Vol. 518 No. 4
27 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science the proposals, if any, he has to heighten the awareness of primary school children to the implications of television advertising which is targeted at children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9521/00]
Social, personal and health education, SPHE, is an important element of the revised primary curriculum. Through this programme children develop a framework of values, attitudes, understanding and skills that will inform their decisions and actions both now and in the future. SPHE helps children to become more discerning in their use of the media and to learn about, and become aware of, the techniques and strategies used in advertising and in the media generally.
A detailed section on media education is contained in the curriculum for each level from infants to sixth class. The material is graded in terms of difficulty to suit the needs of each age-group and there are specific elements on advertising at each level. Detailed guidelines are provided in the curriculum documentation on planning the media programme at school and classroom level. Exemplars on the pedagogic approaches that might be adopted in order to enable children to analyse a television advertisement are provided in the teacher guidelines.
I am confident that this programme will result in raising the awareness of children to the influences of television and other forms of advertising.
