Building bridges, active citizenship in Europe
three-year project, starting in school year 2004/05

RESEARCH ON MEDIA, DISCRIMINATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY LEVEL  AT  SCHOOL AND IN FAMILY

 

In Lithuania 90 students filled in the questionnaire out of it 50 girls and 40 boys.
In Slovenia 68 students took part in it 39 girls and 29 boys, while in Poland 53 students gave the answers 29 of them were girls and 24 were boys.
 
 
In all three countries more than 60 % of the respondents read  PRESS more than once a week, 20 % read magazines once a week and only 13 % read them rarely. It is very good to know that almost there are not students who do not read papers at all.
 
All the students have chosen yellow press (teenage) as the priority. Polish and Lithuanian students have chosen the quality press as the second priority and science press on the third place thus Slovenian students the other way round.
Students read magazines out of different reasons. In Poland and Slovenia most students (actually more than half) read papers to relax or because they are interested in sports, news, life etc. while Lithuanian because they are interested in events in their country and in Europe as well as sports, news, and life. It occurred in the questionnaire that they read because they want and like it not because they are forced or encouraged to do it.
 
Most of our young respondents in all three countries listen to the RADIO for music and then news, all other issues are not that important.
 
The next question also proved that our students do not differ much, for all of them answers a and c are on top, all our students listen to radio programs to relax or because they are interested in music, sports, celebrities etc. The next chosen answer was b – interest in events in the country and in Europe, but it was not as much popular as a and c. 
 
If they were asked about the time spent in front of TV  they most often answered b - 1 -3 hours, then less popular answers were c – 3 to 5 hours and a - 1 hour, it is good to hear that for most of them TV is not style of life.
 
Even though the amount of time spent on watching TV is similar the reasons for watching TV are quite different in all three countries, it may be caused by the quality of certain programs as well as the preferences. In Lithuania and Slovenia films are on the top while in Poland watching news was the first priority. As the second priority Slovenian students chose music, Lithuanian chose news while Polish quiz shows. And the third priority also differs - in Poland it was films, documentaries and music (equally), in Slovenia documentaries and in Lithuania  soap operas.
 
The order of the most frequent answers to the third question was the same in all countries. Students watch TV to relax first of all, the second place is because they are interested in music, films, sports and celebrities and for the third because they are interested in events in the country and in Europe. In this case they also showed similar preferences.
The next few questions were about the interne, and as far as the INTERNET access is concern, it looks the best in Slovenia where 94% of students has the access to the internet, then 86% in Lithuania and 77% in Poland, we all agreed that it is good the number of students having access to the internet are so high in all the countries.
 
Most students in Slovenia, Poland and Lithuania can use internet  at home or at school, but all of them have possibilities to use it somewhere.
 
As in the case of TV reasons for which the students use internet differs a little bit from country  to country. In Lithuania and Slovenia most students use the internet mostly to chat and it was the first priority in these two countries, the next priority in Slovenia was to check emails and in Lithuania to search information for school. They use it also to search information for school in Slovenia but as the third priority and to check emails in Lithuania the same. As far as Polish is concern we can not see priorities the frequency of choosing answers  is on the same level in all cases.
 
When the respondents were asked about  the MASS MEDIA  they like most, in Poland and Slovenia students put the internet on the first place and then TV while in Lithuania TV first and then internet.
 
All of the respondents agree that TV has the most positive influence on them and they enumerated internet on the second place.
 
As far as their answer to the media having the most negative influence on them, their answers differed. Slovenian students decided that TV has the most negative influence on them just after it they put radio and then press. Lithuanians put internet on the first place and then TV and radio. While Press has the most negative influence for Polish students, they put radio on the second place and internet on the third.
 
As we could have expected in all three countries family has a greatest impact on the students’ civic awareness. On the second and third place all respondents put either school or media.
 
In Slovenia and Lithuania media has big impact on the students’ NATIONAL AWARENESS  while in Poland the impact is low. It is the same with the impact on their European awareness in the case of   Poland and Slovenia but the Lithuanian students think the impact of media on their EUROPEAN AWARENESS is low.
 
Almost half of the students in Poland  and Lithuania think that media inform about their rights and obligations and equal number of students in those countries think they do not. At the same time  49% of Slovenian respondents answered that media do inform them about it, the rest of numbers are quite small and comparable to each other.
 
In both of the countries – Poland and Lithuania media has a low impact on their positive BEHAVIOUR while in Slovenia the impact is quite big according to the students.
 
In all the three countries media has low or no impact on students’ negative behaviour (SI-75%, PL-90%,LT-89% ).
 
In Slovenia and Lithuania half of the students KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS (SI-49%, LT-54%); though in Poland the number is lower and it makes 43 %. 46% of the Polish students claim that they do not know enough about their rights.
 
In Slovenia and Lithuania school informs students most about their rights while family and media are mentioned as the second source. However, in Poland the priority is given to family.
 
The students in Poland and Lithuania think that MEDIA REPORTS ON VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS to create sensations first and only then to inform about it and to raise empathy. In Slovenia ,though, the main function of media is seen to inform and only then to create sensations.
 
In Poland and Lithuania the majority of students seldom or never notice DISCRIMINATION RELATED TO NATIONALITY in their environment (PL-72%,LT-75%). In Slovenia, 52 % of the students do not see people discriminated, while 41% of the students notice people being discriminated because of their nationality. In all the three countries only 6.5% of the respondents very often notice the cases of discrimination.
 
