Draft:South Australian Association for Media Education Inc (SAAME)

• Comment: Needs more independent, reliable sources. DrowssapSMM 12:09, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

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South Australian Association for Media Education Inc (SAAME)

The South Australian Association for Media Education, commonly known as 'SAMMY' is a not-for-profit, incorporated professional association that promotes the study of media and information literacy (MIL). Its membership base includes educators from all levels of education, media industry and the general public interested in the media education.

History

SAAME originally began as the South Australian Association for Screen Education during the mid 1970s and in 1979 hosted the first National Screen Education Conference in Australia. In 1982 SAAME again held a national conference but this time with a wider focus on media education. Some of the resolutions to come out of this conference included the undertaking of the other states to host this biennial event and the establishment of The Council of Australasian Media Education Organisations. At the Annual General Meeting early in 1983, a new constitution was adopted along with the name - South Australian Association for Media Education, and the organisation became incorporated. Teresa Shearer (now Forest) was the inaugural President. During the early 1980s SAAME was very involved in running student film making camps and supporting the Young Film Makers Festival run by local TV station SAS10.

In 1984 a community service announcement (CSA), "Take Time to Talk" was made and subsequently aired by Adelaide's free-to-air commercial TV stations until the 1990s. This was followed in 1987 with "What are Your Kids Watching?"

For three years in the late 1980s SAAME conducted the S.A.Y. Media Awards. This involved about 1000 students across the state selecting, monitoring and voting for the media products and personalities they thought were the 'best'. The culmination of this process was an Awards night at which the students announced the winners (a la Oscars) and presented them with their award. In 1994 SAAME again hosted the National Media Education Conference. Mediascape '94 succeeded in highlighting the leading role South Australia and SAAME played in Media Education.

2005 saw SAAME involved with Documentary film maker Peter Wintonick from the Thinkers in Residence Program. This lead to a Premier's Department inquiry in to the status of Year 12 Media Studies and a change in its status for university entrance. Peter Wintonick’s residency looked to build a new screen culture in South Australia and resulted in a report entitled,Southern Screens : Southern Stories Building a New Screen Culture in South Australia

In 2007 with industry and education groups, we helped establish the SA Screen Industry Council. With the national conference,Digital Dialogues in 2008, SAAME successfully brought together all of South Australia's key stakeholders; the three universities, TAFE, DECS and non-government schools, to convene this boutique event.

SAAME also represents media education on various curriculum groups and was a contributor to the ACARA Arts Shape Paper and the Australian Curriculum including the latest Version 9.

Media moves

When community radio station 5PBA-FM began test transmissions, SAAME members produced the forerunner to Media Moves and SAAME received a Di Pole Award in acknowledgement of broadcasting the program fro over 20 years. Media Moves is now streamed live and can be heard every second Wednesday of the month at 8:30pm (CST).

Teacher Professional Development

For several decades SAAME ran workshops, seminars and conferences to assist teachers at all educational levels who were taking Media Studies or Media arts classes in schools. These ranged from technical film making courses to industry visits including ABC Adelaide and Rising Sun Pictures. When the Australian curriculum was rolled out SAAME joined with other Arts Associations that are members of the Council of Educational Associations of South Australia (now Educators SA) to run intensive introductory workshops preparing teachers for the new curriculum. As social isolation measures became a control measure during the Covid pandemic, SAAME made greater use of online delivery for professional development as well as conducting its business. During this time we offered online workshops as our contribution to UNESCO's Global Media and Information Literacy Week. We are now at a stage where teachers do not seek out professional development activities provided by subject associations. Apart from the changes the pandemic bought about, teachers particularly in government funded schools are limited in the professional development they can undertake that are outside of their school's Vision Statement and Site Improvement Plan. Also early career teachers generally do not seek assist from subject associations preferring to use online communities and resources like You Tube to learn new skills and techniques. SAAME's Face Book group, Media Educators Engaging Together (MEET) now serves as our main delivery system for professional development. However SAAME continues its presence in all education sectors and presents the South Australian Association for Media Education Outstanding Student Award to graduating students from the University of Adelaide's School of Education.

Lobbying

As promoting Media Education is one of our Aims, SAAME has been heavily involved in lobbying both state and federal governments in Australia. We contributed to the public hearings for Adelaide's free to air television stations when ACMA was still the AMA, put in a submission to the "Future of Community Television" Inquiry, "TV Violence in Australia" Report and also lodged official complaints about the use of hidden cameras by a local current affairs program. In 2004 SAAME published the Media Education Manifesto that was ratified at the 2004 National Media Conference in Melbourne. In recent years SAAME started a petition to keep Australia's Community Television stations broadcasting on free to air. the two remaining community stations Channel 44 and C31 Melbourne have a reprieve until 2024.

Currently SAAME is promoting UNESCO's notion of Media and Information Literacy with both the South Australian and Federal governments. They are concerned that while Australia has been a signatory to the Grunwald Declaration on media education (1982) and The Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning (2005), the country has not actually supported UNESCO's work in this area and has not developed a Media and Information Literacy Policy and Strategy.

SAAME is a member of The UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance, formerly known as Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) which is a groundbreaking effort to promote international cooperation, ensuring that all citizens have access to media and information literacy competencies. Currently only five Australian organisations are members of which only ACMA is connected with government.

External links

SAAME website - http://www.saame.com.au

SAAME Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/mediameet/

SAAME You Tube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@mediaeducationsa2463

   1. Media Plans for IYC. Media Information Australia. 1979;11(1):24-29. doi:10.1177/1329878X7901100104