Ilišin & Radin, 2002; Ilišin, 2003; Miliša, Tolić & Vertovšek, 2010, 2009; Miliša & Tolić, 2008; Tolić, 2011, Labaš, 2011)10, on the institutional level, in Croatian educational system, except for media culture there are no other programs on media education. Media education was not presented as a tool to address the contemporary crisis in educational systems, and it was not associated to major reforms or reform movements.

Preschool education in the Republic of Croatia encompasses education and care of the children of age, realized though educational, health care, nourishment and social care programs for children from six months of age until school age. Eight-year elementary education is compulsory and free for all children between the ages of six and fifteen. Following elementary education, secondary education enables everyone, under equal terms and according to one’s capabilities, to acquire knowledge and skills required for work or continuation of education (Mzos.hr, 2013). There are lots of public and private one-year and two-year programs for post-secondary school specialization in

10 Lana Ciboci, Igor Kanižaj and Danijel Labaš in 2012/2013 have been publishing columns in the oldest school newspapers in Croatia “School Newspapers” on media education. Through our project “Djeca medija” (Children of Media) together with 30 associates they held 250 workshops for more than 3000 attendees. On our web site – djecamedija.org we our continuously publishing articles on a daily basis, and through all our activities we met a large number of teachers and parents willing to share their experiences.

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different fields. Higher is predominantly public, it follows Bologna program. BA studies are of three or four years, while MA studies are of one or two years. In Croatia there are 7 public and three private . Post-graduate programs can be PhD programs or shorter post-graduate specialization programs.

Since 1991 not much has been done on building up the Croatian media education policies, although according to researches (Ilišin, 2003, GfK 2008, 2011, DKMK and Ipsos Puls, 2013) children and youth in Croatia are to a great extent exposed to media in their everyday life.

In the period from 1990-2000 one can identify new approach to the media culture program in primary schools. According to interview with Krešimir Mikić, author of one of the first media culture textbook, there were many new initiatives with the primary goal to include other media, and not just film in media culture programs, especially new media. In this decade there was increase in the number of conferences, workshops and other similar events with the goal to raise awareness in the public. It was mostly done by Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA). These actions were also in line with changes in university curricula and can be recognized by new programs for at the university level. Although one has to admit that they were not implemented in the greater part at the local level in our primary and secondary schools.

Information literacy

Professors Jadranka Lasić Lazić, Sonja Špriranec and Mihaela Banek Zorica from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, define information literacy as skill of using different sources of information (libraries, online data bases, etc.). Taking into account different concepts and definitions, they conclude that the information literacy framework “is defined with search, access, evaluation and use of information” (Špiranec and Banek Zorica, 2008: 31).

During the socialist regime in Yugoslavia, such skill was developed under the program of ‘education of users’. Before 1990, the focus was especially on libraries. At a time, librarians were not educated for their job. Usually they were Croatian language professors, and they only had to accomplish so called librarians’ exam.

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Today, at the University level, in few departments there are information literacy courses, like at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences where it is optional course, offered for students from all departments of the University of Zagreb.

In document called Nastavni plan i program za osnovnu školu, chapter 12 on school library, duties of school librarian is to learn pupils how to use library, and how to reach information they need. In National Curriculum Framework for secondary schools, digital literacy is mentioned in chapter 4, and chapter 5 is on Learning how to learn. Huge efforts were done by Croatian Association of School Librarians through many workshops organized throughout Croatia.

In 2009 and 2010 Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency developed a program on information literacy for elementary and secondary schools’ librarians. There were two levels: basic and intermediate. One day workshops wee organized in three Croatian regions (Zagreb, and Kvarner, and Baranja), only in Dalmatia it was not organized. Similar workshops were organized in cities Čakovec and Zagreb for 120 ’ educators.

Although, colleagues from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb are experts in information literacy field, they were never consulted during the process of writing the National Educational Strategy.

Computer literacy became recognized as important in primary and secondary schools. Therefore, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport organized ECDL education for educators, computer usage courses for teachers which were expected to continue with education in their schools. Schools were equipped with new computers, but computer literacy was not integrated into the education plan. There is an initiative to implement e- directory in schools, but teachers still do not know how to use tablet. However, CARNet (Croatian Academic and Research Network) is running a special project ICT Edu in 2009. The goal is to educate all teachers and provide them with digital competencies. Together with project partners Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and ETTA they have organized and implemented 2190 workshops in the primary and secondary schools for 45284 teachers. 97% of all schools in the Republic of Croatia participated in this project. It covered a wide range of topics: electronic identity, business communication for principals and teachers, on line safety, digital competences, and multimedia in the classrooms. Participants also had the opportunity to learn the

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fundamentals of the on-line research, using databases, search engines, but they were also educated on how to use media in the classroom, how to make presentations, interactive posters, quizzes11…

Visual literacy is integrated from ’s, elementary schools’ and secondary schools’ programs within art classes, painting and visual creativity exercises. Croatia has a long tradition in film literacy. The founding father of film literacy in former Yugoslavia and Croatia was Stjepko Težak. “In 1952 he proposed the first curriculum on film literacy. In 1958 it is Stjepko Težak who published the first scientific article on “Film as an object of studying in mother language class”. These efforts together with initiatives from several other colleagues have made it possible to include film literacy in the Croatian language curriculum. Film literacy was strongly emphasized in the coming changes of curriculum in 1964 and it is from that time that film literacy has become institutionalized. Stjepko Težak has initiated two new courses on Film and radio-tv culture, and Radio, television and film. In the primary schools programme in 1972, film literacy was equated with other teaching modules in mother tongue”12. In last 20 years Professor Krešimir Mikić from the Faculty of Teacher Education has made huge efforts to improve the quality of film literacy, raising awareness in the general public on the importance of film literacy.

