The Montenegro Media Strategy for the period 2022-2026 drafted and led by the Ministry of Culture and Media, recognises media literacy as an elective subject in all schools in Montenegro, not just in grammar schools, as was the case.
Upon the initiative of the Institute, the Montenegrin National Council of Education introduced media literacy as an elective subject in primary schools beginning with the 2023/24 school year. Within the UNESCO EU-funded project "Building Trust in Media South-East Europe and Turkey - Phase 2, the Montenegro Media Institute provided Media Literacy Guidelines to primary school teachers to teach media literacy to students in Montenegro.
The number of students choosing MIL as an elective course in Montenegro has substantially increased compared to previous years showing the growing interest among youth to develop their MIL skills. However, in Montenegro, MIL is just an elective course offered in 30% of high schools, while it was until now completely absent from primary education.
The guidelines aim at encouraging teachers and students at primary schools to approach the interpretation and deconstruction of media messages openly and curiously, as well as the analysis and critical evaluation of media content. The goal of the guidelines is not to cause ultimate resistance to the media in students, but healthy doubt and a demand for them to be better.
To that end, the Montenegro Media Institute formed a working group that held a series of meetings on the content of the manual and the methodological approach. The working group comprised experienced practitioners in teaching media literacy, Bureau for Educational Services experts, a university, a methodologist and a pedagogue.
The guidelines (11 units) contain basic and crucial knowledge, skills and concepts necessary for entering the world of media literacy - from what it means to be media literate, through key questions through which one can deconstruct a media message, spot and determine the difference between the world of media and the reality that surrounds us. Identifying types of media and media manipulation, as well as stereotypes and prejudices that can arise from media messages, to creating independent media messages.
In addition to critical thinking, the authors associate the importance of media literacy with the emotions caused by certain media messages. Teachers are encouraged to cultivate skills such as teamwork, creativity, patience, self-control, and tolerance in students. Every chapter provides simple and accessible steps for teachers to achieve the goal - the active search for sources of information and the skilful analysis of that information.
“We have an extensive and comprehensive 150-page document, which is the first of this kind in Montenegro; it will be a sound basis for teachers to teach the subject of media literacy”, underlined Olivera Nikolić.
The Montenegro Media Institute, together with the State Bureau for Educational Services of Montenegro, which approved the guidelines last January, and the Agency for Electronic Media will circulate the document among primary schools’ teachers and managing boards in the northern, central and southern regions of the country.
The second phase of the project “” was launched in November 2019 by UNESCO and the European Union, DG NEAR. To address the decline in the civil society’s trust in media in the region, the 3-year project aims to, among others, pilot Media and Information Literacy in formal and informal education.
