Information for schools: A new government campaign to upskill parents and their children in spotting toxic, polarising content and misinformation online.
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The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is launching a new media literacy campaign on 10 February to support families in building resilience and critical thinking skills online, helping them spot misleading content and challenge toxic attitudes. The campaign will coincide with half term for many schools, when children and teenagers are likely to spend more time with their families and their phones.
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Only four in ten parents say their child has spoken to them about harmful or concerning experiences online, with less than a quarter feeling “very confident” about knowing what their children see online. This new campaign aims to upskill parents to be able to best support their children in today’s digital age.
The campaign encourages regular parent-child discussions about what they’re seeing online, asking simple critical thinking questions such as “who shared this, and why?”.
DSIT has created a new Kids Online Safety Hub in collaboration with the Department for Education (DfE) and expert partners, which contains guidance on approaching these discussions, building parents’ confidence where they feel hesitant to do so, and critical thinking skills to help families analyse the content they come across online.
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From 16 February, families in Yorkshire and the Midlands will begin to see campaign activity across social media, TV, radio and city-centre advertising screens. Schools might also see increased media coverage, and stakeholder activity, during this time.
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Whilst parents are the focus of the campaign, schools are in a great position to contribute and support as well. You can:
· Speak to parents about the media literacy campaign, signposting to the Kids Online Safety Hub
· Encourage them to speak to their children about the content they see online, both positive and negative
· Share the information provided through your established parent-communication channels
This campaign forms part of wider government efforts to protect children online, complementing regulatory measures through the Online Safety Act to remove harmful content, and supporting a forthcoming national conversation on digital wellbeing for young people as the government weighs longer-term options.
