NewsWise in primary education: news, digital literacy and civic engagement

This project will evaluate the impact of NewsWise, a news and digital literacy programme, on UK primary school children’s news and digital literacy and civic engagement.

Fake news and misinformation undermine democracy, which relies on a well-informed citizenry that is able to evaluate the validity of news and information. However, children often lack the ability to distinguish truth from fiction online, lacking the skills to critically evaluate a source. Furthermore, parents from lower socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds are less likely to engage with their children about news and lack confidence in their own ability to identify fake news. NewsWise was created to provide the skills which allow children to autonomously and critically evaluate information found online. Bringing together experts in news and digital literacy, journalism, and Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education; the programme uses resources and activities to show how news is created and disseminated, as well as how to deconstruct and analyse it to spot bias and misinformation.

NewsWise was previously evaluated to capture changes in children’s news literacy attitudes, behaviours, confidence, and skills. This pilot showed promising results and so this project will now build upon that initial evaluation, using a more sophisticated and rigorous approach to assess efficacy and develop the case for further rollout and for featuring news and digital literacy more prominently in the National Curriculum.

The research will focus on children in areas with low literacy rates and schools with above average Free School Meal levels. The approach will be broken down into multiple stages of evaluation:

1. The Guardian Foundation, with support from the PSHE Association and National Literacy Trust, will deliver NewsWise to around 2,400 pupils aged 9-11 in 40 primary schools.
2. It will use a randomised cluster controlled trial, based on pre- and post-surveys completed by the children.
3. Ten semi-structured interviews will be conducted with teachers who ran the NewsWise programme.
4. While finally, the team will run ten focus groups with 50 pupils who experienced the programme.

Upon completion of the research the team hope that, among children taking the programme, confidence to evaluate news stories and interact with wider society will increase; that educators and children will have increased access to practical guidance; and that there will be increased knowledge on the research and practical implications of promoting children’s news and digital literacy through formal education. In the long run, the team hope that a new generation of children will be better equipped to participate in civic life and that policy changes will promote digital and wider media literacy via the National Curriculum. Results will be shared among policy makers, academic audiences, and practitioners through journal articles, press releases, social media, presentations, and reports.