The relevance of digital media for learning at school is beyond question, regardless of their use as a didactic teaching tool or as a student’s learning tool. At the same time, digital media are increasingly addressed as a subject matter. In all three fields, media literacy is required; it will only become an integral part of the learning and teaching culture if digital media are permanently and broadly integrated in the everyday life of school.

Therefore the LfM asked ifib to carry out a comprehensive empirical investigation. The aim of the study is to review (1) the significance of all forms of media literacy in the fifth and sixth grades of secondary schools in North-Rhine-Westphalia, (2) how media literacy is taught in class, (3) which challenges this implies and (4) which recommendations can be deduced from the findings in order to enhance the dissemination of media literacy at school.

The research approach is multi-dimensional. On the one hand, the teachers of the general-education schools in North-Rhine-Westphalia are interviewed in a representative survey. On the other hand we will carry out qualitative case studies in schools. They will be based on group discussions with teachers and expert interviews with representatives of the school management, the school authority, the school supervisory board and the responsible competence teams.

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