IN DEPTH
Media and information literacy: a fresh start with a new school curriculum?
Will a recent focus on the use of misinformation to stoke hatred and rioting be the catalyst for information and media literacy to be developed in school settings? Stéphane Goldstein looks at the potential that lies ahead for the way critical thinking skills are taught.
“SCHOOLS to wage war on ‘putrid’ fake news”: the recent headline in The Sunday Telegraph draws from an interview with the new Secretary of State for Educa- tion, Bridget Phillipson1
. Her views may
herald the start of a welcome evolution in the approach to school teaching in England (Philipson’s brief does not extend to the devolved nations), with critical thinking more firmly embedded in different taught subjects for pupils as young as five. Phillipson’s remarks follow from the gross and heinous disinformation alongside the riots that shook multiple English localities in early August. To quote her, “it’s more important than ever that we give young people the knowledge and skills to be able to challenge what they see online.” She suggested for instance that English classes could be used to dissect newspaper reports; in computer lessons, students could be taught how to identify unreliable sources of in- formation; and maths classes could include the analysis of statistics in context. It seems that at long last there is now a real prospect for media and information literacy (MIL) to be properly built into the future school curriculum. Phillipson’s views follow from the Govern- ment’s announcement, in mid-July, of the
38 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Stéphane Goldstein is Executive Director of InformAll. He is the coordinator for MILA and Advocacy and Outreach Officer for CILIP’s Information Literacy Group.
launch of a major review of the curriculum. This is not a surprise: the Labour Party manifesto included a commitment to such a review; and more specifically, Labour’s pre-election mission statement on Breaking down the barriers to opportunity2
talked of allowing for a “broad
education that enables children to thrive. Sub- jects like music, art, sport or drama, that build confidence and skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem solving and team- work, must be available to all our children not just some”; note the all-important reference to critical thinking.
September 2024
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