Over the past few weeks, all classes from the fifth and sixth years had the opportunity to compete for the title of the most media-savvy class in Flanders. That honour eventually went to the fifth year class of Sint-Paulus primary school in Hansbeke, East Flanders.
The class was chosen as the winner of ‘De Schaal van M’ (The Scale of M), a media-savvy competition organised by Mediawijs and Ketnet. To win, classes had to successfully complete five game days as well as participate in the competition challenge.
The life of an influencer
The entry for this challenge impressed the jury, leading them to select the fifth class from Hansbeke. The kids in the class created a video report documenting their exploration of 'The life of an influencer', earning not only the prestigious title but also a visit to the filming of Hilly Skate.
‘The class's media savvy quest caused quite a stir at school and in the village.'
For the next year, the class can proudly bear the title of the 'Most media-savvy class in Flanders'. Ketnet presenter Sarah and the Mediawijs team personally delivered the good news to the class.
‘The class's media-savvy exploration created quite a buzz at school and in the village. The class was ambitious and succeeded in convincing over a hundred people from the village to participate,' testifies teacher Nathalie.
Children consciously online
Children are gaining access to mobile phones at increasingly younger ages and are becoming active on social media from early on. This was recently shown by Imec's new Digimeter (research in Flanders and only available in Dutch). It is crucial to engage them in discussions about media wisdom from the very beginning covering topics such as online advertising, privacy, netiquette, reliable information, as wells as cybersecurity and IA.
We strongly believe that it is never too early to start teaching children safe online behaviour. That's exactly why DNS Belgium once again partnered The Scale of M this year, focusing on the theme of cybersecurity and served on the jury. We are delighted that schools and pupils embraced this theme.
The Scale of M offers a fun and accessible way for primary school teachers to address media-wise themes in the classroom. In this seventh edition of the competition, almost 1,900 classes and 39,000 pupils participated over the past few weeks.
The high participation rate gives us hope for the digital skills of young people.
With this article, we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.