Media education in Finnish early childhood teacher education : a curricular analysis

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss the results of the media education (ME) study focusing on Finnish early childhood teacher education curricula. The research interest evolved from a specific time in the history of Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC): the first mandatory national core curriculum became effective in 2017 and it also included ME. How was the new teacher generation prepared for this new professional demand? We analysed the curricular texts and mandatory course literature of all seven Finnish university bachelor’s degree programmes that provide teacher qualifications for ECEC, to answer the following research questions: (1) How was media education positioned in early childhood teacher education programmes’ curricula during the academic year 2014–2015? (2) How did the media education related competencies articulated in the curricula fall into the common ECEC professional competence categories? The findings suggest that ME has been marginal topic in Finnish ECEC teacher education. Media education and information and communications technology (ICT) were mostly taught separately, which seems peculiar in today’s media culture. Among the general ECEC professional competencies, contextual and pedagogical ones were emphasised, whereas care competencies were neglected. Additionally, compulsory ME course literature was scarce and partly outdated. The findings raise the question of whether it is possible to expect high-quality media pedagogies from practitioners with little professional training on the topic. We conclude by providing implications for teacher education.