In regard to European recommendations (AVMSD) and other documents Croatian officials and all governments didn’t introduce new media literacy policies, prior to EU accession but also, no changes were done in the first six months of Croatian membership in EU.

11 Information gathered based upon intervju with CARnet represenatitve Renata Ivanković, head of ICT Edu program and private correspondance. 12 Težak D. (2001), Stjepko Težak (1926 – 2006) – ljubav prema filmu i svijest o potrebi uključivanja filma u školu, http://www.hfs.hr/novosti_detail.aspx?sif=2867#.UxT0zON5Nzq.

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2. 2. Dimension Legal policy framework

In most of the previous studies published in Croatia, authors used the term "media literacy" and "media education" as synonyms (cf. Tolić, 2009.). In this paper, the term media education has a much broader meaning.

"In order for media education to be successful, it is necessary to develop all fields of media education research, starting with media literacy, media competences, media didactics and methodology, education and socialization, culture and media ethics (...) Media literacy is the basic level of acquiring general skills in order to recognize visual symbols and work on computers and other media resources. The entireness of the relationship of media literacy and media education is included in the concept of media competence." (Tolić, 2009: 99-100).

If we take a look at the official Croatian policy documents, we can say that media culture is dominating as a fundamental term, although even in the present time, just by checking the content of many scientific and professional conferences, media literacy is understood as an umbrella term used to describe media culture, media education and media competences, which some representatives of academic society find to be misleading and false. We can say that even the policy makers don’t give detailed explanation of terms they use, such as “media culture”.

After becoming a new member state of the European Union, Croatia is expected to prepare first report on media literacy according to DIRECTIVE 2007/65/EC and DIRECTIVE 2010/13/EU. However, there is still no official media education policy in Croatia. Croatian educational system does not have any legal definition of media education. The only definition is of media culture stated in the National curriculum framework for pre-school education and general compulsory and secondary education (2010)13, of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport (programs on media culture defined in the NCF do not differentiate media literacy from media culture or media education).

13 http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?sec=2497 (accessed 15 November 2013).

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Although, according to the latest public opinion survey done by the Association for Communication and Media Culture (DKMK) and IPSOS PULS, 62% of all respondents say that media education should be included in Croatian educational system, all relevant educational strategy documents do not include or foresee the necessity for media education. We will give several examples to illustrate this.

The National Youth Program 2009-201314 does not mention media education, while the word ‘media’ is mentioned only three times in 107 pages of this document. The National Action Program for Youth (2002) does not mention media education as well. It has 57 pages and ‘media’ is mentioned only six times15. The only strategic document that, just to a lesser extent, anticipates media education is National Activity Plan for the Rights and Interest of Children 2006-2012 of the Ministry of Family Affairs, War Veterans and Intergenerational Solidarity, at the time. Only four measures inside this document concern activities within few ministries.

Furthermore, there is no coordination between Croatian ministries regarding media literacy programs. There is no official inter-ministerial body or committee or any other institutional body that would coordinate this issue.

To conclude, there is no official designation and legal definition of media education in Croatia. Media, media education, media culture and/or media literacy can't be found in the fundamental Law on Education in Compulsory and Secondary Schools (Zakon o odgoju i obrazovanju u osnovnoj i srednjoj školi). Ministry of Science, Education and Sports in June 2013 introduced new changes to the Law, but they also didn't foresee the possibility to include media education. In NCF (2010), Media Culture is planned as a non-compulsory course through module No.4 named Film, Media Culture and Art. On 16 September 2013 Croatian Government introduced new Strategy of Education, Science and Technology as the cornerstone for new policies. Media literacy or media education are not mentioned not even once in 180 pages of this document.

In Croatia there is no law that designates a clear authority to oversee media education. Media literacy is officially mentioned only in the Electronic Media Act, not in any educational context but just as one of the measures for allocation funding from the Fund

14 Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2 July 2009. 15 This document was prepared by the Central Bureau for the Protection of Family, Motherhood and Youth (Državni zavod za zaštitu obitelji, materinstva i mladeži).

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for pluralism and electronic media diversity. Media literacy is mentioned in Croatian Radio-Television Act (public service RTV) in chapter on program principles.

The importance of media culture is also not recognized by the committee of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, which prepared “Guidelines for the strategy of education, science and technology” (Smjernice za strategiju odgoja, obrazovanja, znanosti i tehnologije) a year ago. The terms "media literacy" or "media culture" or “media education” cannot be found either in the “Vision, mission and objectives of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports” (Vizija, misija i ciljevi Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta) (13.07.2012). Consequently, these concepts is difficult to find in the “Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports for the period 2012-2014” (Strateški plan Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta za razdoblje 2012. ‒ 2014.), and in the “Government Programmes Strategy for the period 2012-2014” (Strategija Vladinih programa za razdoblje 2012.-2014.), and even in the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports for the period 2013- 2015 (Strateški plan Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta za razdoblje 2013.- 2015.).16

As already mentioned, in Croatian compulsory school media education is based on media culture programme defined by NCF, as a part of the Croatian language course.17 "Croatian language course is the most extensive and most connected with other compulsory school courses. It consists of four teaching areas: Croatian language, literature, language expression and media culture" (Miliša, Saravanja, 2011: 181). According to the curriculum following tasks of teaching media culture are listed: "Training for communicating with the media: theatre, film, radio, newspapers, comics, computer; of theatre, film, radio and television programs; training for evaluation of radio and television shows, and films" (Curriculum for Compulsory Schools, Nastavni plan i program za osnovnu školu 2006: 25). Although the document is from 2006, it is obvious that there is disproportionately small part, or thematic units, devoted to Internet, especially new challenges such as cyberbullying.

