Primary School Teachers’ Media and Information Literacy: A Contrastive Study Between France and Peru

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the implementation of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in French and Peruvian primary schools, considering teachers’ information practices. Data collection involved individual teacher interviews (21), classroom observations (20), and student group interviews (21) in both countries. Despite contrasting national contexts, findings reveal a scarcity of MIL-focused learning activities, with information-seeking tasks being the most prevalent, often occurring outside of school hours (such as homework). While teachers acknowledge the importance of MIL, time constraints, technical and pedagogical challenges, and a lack of dedicated training were cited as significant barriers. Teachers rely heavily on self-training and personal information habits to implement MIL-related learning activities in the classroom. They struggle with information seeking for teaching purposes, such as lesson plans. Theoretically, the study highlights the need to address the research gap on teachers’ information practices. Practically, the findings shed light on the necessity of educating primary school teachers in the MIL area, taking into account the role of information in their everyday lives as well as in their jobs, and the way these information experiences shape classroom MIL implementation. Findings suggest that public policies should consider teachers’ actual ability to educate students in MIL (beyond computer equipment and how-to-use training) to reduce information inequalities.