This article explores the relationship between a formal media educational encounter in the UK and the broad objectives for media and information literacy education circulating in mainland Europe and the US. A pilot study, developed with a special interest group of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, applied a three-part methodology for comparing the media literacy levels of young people who have studied media in school against peers who at the same educational level, who have not engaged with media education of any kind. The approach hones in on Mihailidis' (2014) framework for media literacy and civic engagement.