The Guardian Foundation, a charity dedicated to promoting press freedom and access to journalism, have recommended that news and media literacy be recognised as a competency throughout the curriculum, with investment in training, support and resources to make this happen.
The Foundation defines news and media literacy as “the ability to critically engage with news and online information as well as the skills and confidence to challenge information and act upon it responsibly, so that people can become more engaged citizens, able to make informed decisions about their lives.”
Kelly Walls, Executive director, The Guardian Foundation, said:
“The spread of false information poses a significant threat to democracy and societal cohesion. Without a universal understanding of the facts, society is more divided, less safe and less democratic. Despite growing up as digital natives, our research shows that young people often lack the critical thinking skills to evaluate news sources effectively. That’s why we’re asking the government to add news and media literacy to the curriculum as a core competency, so it can be taught across different subjects, with a framework that outlines the objectives and expected outcomes for each key stage.
Through the delivery of our programmes, we have seen the impact that embedding these skills can have and are committed to making news and media literacy education a reality for all children.”
The Foundation’s submission to the curriculum review draws extensively from their experience teaching children and young people. Evaluation and research into their programmes have shown that children can be taught effective strategies for critically evaluating online information, such as lateral reading, source verification, and fact-checking. Their programmes provide evidence that systematic media literacy instruction can have a significant impact on young people’s ability to navigate the complex digital landscape:
More resilient to misinformation: research found that schools participating in their primary news literacy programme demonstrated a clear improvement in the ability of their 9-11-year-old pupils to detect fake news. This improvement was sustained over time.
Stronger writers: Teachers report year after year that taking part in their programme increases young people’s writing skills.
Better citizens: research suggests children with news literacy skills are more likely to engage with their community, volunteer and help others.
Future leaders: 75% of the Foundation’s young media literacy ambassadors improved their presentation and communication skills in addition to improving critical thinking in relation to news.
About The Guardian Foundation
The Guardian Foundation is an award winning charity that works directly with journalists, news organisations, audiences and educators, in schools and across communities to:
Build news and media literacy skills for the next generation;
Champion more diverse voices and perspectives in the media;
Support at-risk independent media to continue their work and engage audiences with fact based journalism.
They are known for their educational programmes, which cater for primary aged students (NewsWise) right up to secondary and higher education students (Behind the Headlines). They also open up access to journalism through their Scott Trust Bursary and political opinion writing award. They also support independent media internationally.
Further information about the charity’s work can be found here.
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Further information:
Guardian News & Media Press Office
t: +44 (0)20 3353 3696
e: media.enquiries@theguardian.com
