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Research by Stiftung Lesen

Round Table 2008 : Children’s Media World - Change in the Media World of Children and Youths

The topic of the 4th Reading Promotion Round Table in the Cultural Centre Erbacher Hof on 6th and 7th November was titled “The change in the Media World of Children.” Approximately 40 leading experts from ministries, leading promotion institutes and the sciences accepted the invitation issued by Stiftung Lesen to discuss the changes and development in the World of Media for children and youths. The event is traditionally sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung). The opening greeting was given by Corinna Brüntink, leading project manager of the BMBF.

“The media use behavior of children has long since changed from traditional to digital media” Prof. Dr. Stefan Aufenanger, Research Manager of Stiftung Lesen explained. Eight-year-olds are already surfing in the Internet, ten-year-olds possess mobile phones, which are not only used for phone calls but as multi-media instruments with diverse functions. Email, chat or SMS functions are obvious and standard components of every-day-life for children and youths. The media revolution marches on in children’s bedrooms. The central question from the Round Table was: What does this mean for the classic printing media? What status does the printing media have in the media use of children and youths and what should successful reading promotion look like in the future?

“The book is on its way perhaps not to lose its supremacy but to look different. Reading promotion must ask itself, to what extent their aims and implementations are in keeping with the actual use of the media by children” said the Managing Director of Stiftung Lesen, Heinrich Kreibich. Increasingly more girls have discovered game consoles and the Internet for their entertainment. Direct feedback, which the electronic media offers, increases their attractiveness as opposed to the classic printing media. The Plenum demanded that reading promotion should strongly be related to the media and consumer culture of children and youths.

The experts all agreed that the topic “Digital Media” has been poorly represented in the education and training of Nursery School and school teachers. Educationalists have a lot to catch up with on the subject of media competence. This reflects in practice: Children’s Day Centres are not well enough equipped with digital media. In classrooms, pupils turn to friends, brothers and sisters and parents with their computer problems and only on rare occasions to their teachers. Therefore a central result of the conference was: to pay more attention and to lay more importance in future on the improved education and further education of teachers in Child Day Centres and in schools.

The results of the Round Table are documented in a booklet, which will appear in Stiftung Lesen’s publications, expected in March 2009.