The Development of Media Studies in Scotland

The beginnings

Media Studies really took off (as far as schools and FE colleges are concerned) in the early 1980s with the introduction of the Post-16 Action Plan to provide vocational courses for students for whom Highers (the post-16 academic qualification) was not felt to be appropriate. The Action Plan gave rise to modules administered by the Scottish Vocational Education Council (SCOTVEC). These were 40-hour units of study which could be combined with other modules to make courses. Included in the programme was a set of media studies modules, both general ones such as Introduction to Media and Media Studies: General and specific modules such as Film, Television, Advertising, Popular Fiction, Popular Narrative, Newspapers and Magazines. Production as well as analysis was at the centre of these courses. In the absence of Media Studies in the mainstream Scottish exam system (Standard Grade for 14 to 16 and Highers for 16+), the courses soon spread to schools.

Two bodies played key roles in the development of media education in this period: the Scottish Film Council (SFC), a publicly-funded body set up to promote film in Scotland, and the Association for Media Education in Scotland (AMES). Formed in 1983, AMES was, and remains, a grassroots movement which grew out of a belief that media education was part of every young person’s curricular entitlement. AMES campaigned for years for the inclusion of media in the curriculum, both as a distinct discipline and as a permeating element, lobbying all the relevant bodies such as SCOTVEC, the Scottish Exam Board (these have now been merged to form the Scottish Qualifications Authority – SQA), the Scottish Central Council for the Curriculum (now Teaching and Learning Scotland), the General Teaching Council and the main Scottish Teachers’ Union, the Educational Institute for Scotland (EIS). In 1989 there was some success in that the study of media texts in English could be undertaken in Standard Grade (14-16) and Higher (post-16) and was included in the 5-14 Language Programme.

Media Studies and ‘Higher Still’

With the complete revision of the Highers (the “Higher Still” programme) in 1999 which combined academic and vocational qualifications and extended them to all ability levels, Media Studies finally received its rightful place in the curriculum as a subject in its own right. Now it is possible to take Media Studies at all levels from ‘Access’ through ‘Intermediate’ to ‘Higher’ and ‘Advanced Higher’ (post-17). The rationale for the whole “Higher Still” scheme is to provide something at every level of ability, from first year university (Advanced Higher) to special needs (Access). ‘Access’ courses are offered in special schools and special units attached to FE colleges. Intermediate and Higher courses are available to students coming to media as a separate subject post-16. (There is no Standard Grade for Media Studies).

Course specification

Study is organised on the basis of the key concepts: Categories (which includes Genre), Languages, Narrative, Representations, Audiences and Institutions, (A seventh, Technology, is considered an element which can permeate all the other key concepts.) The analysis of media texts is underpinned by production and the exam includes a production element. The course is made up of to units consisting of Analysis (80 hours) and Production (40 hours). For the Analysis, students have to study a minimum of two texts covering fiction and non-fiction at Higher and fiction/non-fiction and print/non-print at Intermediate 2. In the Production Unit, the product itself is not assessed but the student’s involvement (as reflected in a teacher’s checklist and student log), and student’s evaluation are assessed. These internally-assessed units have to be passed as well as the exam for the student to have passd the complete course.

This Analysis-Production division is reflected in the exam. Categories and Languages are examined by an Unseen Analysis paper which is set by the centre for Higher but assessed externally and set centrally for Intermediate 2. (Problems of copyright mean that, in practice, the Intermediate 2 Unseen is likely to be a print product such as an advert; in Higher, any unseen text can be set). Narrative, Representation, Audience and Institution are examined by an essay in the exam in which the student has to integrate these key concepts. These combine to give 60% for Analysis with the other 40% for Production. This takes the form either of an essay reflecting on the similarities with and differences from the practices in the appropriate media industry, or in a creative exercise in which the students apply what they have learned in production to a new situation. (This need not take the form of an essay – diagrams, storyboards and annotated scripts are also encouraged).

While it is common for further education centres to have departments and sections dealing with Media Studies, it is almost unknown in schools. This lack of a departmental base can be a problem for the development of Media Studies as there is often stiff competition in attracting students and Media Studies’ popularity can mean that courses in other subjects might not run. There are very few teachers who teach only Media Studies. Most teaching of media studies takes place in English, Art, and Drama and Social Subjects departments, sometimes exclusive to one department, at other times in cross-departmental cooperation. In 2000, after lobbying by AMES and the EIS, the General Teaching Council recognised Media Studies as a subject for which teachers should be formally qualified and registered. It also established an Additional Teaching Qualification (ATQ) in Media Studies for teachers who did not necessarily have all the formal academic qualifications but gave credit for the experience gained in teaching the subject.

http://www.mediaed.org.uk/content/view/100/115/