16 Even in an experimental program of civic education for primary schools, authors did not consider media education or media literacy as part of civic education. (http://www.azoo.hr/images/Kurikulum_gradanskog_odgoja_i_obrazovanja.pdf (accessed 12.8.2013). In the Curriculum word "media" is mentioned six times. http://www.azoo.hr/images/zdravstveni/Kurikulum_ZO.pdf (accessed 12.08.2013). 17 NCF has 296 pages and it mentions media 25 times.

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After examining the above documents, we can say that children and young people in Croatia through the educational system had the possibility of partial media education (primary film, television, radio) and some media production (school newspaper, school radio, film production, etc.), and only a small amount of the critical evaluation of content. According to the existing school programs, pupils are not sufficiently taught to analyze and critically evaluate media content, programming and services.

Driven by a number of reporting on violations, primarily of parents and activists reporting, the Ombudsman for Children Ms Mila Jelavić (www.dijete.hr) has repeatedly advocated launching a public debate about media culture and the establishment of a special centre for media and children, and particularly emphasized the importance of effective protection of children from potentially harmful content published or broadcasted in electronic media.18 "The emergence of projects in the field of media culture, through the action of civil society organizations, confirms that there is a wider circle of interested and motivated to strengthen the rights of children in the media, but we still miss a systematic approach to this issue." (Annual report on the work of the Ombudsman for Children, 2011: 158)19.

However, thanks to many programs initiated by NGOs throughout Croatia great effort can be recognized in raising awareness on media education in Croatia (primarily activities for safer Internet). Pupils in Croatian compulsory primary and secondary schools are producing many media outlets and programs thanks to their teachers’ enthusiasm, although without hardly any structural and systematic institutional support. In last two years new educational programs have been established on postgraduate level with primary task to strengthen capacity of the teachers in Croatian schools. According to present curricula they are expected to teach on media culture but without sufficient education.

18 More at www.dijete.hr in Ombudsman’s for Children reports. 19 Association for Communication and Media Culture and Media Division of hrvatska at the scientific symposium "Media and Children" held on 14 and 15 June 2012, brought the Declaration on media culture (Deklaracija o medijskoj kulturi), which was signed by more than twenty university teachers and researchers, and representatives of civil society organizations, together with the Ombudsperson for Children Ms Mila Jelavić. The Declaration also encouraged the establishment of the “Centre for research in media and children relations” (Centar za istraživanje odnosa medija i djece), development of university curricula for training of media educators. http://www.djecamedija.org/?p=62 (accessed 25 August 2013).

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There is a weak cooperation between private (industries) and public sectors. We see an urgent need to raise awareness in this respect. It is still not clear who is expected to report to the State or European Union.

3.1 3.1 Dimension Capacity-building: teacher training

Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA, 2013) is a public institution responsible for the provision of professional and advisory support in the area of general education in Croatia. There has been an institute for teacher support since 1874, and its role has changed through time. Its legal successor, the Institute of Education of the Republic of Croatia was founded in 2002 (OG 153/02) and was re-named and restructured as Education and Teacher Training Agency by the Act on Education and Teacher Training Agency (OG 85/06), enacted by the in 2006.

ETTA’s scope of work is:

• providing professional and advisory assistance in education

• monitoring, improvement and development of education, from pre-school to high- school level, , the education of Croatian citizens abroad and the education of foreign nationals in Croatia.

• participation in the preparation, development and implementation of the national curriculum

• providing assistance and guidelines to educational institutions, their principals, pre- school, primary and secondary-school teachers, and school-counsellors in relation to education

• organising and implementing in-service training of pre-school, primary and secondary-school teachers, school-counsellors and school principals

• license examinations for pre-school, primary and secondary-school teachers, and school-counsellors, in accordance with special regulations

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• reviewing and giving opinion on programmes in pre-school education, primary and general secondary education, general education programmes in vocational schools and adult education, unless regulated differently by special regulations

• reviewing and giving opinion on general education programmes in the procedure of the certification of educational institutions

• monitoring the development and implementation of Croatian National Educational Standard as a part of the national curriculum

• lesson observation and teacher evaluation

• participating in the organisation and implementation of student competitions and annual reviews

• participating in the development and professional support to the implementation of national programmes

• information and documentation service and publishing

• participating in the systems of compulsory reporting on the implementation of ratified international conventions and recommendations related to education

• other activities in education, in accordance with the law and regulations adopted by the minister responsible for education.

The professional staff of ETTA is 110 subject-specific Senior Advisers working in the Central Office in Zagreb, and three regional offices in Split, and Osijek.

Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA) is public institution which has 87 advisors responsible for improvement and development of education programmes of more than 60.000 educators in compulsory and secondary education in Croatia. They are also responsible for adult education and education of children of Croatian citizens living abroad and children of foreign citizens in Croatia.

There are no public reports on the amount of resources that has been invested in all media education programmes on national and regional level. In last five years no more than approximately several thousand EUR per year (according to the correspondence we had with ETTA representative), have been invested in all media education programmes

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on national and regional level organized and prepared by ETTA. They have a close cooperation with Ombudsman for Children, Ministry of science, education and sport, Council for Electronic Media, and different Parliamentary Committees. The annual plan of the ETTA is organized through regions, throughout Croatia. Looking at one of their Manuals for Professional Development (for Zagreb region) we can see that media literacy program is covered just in a small part of their activities (http://www.azoo.hr/images/izdanja/Prirucnik-MSU-web.pdf).

