Media literacy education in Finland

Investigating the structural components and educational strategies of media literacy education programs in Finland provides an opportunity to reveal the effects of media literacy education programs on students' media use habits and critical thinking skills. The aim of this study is to provide a detailed description of media literacy education in Finland. It aims to examine Finland's media literacy education and to reveal the components of the system behind the success of this model. Within the scope of the study, the historical development of media literacy education in Finland, its pedagogical foundations, the approaches of educators, students and stakeholders to these education programs are discussed. The effects of media literacy education on students, the sustainability of these effects and the success factors that it can offer as an international example are emphasized. In Finland, media education policies are coordinated at the national level by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the National Board of Education. The implementation of media literacy education is coordinated both formally and informally through cooperation between various institutions at national and international level. In Finland, media literacy is taught through fun activities that encourage collaborative learning of various media forms and content. Media is treated as a platform for students to produce their own messages. Students focus on independently exploring, interpreting and producing a variety of content. Through media and source criticism, students learn critical thinking skills. Based on qualitative research methodology, the study was designed to examine Finnish media literacy education and understand the factors behind the success of this model. The research model is based on the descriptive research model. Document analysis technique was used to collect the data of the research. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive analysis method. The results obtained in the light of the analysis of the data were evaluated comprehensively.