Appendix Three - Interviews with Teachers at The Gryphon School

Interview with Mrs Dutton (Head of Geography) – 17.11.16

 Interviewer: Can you explain what media literacy means to you?

Mrs Dutton: I think probably, it means using a variety of different sources from the media to access your literacy, from songs or video clips or newspapers; a wide range of sources.

Interviewer: Can you describe the levels of media literacy in the school currently?

Mrs Dutton: In Geography I would say that in some of our topics we do try to use a range of sources. I would say that newspapers are used the most. We might look at a case study on flood events and take that from newspapers or possibly like a YouTube clip on the mass movement on a cliff or something like that. We do try to keep our sources up to date but I’m not sure if that’s consistent across the school. The students can find it really difficult though; some of the students prefer something printed out in front of them so when watching a clip, unless you stop it to say this bit is really good so write it down, they find it hard and may have forgotten things by the end. The moving image texts can be challenging.

Interviewer: If the teachers were to focus on improving the media literacy of KS3 students, how would this be of benefit to them?

Mrs Dutton: I think it would be really really beneficial because that is how they are accessing a lot of their material at home from a wide range of sources. So I think if we were able to access some of that energy and enthusiasm it would be really good for them.

Interviewer: If staff were asked to focus on improving media literacy alongside traditional literacy at key stage three, what issues might arise?

Mrs Dutton: I suppose for myself, I don’t know very much about media literacy and I don’t know how to help students access it so I can imagine that staff would need a little bit of training to understand. There are also physical barriers: we’ve had issues with the iPads, getting QR codes to work, YouTube being banned, and uploading work to Foldr. So there are technological barriers as well as staff knowledge and confidence.

Interviewer: How could these issues be addressed?

Mrs Dutton: I think an INSET training session on it for those staff who are interested could be really good, and then a monitoring of how it’s being embedded in schemes of work. We already say, “This is a literacy or a big write,” so how are we adapting that to include media literacy?

Lots of teachers will think that media literacy doesn't link to their subject areas so they need to be shown that it does. So, they need some explanation of how it can be used in different subject areas but also some ideas for activities that they could apply to their schemes of work etc.

 

Interview with Mrs Bendell (Head of English) – 17.11.16

 Interviewer: Can you explain what media literacy means to you?

Mrs Bendell: To me, it means that the students’ ability to use and understand media concepts like audience, and media terminology that they might then use to make a media product. I think it’s really important that they are taught these skills in all of their lessons because this is the world that they are going to be going into so whatever job area they are interested in, they are going to be using the media in some way. So yeah: their ability to deconstruct media texts and then re-build it using all of the little components and features they have looked at to make something useable and relevant is really important.

Interviewer: Can you describe the levels of media literacy in the school currently?

Mrs Bendell: I think they are probably ok in certain department areas. I would say that in my department (English), we already do use quite a lot of media elements in key stage three schemes of work but I don’t think we flag it up to the students. We don’t ever point those features out and say, ‘and this is a skill that you can apply in your other subjects.’ So, I think they are there but we don’t make the most of it and we probably do it in a piece-meal way, quite a small way.

The school does seem to prioritise digital literacy over media literacy. We have a very high profile digital package of iLesson, iLearn and using your own devices in lessons. The students are very digitally aware but I don’t think they understand as much about deconstructing or making their own media products unless they choose Media Studies GCSE or A Level.

Interviewer: If the teachers were to focus on improving the media literacy of KS3 students, how would this be of benefit to them?

Mrs Bendell: In terms of their skills, it’s going to improve their knowledge of concepts that run throughout their subjects, especially English. Audience for example. So, understanding in a piece of writing that you are tailoring it to a particular age or gender. By thinking about it in media texts, they can relate it to something that they are probably more likely to be experiencing on a daily basis. So in film trailers for example, they are going to be able to work out all of those little nuances of audience more than in story openings which they might not look at very often. So yeah, the key concepts of media which I’m aware of having previously taught media as a non-specialist, link in really well to English. But they are still cross-curricular. They apply to all subjects. It gives them a set of terminology and tools that they can apply in other areas.

Interviewer: If staff were asked to focus on improving media literacy alongside traditional literacy at key stage three, what issues might arise?

Mrs Bendell: I think they will have issues with their own confidence levels with digital media technology. So just using iPads with a class of students for example. How to do things in certain apps and being confident to show students. Saving work. Just the smaller things that put staff off from using technology. I think it’s more the technology side of it than the media side of things. Although, maybe there is a lack of confidence in their knowledge of media. So that’s where they would need some support and some tools to help.

Interviewer: How could these issues be addressed?

Mrs Bendell: I think some modelling of it. Possibly teachers being able to see it in action, maybe through some open door exercises where staff can wander around and see it in practice. They need to see that it is doable. It would also be good for them to see some work and discuss ‘this is what we’ve done and this is how it has improved our students’ skills levels and this is how it will help you in your subject areas.’

De-coding the language is also going to be important, especially if you don’t specialise in anything similar to media. Although, you’d be surprised by what some of the teachers do in their own time; some teachers have their own blog or website so it would be an individual case by case thing.   

I also think that in this day and age, we need to be able to assess every aspect of what the students are studying. So how do you assess media literacy? We already have an assessment rubric for reading and writing that all departments use, so perhaps something similar is needed for media literacy.