Thanks to activities and efforts of their regional higher advisors, especially for Croatian language, ETTA organized many conferences on media education and media literacy. From 2007-2012 there have been 17 regional professional conferences, five national professional symposiums, according to data collected by ETTA higher advisor for Croatian language Srećko Listeš. We can say that in last five years ETTA has increased their efforts in raising awareness and capacity building for such a huge number of educators on national level, but they are facing insufficient Government support for capacity building in media education programmes. One has to acknowledge that even with weak capacities and such small financial support they are trying to organize many professional programmes in order to empower teachers through Croatia. Through their activities they covered almost all aspects of media education, although obviously, without any media education strategy.

In the field of extracurricular activities (part of the official program) through which many newspapers, magazines and radio programmes are produced in elementary and secondary schools, in last two years 2012-2013 they organized 23 professional education programmes covering wide range of media literacy. ETTA is strongly supporting the national competition Lidrano (Croatian School Festival of Literature, Drama and Journalism Creativity).

ETTA is also responsible for providing support in implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the new subject Health education. In 4th grade of elementary school pupils are supposed to learn about Media and means of addiction, The role and pressure of media in puberty, The role of media and peers towards means of addiction, The role of media in peers relations. In total, out of 92 hours only 7 hours, on any kind of media related content are planned in elementary compulsory school, and 0 hours for the role of media in secondary school.

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ETTA is participating in the development, monitoring and evaluation of the new experimental programme Citizen Education. Learning on media is planned from 5-8th grade of elementary school but with no detailed plans or activities, and with media literacy on margins.

What is the current situation in Croatia?

According to the NFC Croatian language teachers are expected to teach media culture within Croatian language courses. But they lack knowledge and training. We would like to identify several weak spots. In the curriculum of undergraduate single-major and double-major study of Croatian Language and Literature of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, there is not a single course within the scope of media culture. The media as a teaching course is mentioned only at the second year of the education-major of graduate double-major and single-major study of Croatian Language and Literature.20

Integrated undergraduate and graduate study programme for teachers, at the University of , which lasts for five years, only at the very end of the programme (in 9th semester) offers a course on Media culture. It includes one hour of lecture and one hour of exercise per week. There are also courses that just to a lesser extent relate to media education, such as Sculpture, design and new media.

ICT courses (Informatika) based upon ICT literacy are present in the majority of university studies, but they include only the first level of media education21. Single major undergraduate university degree Croatian language and literature has no course on media culture in the curriculum. In the second year there is the possibility to choose an elective subject from the study Theory and practice of media, that it is possible to choose between the three mentioned courses22.

20 http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/kroat/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1335%3Aopa- struktura-diplomskoga-studija-kroatistike&catid=75%3Aopa-struktura-studija&Itemid=107 (accessed 12 August 2013). 21 http://www.unizd.hr/ucitelji- odgojitelji/Studijskiprogrami/Preddiplomskiidiplomskistudijzau%C4%8Ditelje/tabid/3292/Default.aspx (accessed 12 August 2013). 22 http://www.unizd.hr/kroatistika- slavistika/Studijskiprogrami/HJK/Preddiplomski/tabid/535/Default.aspx (accessed 12 August 2013).

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Undergraduate Program of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rijeka, through six semesters has no course that covers the area of media culture23. At the same university single major undergraduate study programme Croatian language and literature also does not give any option for mandatory or elective course in media culture24.

Faculty of Philosophy (), in the curriculum of integrated undergraduate and graduate study program for Master of primary education, gives a possibility for students to choose between two courses: Media in Education (fourth semester) and Media Culture (tenth semester)25. In the curriculum of undergraduate double major study Croatian language and literature there is a course in the field of media culture26. Graduate double major study at the same university has a course Speech and mass media, that only to a small proportion covers the media culture in relation to NFC27.

By contrast, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, offers integrated undergraduate and graduate university study. In the third year of study there is mandatory course in media culture. Croatian language Module in the fourth year has additional courses: Traditional Media and Croatian language study and Multimedia and Croatian language study28.

This gives us the arguments to say that in Croatia for the most part the main prerequisite criteria (education of teachers) for the realization of NFC have not been met. Although media culture is defined as one of four teaching areas in the Croatian language class the teacher education programmes and university curriculum are not harmonized with NFC. For that reason pupils can't be provided by appropriate and efficient media culture programmes.

Further, initial training for ICT teachers does not include any media education. Continues and In-service training for teachers relay mostly on their personal interests,

23 http://www.ffri.uniri.hr/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PED-1P-Preddiplomski-studij-2010.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 24 http://www.ffri.uniri.hr/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/HJK-1P-Preddiplomski-studij-2010.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 25 http://www.ffst.hr/odsjeci/uciteljski/izvedbeni.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 26 http://www.ffst.hr/odsjeci/hrvatski/izvedbeni_pd.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 27 http://www.ffst.hr/odsjeci/hrvatski/izvedbeni_d.pdf (accessed 12.08. 2013). 28 http://issuu.com/uciteljski.fakultet.zagreb/docs/vodic_kroz_studij_uciteljskog_fakulteta-2012-2013 (accessed 12.08. 2013).

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so some teachers have additional education in area of media literacy. Opportunities for such training grew when Croatia joined LLP program in 2009 (http://www.mobilnost.hr/). In-service LLP trainings are available for all school level.

Therefore, media education is part of training only for teachers of Croatian language. ICT or Science teachers do not have such courses, nor optional nor compulsory.

Curriculum development is not part of teacher’s education in Croatia at all.

