About News in education (NIE) Netherlands

Nieuws in de klas (News in the classroom) was founded in 1976 by                                                               the Dutch Newspaper Publishers’ Association (NDP Nieuwsmedia)

Now 3 objectives to promote:
- Readership / Literacy
- Media literacy
- Citizenship

through newsmedia in education


NIE programs promote and facilitate education with and about
news media by:
- Providing schools with newsmedia
- Developing educational materials
- Offering teacher trainings
- Conducting research about youth and news media


Services are available to teachers in:
- Primary education
- Secondary education
- Vocational education
- Language courses for immigrants / life long learning

Nationwide
Throughout entire school year

Teachers integrate newsmedia and our educational material in their lessons throughout the school year


Availability of services in Netherlands:
- Newspaper delivery: two week period
- Access to online newspaper portal for a two week period
- Educational tools: year round


Why use newsmedia in education?

Because newsmedia
… are essential tools in improving language and information skills
… are vital instruments in improving citizenship and democracy
… are crucial sources for understanding how media work (media literacy)
...  are now media (both in print and digital)

And because reading newspapers, i.e. using the news needs to be learnt / taught: it takes media education to improve media literacy

How does NIE contribute to (media) literacy?

NIE programs stimulate young people to inform themselves about both what’s going on in the world, and the way news media report about it by reflecting on the 5 W's: what, who, when, where, why?

This will enable them to:
- Critically use media and media content
- Discuss and reflect about the news  
- Participate actively in dissemination of information
- Become civically engaged


Media literate citizens (know how to) use news media!

Media literacy and media education programs often focus on:
- Improving computer skills
- Audiovisual media productions
- Protecting youth from harmful content

Very little attention is paid to the importance of critically dealing with content

NIE and reading strategies

Applying the 5 W’s to news messages:
What happened, when, and where, who was involved and why?

By:
- Reading and re-reading text
- Interpreting and giving meaning to information                      
- Reflection and discussion



NIE and retrieving and evaluating information

Applying the 5 W’s to authors/sources:
- Who says what, when, and where, and why?
- What is their purpose/interest?
- And how do they approach the topic (style) ?

By:
- Devising search strategies
- Retrieving and organising information
- Evaluating retrieved search results: compare!



NIE and creativity

Applying the 5 W's to news production:
What am I going to write and why? When and where will I publish it? Who is my audience? And how do I approach the issue (style)

By:
- Practicing writing skills
- Practicing journalistic rules
- Active participation
- Dealing with feedback: accountability