We are glad to find out that a great number of the respondents were never discriminated because of their nationality themselves ( SI-75%, PL-89%, LT-86% ).
 
The results show that most of the students do not notice DISCRIMINATION RELATED TO GENDER in their environment (SI-76%,PL-81%,LT-86%). The percentage of students who very often notice discrimination related to gender is low (SI-8%,PL-7%,LT-4%).
 
The percentage of the respondents who have never or seldom been discriminated because of their gender is very high (SI-93%, PL-90%, LT-96%).
 
 
In Poland 76% and in Slovenia 62% of the students seldom or never notice DISCRIMINATION RELATED TO SOCIAL BACKGROUND in their environment. Though in Lithuania this number is 52%.In Lithuania, on the other hand, 48% of the students very often or often see discrimination related to social background. Discrimination related to social background is considered to be a problem by 25% Polish and 36% Slovenian students.
We are happy to notice that in all the countries the majority of the students have never been discriminated because of their social background (SI-71%, PL-85%, LT-73%). However, in all the three countries there are students who are very often or often discriminated because of their social background (SI-13%, PL-6%, LT-14%).
 
In all the three countries more than half of the respondents seldom or never notice DISCRIMINATION RELATED TO DIFFERENT LIFESTYLE (SI-57%,PL-65%,LT-63%). It should be mentioned that the number of the students who very often notice people being discriminated because of  different lifestyle is also significant (SI-13%, PL-15%, LT-11%).
 
We can state that the greater majority of the respondents have never or seldom been discriminated because of their different lifestyle (SI-83%, PL-83%, LT-92%). It is interesting to find out that 6% of Polish and 9% of Slovenian students are very often discriminated because of their different lifestyle, while in Lithuania it makes only 1 %. This could be explained by the fact that Vilnius is a comparatively big city and people are used to different styles.
 
It is important to mention  that students evaluate the  DEMOCRACY LEVEL AT THEIR  SCHOOLS positively. Relationships among teachers and students are considered to be very good by 4% of the students in Slovenia, by 17% in Poland and by 9% of students in Lithuania. They are seen as good by 69% of Slovenian, 45% of Polish and 49% of Lithuanian students. They are seen as not good by 18% of Slovenian, 28% of Polish and 34% of Lithuanian students. Relationships among teachers and students are considered to be bad by a few students only (SI-9%, PL-9%,LT-7%).
 
Relationships between the students and their peers are named to be very good or good (SI-87%, PL-77%,LT-58%). In Slovenia only 7% of the students think that relationships between students and their classmates are not good, whereas in Poland 9% of students claim that relationships are not good. In Lithuania it is 38%. The number is high and, thus, the causes of the problem should be considered. Only a few students in all the three countries think that  situation  is bad (SI-4%, PL-4%,LT-5%).
 
It is interesting to note that for 16% of respondents in Slovenia, only 6% in Poland and 32% in Lithuania a teacher is a partner and  knowledge provider. 51% of the students in Slovenia, 77% in Poland and 50% in Lithuania consider a teacher as a person who only gives knowledge. The statement that teacher is a person who only looks for your drawbacks was answered as follows: 13% of students agree with this statement in Slovenia, only 8% in Poland and 14% in Lithuania. There were students who answered that they do not know who is a teacher (SI-19%, PL-9%,LT-3%).
 
Talking about rights and obligations at school the students answered that only 3%  of them in Slovenia, 4% in Poland and 6% in Lithuania have more rights at school. 71%  of them in Slovenia, 96% in Poland and 56% in Lithuania have more obligations than rights. 26%  of them in Slovenia and 38% in Lithuania have rights and obligations equally.
 
The work of THE STUDENTS’ COUNCIL at school is evaluated very well and well by 30% of students in Slovenia, 77% in Poland and 54% in Lithuania. The students think that students’ council doesn’t work well (SI-43%, PL-21%,LT-26%).The work of students’ council is evaluated as bad by 26% of students  in Slovenia, 2% in Poland and 19% in Lithuania. We can draw conclusions that the work of the students’ councils is evaluated more positively in Lithuania and in Poland than in Slovenia.
 
However, in all the three countries the majority of students noted that they have never or only once tried to get involved into students’ council work themselves (SI-93%, PL-87%, LT-86%).
 
In Poland and Slovenia most students would try to change teaching methods if they became a member of the students’ council, whereas, in Poland the majority of the students would introduce more extra curriculum activities if they got involved into the students’ council.
 
We are happy to notice that in all the three countries the greater proportion of the students have indicated that their rights have never or seldom been violated and they have never or seldom been discriminated in their families (SI-86%, PL-96%, LT-83%).
 
In all the three countries approximately half of the students have an equal amount of RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS AT HOME (SI-59%, PL-50%, LT-56%). However, there is a significant number of students who have more obligations at home (SI-26%, PL-28%, LT-25%).
 
In Slovenia and Poland in more than half of the respondents’ families all the family together makes most decisions (SI-60%, PL-53%). At the same time in Lithuania most decisions are made by mother (38%) and one third (33%) said that the  all the family together makes most decisions.
 
In all the three countries the majority of students said that their parents are partners, who listen to them and advise them (SI-70%, PL-81%, LT-71%).
 

 



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Last updated: 06/09/05.