The EduMediaTest, which is available in 10 different languages, consists of an online questionnaire that evaluates pupils’ abilities in seven areas related to media education and provides teaching materials to work on any shortcomings detected. 

The Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) have been responsible for developing this new tool, together with four media authorities in Europe (Croatia, Slovakia, France and Portugal) and two public bodies in the field of education (Greece and Ireland). 

The project is partly financed by the European Commission under the Media Literacy for All programme, which aims to combat disinformation and promote a critical approach to content received via social media. 

Regarding student assessment, a questionnaire has been produced comprising 43 questions used to measure students’ ability to determine the reliability of news, to detect the hidden agendas of sources, identify the existence of stereotypes, and encourage a responsible attitude to copyright. Another aim is to gauge pupils’ ability to create digital messages that are understandable and responsible in terms of their online identity. 

To complete the questionnaire, pupils have to analyse videos and photographs, and search online for information. The joint results of the class are sent by the system to the teacher concerned, identifying correct answers and any shortcomings in the following six areas: Language, Technology, Production and dissemination, Ideology, Reception, and Aesthetics. Based on the results obtained, the programme proposes activities for media literacy education in the aforementioned six areas, which teachers can apply in the classroom. 

The CAC President, Roger Loppacher, has noted that “from now on, schools have a new tool to assess and determine the digital skills and ability to understand messages received in huge numbers by our young people via social media, providing us with more information to help pupils become competent in these areas”. 

He explained that “young people do not only need to be competent in how digital technology works, as indeed they already are, but also need to be critical in handling the large amount of content they receive, to be responsible for the content they produce and spread themselves, and careful with their online identity”. 

Good scores in technological skills but shortcomings in critical thinking 

To test the new tool, a pilot test was carried out in May 2021 with 8,699 pupils aged 14 to 18 from the seven countries involved in the project, of which 1,192 were Catalan. 

The second highest score was achieved in the section on Aesthetics, specifically the participants’ ability to relate media productions with other artistic disciplines, to detect joint influences, and aspects related to design, music and colour. 

The third highest score was obtained in the section on Ideology, which explores how media representations shape each person’s perception of reality. The questions in this section focus on differentiating truth from untruth in news, and issues related to disinformation. The lowest scores appeared in the sections of Production and dissemination, Reception and Language. 

Recommendations based on the pilot test 

As for recommendations, the organisations carrying out the project highlighted the contradiction that schools tend to focus their media education on the technological aspects when pupils are already relatively competent in this area. Specifically, they recommended focusing more on how messages are received. Another recommendation was to expand school curricula with more subjects tackling the ideological basis of media actions and the impact of fake news. 

As for the three areas in which pupils achieved the weakest results, it was suggested that this illustrates how students are unfamiliar with the way in which media companies and digital platforms operate. They are also unaware of how media messages are produced according to certain rules, and how messages can have an additional meaning. 

In particular, regarding the results of the Production and dissemination section, the recommendation is that specific programmes should be designed, and funding provided to increase pupils’ ability to create content, as well as the proposal to improve cooperation between schools and media institutions so that students can have first-hand, direct knowledge of how media messages are produced. 

The highest scores were achieved by the older pupils (15 to 17), so another recommendation was to reinforce media literacy programmes for younger age groups. 

Project partners 

The organisations involved in the project include five European media authorities, two public institutions related to education, and one university. Specifically, the five media authorities are: the Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC); the Agencija za Elektronicke Medije (AEM) in Croatia; Rada pre Vysielanie a Retransmisiu (RVR) in Slovakia; Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) in France and Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC) in Portugal.

The two educational bodies are the National Centre of Audiovisual Media & Communication (EKOME) in Greece and Webwise in Ireland. The Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) has also been involved to ensure the project complies with the principles of scientific research. 

Find out more about the work of the Irish Safer Internet Centre, including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services – or find similar information for Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.