Using film as a medium to promote democracy and media literacy in VET schools

Despite a large selection of films on civic education, there is hardly any material that directly links to the lifeworld of app­ren­ti­ces. New approa­ches are needed to ade­qua­te­ly implement the civic education cur­ri­cu­lum in Austria, which was moder­ni­s­ed in 2016 for the first time in almost thirty years.

To this end, the Vienna University of Teacher Education (PH Wien), the Austrian Institute for Educational Research (öibf) and 3s Research & Consulting are deve­lo­ping and testing media packages for the food, tourism and catering sectors at three voca­tio­nal schools in Vienna, together with app­ren­ti­ces and teachers. The selected films, for which teaching materials will be developed, range from docu­men­ta­ries and feature films to voca­tio­nal infor­ma­ti­on films and virtual reality edu­ca­tio­nal films. In addition, targeted media projects (e.g., podcasts, YouTube videos) will be initiated at the schools.

The aim is to promote democracy skills, media literacy and eman­ci­pa­to­ry pro­fes­sio­nal identity deve­lo­p­ment of app­ren­ti­ces as well as to increase the low par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on of voca­tio­nal schools in democracy and media com­pe­ti­ti­ons (e.g., Media Literacy Award). The two-year project is funded by the Digitalisation Fund of the Chamber of Labour Vienna. As coor­di­na­tor, 3s ensures the inter­ac­tion of expertise from the fields of civic education, voca­tio­nal and media education as well as film studies, develops the media packages together with the partners and ensures the dis­se­mi­na­ti­on of the project results.

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Contact:

3s research labo­ra­to­ry: Jörg Markowitsch

PH Wien: Stefan Schmid-Heher

öibf: Norbert Lachmayr

Project Advisory Board:

Antje Barabasch: Eidgenössische Hochschule für Berufsbildung (EHB). Head of the research focus “Teaching and Learning in Vocational Education and Training”.

Susanne Haslinger: Lawyer in the social policy depart­ment of the Produktionsgewerkschaft (PRO-GE).

Brigitte Heller: Board of Education Vienna, Staff for Technology, Economy, Innovation and Digital Education, Gender and Equality

Irene Geihsler: Public Employment Service Austria (AMS). Labor Market Research and Career Information Department.

Martin Kenner: Institute for Educational Science, University of Stuttgart. Deputy Head of the Department of Vocational, Business and Technical Education.

Martina Theininger: Director, Head of the Frame-out Festival and lecturer in Media and Digital Technologies at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten.

Joachim Schätz: Research associate at the Institute for Theater, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna.

Publications:

Karin Gugitscher (2024): Einsatz von Film für berufs­be­zo­ge­ne poli­ti­sche Bildung an Berufsschulen. Ergebnisse einer Stakeholder-Befragung im Rahmen des Projekts „Berufsehre.Lehre.tv“. Mit einer Einführung von Jörg Markowitsch und Stefan Schmid-Heher. Wien. Download

Events:

„Filming Work II“ Workshop

As part of the AK Digifonds project Berufsehre.Lehre.tv, a workshop on pro­fes­si­on and work in com­mer­cial, feature and docu­men­ta­ry film took place in Vienna from September 14–15.

This workshop was a con­ti­nua­tion of a series of events started in November 2022 offering the oppor­tu­ni­ty to exchange expe­ri­en­ces and at the same time providing inputs and feedback on the ongoing 3s project Berufsehre.Lehre.tv. The following topics were in focus:

• Film databases and archives on education, careers and work
• Film mediation or the use of film in voca­tio­nal training
• Film as a means of political education in voca­tio­nal education and media education
• The possible role(s) of the voca­tio­nal infor­ma­ti­on film in voca­tio­nal education and training
• Public scree­nings, festivals and the like more on films related to education, careers and work

The programme of the two-day event can be found here.

The pre­sen­ta­ti­ons of the speakers can be found here (in German):

• Christian Dewald (LBIDH): Schulkino und Reformpädagogik in Wien
• Norbert Lachmayr & Karin Gugitscher (öibf): Zukünftige Nutzer:innen und Multiplilator:innen. Ergebnisse der Stakeholder-Befragung
• Klaus Lehner, Jörg Markowitsch & Moritz Wildburger (3srl): Erfahrungen und Ergebnisse erster Filmrecherchen zu Lebensmittelhandel, Bäckereien und Gastronomie 
• Joachim Schätz (Universität Wien), Vrääth Öhner (LBIDH) & Marie-Noëlle Yazdanpanah (LBIDH): Ergebnisse des Projekts „Praktiken des Lehr- und Unterrichtsfilms in Österreich“ und die Datenbank „www.lehrfilmpraktiken.at“
• Christoph Büttner (Filmuniversität Babelsberg): Ergebnisse des Projekts „Die Verarbeitung der Arbeit im Film“ und die Filmdatenbank „labouronscreen.de“ der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung
• Barbara Waschmann (Staytuned, Wien): Erfahrungen aus zwei Dekaden Schulkino «Junge Normale» und heutige Angebote