3.2 Dimension Capacity-building: Teaching/training Materials and other relevant content

In our research we see this as the least developed part of our media education system. As previously pointed out teachers (among them many without sufficient knowledge) in our compulsory and secondary schools are expected to give lectures on media literacy but with almost not even one appropriate media literacy textbook. Even those existing ones are focusing mainly on film literacy, and just in small part covering wide range of internet challenges.

Such resources are not available by law or policies, only by a number of NGOs. Such teaching materials mostly combine eSafety with digital literacy. We can say there are only few such teaching resources, and the quality varies.

Some teaching resources were produced by experts, teachers and students as part of National campaigns “Safer internet for children and Youth” (http://ucitelji.hr) in 2010- 2013. Raising awareness about eSafety was successfully combined with media literacy especially in students’ works for Multimedia exhibitions in 2011, 2012, 1013: http://ucitelji.hr/Sigurnijiinternet/Sigurnijiinternet2011/Izložba2011.aspx http://ucitelji.hr/Sigurnijiinternet/Sigurnijiinternet2012/Izložba2012.aspx http://ucitelji.hr/Sigurnijiinternet/Sigurnijiinternet2013/Izložba2013.aspx

Miliša and Šaravanja (2011) analyzed the content related to the media culture and media in textbooks from second to eighth grade of primary school that are used in the

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Herzegovina - Neretva Canton in , and in textbooks Wings of words (Krila riječi) which were used in Croatia from the fifth to the eighth grade. They argue that in the analyzed textbooks the media culture generally is never devoted more than 10% of the total content of the text, and they conclude: "( ... ) in the textbooks are present media contents that help develop media literacy among children. Different media are analyzed: film, radio, comics, television, print media and computer. However, we note the lack of content related to cell phones, the Internet and computer games, keeping in mind their popularity among children. Just a few examples encourage pupils to think critically." (Miliša and Šaravanja, 2011: 193) It is important their note that there is a need to introduce media culture as a single course in schools, since the existing short media culture program within Croatian language course is not sufficient.

Universities in Croatia have a leading role in raising the awareness on media literacy importance, especially through education of teachers and journalists. University of Zagreb (Faculty of Political Science – Journalism Department, and Croatian Studies) in last five years established new courses on Media Pedagogy, Media and Children, Media Culture for graduate students. They organized several public round tables and conferences on media literacy and media education. But in the same time they failed in producing supporting textbooks and/or manuals for the activities and competencies planned by NCF.

Resources which are used in media literacy programmes are created in form of leaflets, brochures, classes, interactive games, social games, posters, presentations, cartoons. They are covering topics about use of social networks, e-mail, personal data protection, copyright, online rights and responsibilities.

In last 15 years librarians were “the founding fathers” of ICT literacy and were educated through many programmes organized by the Education and Teacher Training Agency and also through yearly conferences of the Croatian Association of School Librarians (www.husk.hr). They managed to provide a variety of workshops inside compulsory schools but lack strong and efficient support from the institutions.

Media Centres do not exist in most of schools, although many primary schools have their school media like newspapers, radio programmes and sometimes TV shows. NGO Telecentar from Zagreb participates in EU funded programme Media literacy for 21st century together with Graphic School in Zagreb and Rijeka. This is indeed the example

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of best practice. For more than 10 years they are introducing new media programmes in their school curriculum. Program was prepared for 24 secondary school professors and for 14 professors from their partner school in the town of Rijeka (more about Telecentar on page 25).

One of the good examples where children together with their teachers prepare new textbooks, mostly on voluntary basis is present in school in town of Popovača. In February 2012 pupils in fifth, sixth and seventh grade, together with their teachers produced the manual “For those who think that know everything on online safety”. In next year they plan also some similar editions that pupils, parents and teachers find very useful.

We see here huge possibilities for close cooperation between publishers, schools and universities. With their joint cooperation they could overcome the existing gap in this field of quality textbooks and manuals.

3.3 Dimension Capacity-building: funding

Media education policies are funded primarily through the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, through the Education and Teacher Training Agency which is the main state institution for the education of teachers in Croatia.

Data on the proportion of such funding in relation to the total education system revenues is not available. There are no yearly financial reports. None of these institutions ever published an report on investments in media literacy programmes.

There are also several good examples where regions and municipalities finance a large number of programs and activities on local level. They engage experts from academia, run specialized programs and support new initiatives. Good examples are City of Velika Gorica and City of Zagreb.

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4 4. Dimension Role of actors (outside school system)

Media education policies do not take into account partnerships outside the school system.

According to the Electronic Media Act, Electronic Media Council is responsible for media literacy programmes and they have a special budget for these activities but in last five years this was not their priority activity. Ombudsman for Children is in charge of monitoring the media concerning the protection of children’s rights.

Private sector rarely takes initiatives. Telecentar, previously mentioned is one of the rare examples. Industry in general is not present in media literacy programs.

Usually, civil society organizations take initiative on awareness rising, they organize trainings (Djecamedija.org, GONG, Mreža mladih). Within them, the level of youth participation is large. Students are often engaged in such activities.

Journalists and news professional organizations are not engaged.

Croatian Association of School Librarians (CASL) has been actively promoting media literacy through their activities on local level in primary and secondary schools. They also organized round tables on media for the members of the Association. There is a huge interest for round tables such as the one that was organized on 3rd of October in : The role of mass media in children and youth education. We see a great perspective of CASL due to the fact that each public school in Croatia is obliged to have library and two librarians, providing solid infrastructure for many future programs on media education.

