Media Literacy Programs in Australia, Canada, Britain and Turkey

Compared to their parents’ times, the children of today have access to a much broader range of media outlets and technological tools. In such an environment, they are creating their own realities by being in constant contact with the media. In order to be able to access, analyze, interpret and produce the complex forms of media texts in the 21st century, the citizens of today need to develop multiple skills and competencies, including media literacy. This research, aimed at analyzing the K-12 curriculum documents of the three pioneering countries in media literacy namely, Australia, Canada, and Britain, in addition to the leading theories developed in this field, gives the first example of an international comparative analysis to find the problematic aspects in the Turkish curriculum and offer proposals for change. This research should be especially useful to professionals and academics doing research in this field as well as teachers and administrators of the media literacy programs in the world.