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The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) has trained a new group of educators who teach Russian-speaking high school students, this time in the northern districts of Moldova. 13 female teachers and one male teacher participated in a new training on media literacy, held online between March 5 and 7, 2021.
At the beginning of the training, Oxana Iuteș, representative of Internews in Moldova, congratulated the teachers for the step they took by enrolling in this training program. “For four years now we have been working with the IJC to develop the critical analysis skills of citizens and, in particular, of students. Our goal is to make sure that young people can distinguish between truthful news and disinformation, and browse the internet safely.”
Anastasia Nani, deputy director of the IJC, mentioned the support that the organization offers to educators. “Since 2014, the Center has focused on media and information literacy, promoting the teaching of this optional course in schools. The IJC has developed curricula and textbooks for the three levels of school education, all of which have been translated into Russian and are available in electronic format. We also have many educational and interactive resources that can be used during lessons,” she said.
The trainers of the course were Natalia Grîu, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Research, and Dumitru Stoianov, journalist and fact checker.
The training program was developed based on the Media Education curriculum and textbook for high school level, Russian version. For three days, participants enriched their media skills, learned what a news story should look like, tried on the role of reporters, explored new terms and tools, and studied the opportunities, but also the risks of the online environment for young people.
The participants in the training were convinced of the importance of media literacy, both for teachers and students. Alla Climovici, teacher of Russian language and literature at the “Lev Tolstoy” Theoretical Lyceum in Glodeni, confessed that the information received was in line with expectations. “Thanks to the training I understood how to help my students navigate this ocean of information. I hope that by teaching this course I will be able to contribute to the formation of conscious and well-informed citizens,” the teacher confessed. Another teacher, Liliana Fiodorovici, from the “Anton Chekhov” Theoretical Lyceum in Floresti, was also convinced to teach the course. “Time flew so fast during the training, as I was absorbed by the information flow. I believe that Media Education is a transdisciplinary course, which opens minds,” said the teacher at the end of the training.
To date, the IJC has trained 171 primary school teachers, 150 middle school teachers, and 111 high school teachers. The optional subject Media Education has been taught in Moldovan schools since 2017, being included in the Framework Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Research of the Republic of Moldova at all three levels of school education – primary, middle, and high school.
This training was organized by the Independent Journalism Center in partnership with Internews in Moldova, within the project “Increasing support for independent Russian-language media outlets and media education efforts.” The project is financially supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