There are some specific events, like LiDraNo (National Festival of Literature, Drama and Journalism of primary and secondary schools), Šibenik Children Festival, or programs like Novigrad Spring, Communication School (Komunikološka škola), Dr. Ante Peterlić Media Culture Days (Dani medijske kulture dr. Ante Petrlić), where primary and secondary school pupils, and students are thought how to create media content – how to perform as journalists, how to edit school magazines, school radio programming, to produce short TV packages, short documentaries, even films.

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In the last ten years, civil society organizations in Croatia have launched several projects of media education.

Communication School organized by (www.matica.hr) each year brings together 12 outstanding students of journalism and communication science from Study of Journalism and Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. Experts, academics, artists and journalists from 2005 participate voluntary in this interdisciplinary program discussing the following topics: media and violence, media and children, cyberbullying, etc. This program is recognized and supported by the University of Zagreb and rector of the University was also one of the prominent guests of the programme on several occasions. 72 participants are gathering through alumni since 2005. Two years ago they made a huge research content analysis research study on the coverage of children in seven Croatian dailies (3453 articles) and the report was published as a book: “Djeca medija - od marginalizacije do senzacije” (Children of Media – From Marginalization to Sensation). We consider this as a good example how students can be empowered to make their own media analysis and achieve sustainability through publishing. This book is now listed in the syllabus of several university courses.

Another good example is Association for Communication and Media Culture (DKMK), founded in 2011. From then, as voluntarism they organized and implemented 250 workshops for pupils in elementary and secondary school, but for their teachers, and parents as well on cyberbullying, sensationalism, representation of children in media and many others. More than 3000 attendees participated in their programmes throughout Croatia since 2011. DKMK (www.dkmk.hr) has just produced new brochure on Internet safety for the project implemented in town of Velika Gorica. With the support from local authorities they organized and implemented 36 workshops in just one month, for 1100 pupils in 6 different schools in Velika Gorica town and region. 60 students of journalism and communication science under supervision of two university professors every day produce content for their web page www.djecamedija.org. They are using the advantages of social networks effectively. Special group of students is preparing a radio program called Djeca medija on Radio Marija, once a month. Together with EAVI (European Association for Viewers Interests) they made Croatian version of the video clip – A Journey to Media Literacy.

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Although media education policies do not take into account partnerships outside the system, there is one good example of partnership. The public already widely recognizes the National Centre for the Safety of Children on the Internet (Nacionalni centar za sigurnost djece na internetu) which was founded in 2012 by the Croatian Academic and Research Network - CarNet , Polytechnic of Zagreb (Tehničko veleučilište), Ministry of the Interior Affairs, Ministry of Public Administration, Centre for Children Protection in Zagreb (Poliklinika za zaštitu djece grada Zagreba), the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data (Agencija za zaštitu osobnih podataka), and the civil society organization Partners in Learning (Suradnici u učenju). 29

Another example of empowering children and teachers is the web page www.mediji.hr, primarily focusing on the role of movies in media culture. They are also organizing lectures and giving many useful suggestions through their web site on a regular basis. One of their primarily target groups are students from Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb.

One of the pioneers in promoting Safer Internet was the Center for Missing and Exploited Children (Centar za nestalu i zlostavljanu djecu) from Osijek. Through their web www.cnzd.org they are providing 24/7 help for exploited children focusing primarily on Internet safety programs. Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a nonprofit organization established in 2006 in Osijek, modelled after similar organizations in the world. The motive for the establishment of this kind of organization, the founders of the Center have found in a real lack of state protection of children from sexual exploitation and abuse through the Internet and the spread of child pornography and paedophilia, and other forms of abuse associated with use of the Internet. In November 2013 they introduced new helpline for exploited children. One of their main goals is to inform children on risks and threats coming from Internet, but they are also offering special software for safer Internet, not just for children but for their parents as well.

Further, important contribution to media education development in Croatia gave the following associations: CINAZ, Pragma, Society for communication and media culture (Društvo za komunikacijsku i medijsku kulturu), Telecentar, Brave phone (Hrabri

29 www.sigurnijiinternet.hr (accessed 10 November 2013).

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telefon), and already mentioned programs with long-lasted tradition the Dr. Ante Petrlić School of Media Culture, and Matica hrvatska Communication School.

The parent associations and media/information professionals are mostly not collaborating in media education programs.

About Telecentar http://medijska-pismenost.telecentar.com/

Telecentar from Zagreb is a non-governmental organization founded in 2005. In the last eight years Telecentar has implemented several media literacy projects, including education and training complemented by the media production of promotional and documentary films and videos.

In 2009-2010 Telecentar has carried out 2 projects Perimetar and Multimedia School, which included workshops and a production of video materials covering topics such as the civil society, lifelong learning, arts and culture. In 2010-2011 Telecentar participated in the creation of vocational standards, qualification standards and curriculum for a formal education of media technicians.

In the period 2012-2013 Telecentar participated in the Media Literacy for the 21st Century project, with 2 Graphics Schools. Telecentar carried-out a study of Media Literacy in Croatia and coordinated publishing of the first VET textbooks for photography, audio and video. During the project, Telecentar has initiated networking of the media literacy stakeholders in Croatia with international partners from Telecentre Europe and Media and Learning Association.

From 2012-2014 Telecentar is participating in the Telecentre Multimedia Academy project, implemented by the consortium of 8 partners within the Grundtvig lifelong learning programme for adults. The project will include development and piloting of the learning pathways for media literacy training of adults.

From 2013-2015 Telecentar is participating in the iProfessional project, implemented by the consortium of 9 partners within the Erasmus lifelong learning programme for higher education. iProfessional aims to build, test and distribute a research based model framework that will assist the education sector to match the curriculum in Media and Arts Studies with the professional requirements expressed by the community of media and arts businesses.

