The concept of fake news hit the headlines during the US presidential election in 2016, when news stories with little or no basis in fact spread like wildfire on social media.
The NLT study – entitled Fake News and Critical Literacy: An evidence review and written by Irene Picton and Anne Teravainen – says that as youngsters receive and process information from an increasingly wide variety of sources they need to develop the skills to spot fake news.
They need to be able to recognise the difference between fact and opinion, understand how authors use language to influence readers, and learn how to make reasoned arguments.
Following the report’s publication, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Literacy has set up a new commission to look at the impact of fake news on children.
The commission, working in partnership with the NLT, Facebook, First News and The Day, will make its recommendations in summer 2018.
To inform the commission, the National Literacy Trust has launched three surveys – for primary pupils, secondary pupils and teachers – measuring children’s ability to spot fake news.
Researchers are keen to hear teachers’ thoughts on the impact of fake news in the classroom and the type of support that schools need in order to improve children’s critical literacy skills.
These surveys will be open until October 22.
The NLT report points out that teachers and school staff are ideally placed to help children ascertain what is fake news and what is genuine. However, a lack of teacher training and resources – and also a lack of confidence in dealing with the issue – is hampering them.
“In this digital age, children who can’t question and determine the reliability of the information they find online will be hamstrung – at school, at work and in life,” said Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust.
“We believe that teachers are the key to boosting children’s literacy skills, but they can’t do this without the proper training, support and resources.
“By bringing together the greatest minds and authorities on fake news and education, the new Parliamentary commission gives us a fantastic opportunity to make the case for critical literacy to sit at the heart of our education system.”
The NLT has also published a series of free fake news resources for schools. Teachers can use these with pupils after they have completed the fake news surveys.
- For more information about the NLT report, Fake News and Critical Literacy: An evidence review, go to https://literacytrust.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/all-party-parliamentary-group-literacy/fakenews/