Finding 12
THERE SHOULD BE A ‘PEDAGOGY, NOT PUNISHMENT’ APPROACH TO THESE ISSUES IN SCHOOLS.
Summary:
Both parents and school staff agreed that punishment for conspiracy belief is not the best way to address this problem amongst young people.
However, the fact that teachers are currently feeling ill-equipped to deal with conspiracies and disinformation in the classroom makes discursive responses harder, and punitive approaches can thus appear to be the quicker and easier response to these issues where they arise.
Both parents and school staff agreed that punishment for mentioning conspiracy belief is not the best way to address this problem amongst young people. Some 74% of school staff felt that punishing students would just make the problem worse, rather than stop conspiracy beliefs, misinformation and disinformation circulating.
This is not to suggest that there is no place for sanctioning young people where conspiracy content or disinformation is being shared deliberately and maliciously, nor where they have acted inappropriately. As our previous chapter outlines, sometimes exposure to conspiracies can lead to poor behaviour, and where there is poor behaviour, schools should deal with it in line with their existing policies.
There will also be occasions where a safeguarding approach is needed. As our recommendations make clear, the Commission considers safeguarding a useful place for work in this area to occur more broadly, and there will also be individual instances where this is appropriate, namely where conspiracy belief leads to behaviour that requires a safeguarding intervention and further support.
However, as our research shows, a large part of conspiracy engagement is driven by curiosity. Given this research also suggests that conspiracy-driven behaviour is both relatively unusual and difficult to identify, a pedagogy-first approach seems both appropriate and to garner significant support from school staff.
As we see from our polling, there is a desire from school staff and teachers for a pedagogical approach, and this was also demonstrated by young people themselves in our focus groups. Pupils told researchers that fear of ‘getting in trouble’ would be a limiting factor in them engaging with school staff. As a result, deploying pedagogy in response to instances of conspiracy belief would serve to break down this barrier to engagement, and foster an environment where schools can intervene more easily in this space.
‘If they [people leading lessons on conspiracies] were teachers, they could tell you off.’
‘They’d [teachers] make it a big thing…’
‘You could get in trouble….’
There was a high degree of agreement between school staff and parents as to how conspiracy theories should be tackled in the classroom. The two most effective approaches to countering the spread of conspiracy theories, according to parents and school staff, are providing factual information to disprove the theory and encouraging the pupil to think critically about the sources and evidence.
Graph 12: Below is a list of ways teachers and school staff could respond to a pupil mentioning a conspiracy theory at school. For each, please rate how effective you think they would be at preventing the further spread of conspiracy theories among pupils at school. (% that selected effective)
Graph 13: Which of the following comes closest to your view?
For pupils, there was sometimes a sense that existing provision in this area didn’t cover misinformation in any serious depth. Pupils reported that PSHE lessons were either the same material repeated, or simply did not perceive them to be useful. When internet safety had been covered, it was often centred on online safety and internet basics, rather than misinformation.
It was noted during an Evidence Session by Liz Moorse, CEO of the Association for Citizenship Teaching, that while online safety is, of course, important, it is democratically important to “get beyond online safety”, given that misinformation is “an issue for democracy and trust in society.” For Moorse, a wider view needs to be taken to both equip young people with the skills they need and to “get back to a position where we all feel a part of our political system.”
“Anything where they’re taught to be critical thinkers, or where they’ve got to critique and think about any source they look at and look for the clues in there about ‘is that going to have some sort of bias? Is it true?’”
“I want him to think for himself rather than just take everything as gospel. I’m talking about conspiracy theories and the Trump thing…he told me ‘oh it was all fake anyway.’”
“Get rid of PSHE but replace it with something useful”
“…we’ve done knife crime and internet stuff, but it’s just phishing emails and keeping your details safe online.”
“We’ve done the same tutor [PSHE] lessons since Year 7!”
However, the fact that teachers are currently feeling ill-equipped to deal with conspiracies and disinformation in the classroom makes discursive approaches harder, and punitive responses can thus seem the quicker and easier response to these issues where they arise.
Graph 14: Below is a list of ways teachers and school staff could respond to a pupil mentioning a conspiracy theory at school. For each, please rate how effective you think they would be at preventing the further spread of conspiracy theories among pupils at school. [School staff]
There is significant agreement that pupils should have specific lessons to address (62%) and educate on conspiracy theories. That said, there was recognition that making time in the curriculum to address conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation may have spillover benefits outside of specifically addressing these concerns. Some 72% of school staff believe that teaching pupils about conspiracies is an effective way to improve critical thinking skills.
There was a demand for further information and support in this space, with 73% of school staff saying schools should provide more resources and training for teachers to address conspiracy theories effectively. In total, 35% would like to receive guidance from experts in misinformation, 35% would like to receive information from fellow teachers and 34% would like to receive professional development workshops.
Graph 15: Who would you most want to receive guidance from on how to handle a pupil bringing up a conspiracy theory in the classroom? Select up to three [School staff]
If we want teachers and the wider school system to make room for impactful conversations on these topics, we need to ensure that school staff feel empowered to deal with them and supported to do so.