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5 5. Dimension Evaluation mechanisms (inside and outside school)

Media education policies are not used in Croatia to test media accountability. There are no legal mechanisms to ensure and measure the efficiency of media education policies due to the fact that there are no policies.

There are no evaluation of the performance of media education resources, programmes and actors.

There are no quantifiable data on how many people are targeted (among youth, poor, excluded…) or on how many programmes and of what types are made available to them. There are only reports that stress how needed media education is in Croatia.

For example, according to UNICEF report, in Croatia in 2010, 34% of children aged 10- 15 years have experienced once or twice a month some form of bullying through online media.30 Clinic for the Child Protection Zagreb (Poliklinika za zaštitu djece grada Zagreba) and civil society organization Brave Phone (Hrabri telefon) conduct a survey in 2008 among students aged 11-18. Out of 2003 respondents, these 814 (41%) said that they got intimate questions about themselves, their bodies, or questions of a sexual nature during meetings and communications over the Internet. 31 In 2013, there have been several disturbing examples of cyber bullying through social networks in towns Lobor, , Osijek and Županja. For the first time in Croatia young people used social networks to create hate groups like "Vinkovci whores". In this group, an unidentified administrator released pictures of teenage girls and, without any evidence, presents them as promiscuous. Further problem is that more than 2.500 Facebook users “liked” this Facebook page.

Many recent affairs including cyberbullying are calling for a revision of the existing system in order to prepare the educational institutions, teachers and pupils for new challenges.

30 N= 5.215 children aged 10-15. Source: Mišljenja i stavovi djece i mladih u Hrvatskoj, UNICEF, 2010, http://www.unicef.hr/upload/file/351/175805/FILENAME/StavovidjeceimladihuHrvatskoj.pdf (accessed 6 August 2013). 31 N=2700 pupils (11-18). Source: http://www.poliklinika-djeca.hr/istrazivanja/istrazivanje-o-koristenju- interneta-mobitela-i-drugih-tehnologija/ (accessed 6 August 2013).

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Encouraged by these data IPSOS Puls and Associatian for Communication and Media Culture (DKMK) conducted in June 2013 national telephone survey on a representative sample (N=1080) in which respondents were asked the following question: Do you think that media education has to be included in our educational system in order to learn media literacy and reflect upon media content? YES answered 62% of respondents. The remaining answers are: NO, because the educational system already has too much content – 11.8%, NO because it is not very important - 11.7% Do not know or no answer - 14.5%32. Never before in Croatia was conducted similar research, not even when six years ago when Croatian National Educational Standard (CNES) was accepted. This is the first time we asked the public on their attitudes towards media education.

There are no yearly reports of any kind on media education programs.

6 6. Dimension Main concepts and legitimizing values

Based upon what has been written we can say that regarding NGO activities main educational paradigm is prevention with critical thinking as a key competence. However, since there is no official institutional strategy defining paradigms and role of actors it’s hard to identify concepts.

NGO’s are mainly focusing on prevention as a key paradigm. Participation is practiced and implemented mostly inside the schools with activities my librarians and teachers.

As stated in previous chapters on-line safety is one of the biggest concerns and all these programs are also coming from prevention paradigm.

7 7. Dimension General appreciation (and recommendations)

32 N=1080, 10+, June 2013.

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Without any strategy and with NGO's as the cornerstone of media education in Croatia, children and youth are facing many media challenges, primarily cyberbullying, but also sexting and grooming through social networks. With 96% of children consuming internet on everyday practice this has become a huge challenge in Croatia. We recognize solid preconditions for media education policy but also an urgent need to raise awareness on the highest level in our society – among our Government officials. There is no strategy on media education programmes inside and outside the school. We see many NGO efforts but the efficiency and relevance has not been evaluated. There is a need for the National Media Education Association through which the activities could be coordinated and monitored. It’s necessary to initiate a close cooperation between national media and journalists organizations and national school system.

Although with weak media education basis and without any media education strategy we can identify the following strengths in Croatia:

- Raised awareness /public, children, parents, CSOs/

- Pioneer activities of Ombudsman for Children in media education programs and initiatives.

- Solid structure of Education and Teacher Training Agency.

- Activities of NGOs.

- We need a Media Literacy Strategy.

- Solid cooperation with official institutions.

- Revision of educational programs in relation to media education at the university level.

- There is an urgent need for new training materials.

- Necessity to build new bridges with partners from EU.

- Empowering stakeholders!

Looking at the existing threats we are emphasizing the following ones:

- Children are to a great amount exposed to media without sufficient knowledge.

- There is no media education policy at all.

- Poor and not consistent teacher education

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- University programs are not in line with NCF.

- Poor textbooks and training materials.

- Croatian educational system does not have any legal definition of media education.

- No coordination between ministries.

- No official inter-ministerial body or committee.

- No law that designates a clear authority to oversee media education.

- No responsibility of public institutions in relation to media education programs.

In last several months our responsible ministries showed interest and recognized the listed challenges. We see this as an opportunity to change the present paradigm on media education in Croatia, where all responsible institutions didn’t see this as one of priority activities, for the sake of the children, teachers and their parents, but also for the Croatian society in general.

8 8. Dimension Good practices

1/ Children's safety on the Internet - creation of the school curriculum

Project Children's safety on the Internet is 16-month European Union-funded project developed by OŠ Veliki Bukovec, together with partners OŠ Popovača, OŠ "Mladost", OŠ "Gripe" and OŠ "Mato Lovrak", Croatia, financed from grant scheme Further development and implementation of the Croatian Qualifications Framework (Europeaid/131254/ M/ACT/HR). The project is taking place in the period 19th August 2013 - 19th December 2014.

