Media Competence of Teachers and Students of Compulsory Education in Spain

Abstract

Faced with a society that uses the media from dawn until dusk, it is imperative to identify the relationship between users and media. Therefore, this quantitative research aims to determine media competence levels of teachers and students in compulsory education in six areas. Media competence offers a diagnosis of possible shortcomings and needs educational intervention in both groups. Primary education students have shown an intermediate level of media competence. Secondary education students are at a basic level of competence in all the areas, except for technology and media literacy, which are at an intermediate level of competence. Most teachers have a basic level of media competence in all areas. Despite having a curriculum that meets the needs of media literacy in compulsory education and the proliferation of policies supporting technology, this is the weakest area in participants. A critical revision of school curricula and a consensus in their design and development would facilitate students’ shared training and minimize a possible exclusion in relation to media. Meanwhile an own curriculum and a training through a network of related professionals is the way to achieve higher levels of competence in both groups..