Project is addressing these objectives: (1) To develop and implement school curricula area for children's safety on the Internet; (2) Raise students, teachers, parents and general public awareness and understanding of issues relating to the children’s safety online in synergy with the EU policies; (3) Development of learning outcomes-based school curricula area for children's safety on the Internet; (4) Development and implementation of accompanying pedagogical model for student-centred learning; (5) Improve primary school teachers’ educational skills and expertise for student-centred

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approach; (6) Improve students’ digital competences and develop critical attitude toward a responsible use of ICT.

Project pedagogical team carried out a research about existing school curriculum and good practice examples in different schools from Croatia, European Union and International. Results from that research are merged with Croatian tradition, modern ICT implementation, student centred approach and parents involvement in order to create holistic curriculum prepared for immediate implementation in Croatian primary schools.

School curriculum will consist of 4 courses addressing one of 4 age groups in primary schools (students aged 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 years). Every course will be supplemented with appropriate pedagogical model and resources for parents aiming at continual awareness rising. One set of teaching/learning materials would include textbooks for students, multimedia resources, teachers' guides and guides for parents. Learning objects within teaching/learning materials will be created in form of text, hypertext, pictures, animated stories, videos, audios, computer games, social games, colouring pages, photos, interactive quizzes, learning quests. Special attention will be paid to the flexibility of learning objects so students with disabilities can use them more easily.

Every course will be described in terms of learning outcomes, as well as the knowledge, skills and competences. That description will include theoretical knowledge, practical and technical skills and social competences needed for responsible, safe and appropriate use of the Internet. Evaluation methods, associating self-assessment, feedback mechanisms and procedures for improvement will be planned in each course.

School curriculum area for children's safety on the Internet will cover at least those topics; personal data protection, e-mail phishing and scams, netiquette, online communication and collaboration, risks on social networks, responsible use of mobile devices, sharing and authoring rights, identity theft, digital footprints, e-portfolios and online presence, evaluation of information on the Internet, how to protect computer and family.

Project is promoting gender equality and equal opportunities through carefully chosen characters and their roles in all forms of learning materials. Project will give equal opportunities for all students to reach standard learning outcomes in area of safe, legal and ethical behaviour on the Internet and to prevent digitally isolated and unskilled

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children. All materials will be published in digital form online and made freely available on project web page www.petzanet.hr.

Project is directly addressing: 220 students, 220 parents, 200 teachers, medium term reach is 2700 students and parents and 2500 teachers. The long-term project objective is to reach every single primary school in Croatia through different national seminars and online publication of freely available teaching/learning materials, teacher guides, students’ textbooks, leaflets for parents and templates for acceptable use policy for ICT in schools. General public will be positively influenced through raising awareness about internet safety issues with news articles published during the project.

2/ National campaign “Safer internet for Children and Youth”

NGO Suradnici u učenju is a teacher association dedicated to creating a positive and supportive environment in which education professionals can share their experience, get quality and current information, be innovative and creative and continue their professional development.

NGO Suradnici u učenju promote a proper and purposeful use of in all areas of education, lifelong learning of teachers and teaching and learning about responsible, appropriate and safe use of internet.

Suradnici u učenju is Safer Internet committee, representing Croatia in Insafe and for three years they organize the national campaign “Safer internet for Children and Youth” to promote safer and more responsible use of the internet. In that campaign active part take teachers, students and parents from all over the Croatia. Campaign was funded from donations from Microsoft Hrvatska and Hrvatski telekom with about 10.000 € for 3 years.

Every year a wide range of activities will be conducted all over the country. Students, teachers, teaching assistants and parents, together with everybody else who recognizes the importance of child internet safety, are invited to actively participate in the event. Activities for students include the creation of different multimedia files which will not only highlight possible Internet dangers but also give advice on how to avoid them.

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Teachers and teaching assistants participate in the event by organizing seminars, workshops and other types of activities that will engage their students. Teachers share best practices, exchange ideas and give advice and information on online safety issues.

Parents and adults in general are called to attend online webinars and seminars which are organized in libraries and schools all over Croatia. They learn about the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet, different means of online communication, personal data protection, cyber violence, cyber fraud, social networking dangers and traps and the ways of protecting their children and their families against Internet dangers. The seminars and the webinars promote effective, responsible and safe use of the Internet. Special emphases are placed on the exchange of practical ideas, first-hand experiences and useful advice to provide guidance for parents and children in the world of new technologies.

From 2010 - 2013 lots of learning resources on how to teach children to use the internet in a safe, responsible and effective manner are published and available online for free on web page http://ucitelji.hr

Exhibition of student's multimedia works

2011 2012 2013

184 works 546 1016

400 students 1032 1835

9-16 yr. old 8-18 6-18

27 teachers 57 134

3/ Another good example is Association for Communication and Media Culture (DKMK, www.dkmk.hr) (see page 23).

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9 9. Dimension References and resources

Car, Viktorija and Andrijašević, Ivana (2012) Mapping Digital Media – Croatia (country report). London: OSF. www.mappingdigitalmedia.org ; http://www.soros.org/sites/default/files/mapping-digital-media-croatia-20120906.pdf

Erjavec, K., Zgrabljić, N. (2000) Odgoj za medije u školama u svijetu: hrvatski model medijskog odgoja. Medijska istraživanja, 6 (1) 89-107.

ETTA (2013) Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency http://www.azoo.hr/index.php?option=com_content&id=1999&Itemid=343

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34 ANR TRANSLIT and COST “Transforming Audiences/Transforming Societies”

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