Recommendations
Recommendations
For policy and training
1
Political leadership is needed from the DfE, Ofsted, multi-academy trusts and local authorities to signal to school leaders and school staff that they can and should be addressing conspiracy belief without fear of reprisal.
Empowering frontline staff to engage with young people on these issues is foundational in tackling conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation in schools. In a difficult and often volatile environment, clear signalling at every level will be just as important as statutory measures to ensure that school staff feel empowered to tackle this issue. Currently, teachers and school staff more broadly told us that they were concerned that educating young people on conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation was sometimes in tension with their legal duty to maintain political neutrality, particularly when facing parent or community pressure.
Clear leadership at all levels of the school system is therefore needed to reassure and affirm that those who are addressing conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation with young people will be supported to do so. This begins with leadership from DfE and Ofsted, but it must also be reflected in the leadership of multi-academy trusts and local authorities. It is at the school level that most direct pressure can be applied by campaign groups and activists who peddle conspiracy theories; therefore, school leaders and responsible bodies must ensure they are equipped to take on this challenge. Other parts of the system (for instance local authorities and Ofsted) must be prepared to support schools.
A key first step is to update the guidance on political impartiality in schools, backed up with both public signalling and private support for any teachers or schools who are challenged about appropriately addressing conspiracy belief, disinformation and misinformation with young people.
2
Teachers must be supported to debunk conspiracies with regularly updated resources and best practice guides.
Teachers in our research told us they needed more support to keep up with the constantly evolving nature of conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation. These resources could build on the work of Educate Against Hate, developed by the DfE as part of centralised guidance materials to address the adjacent issues of radicalisation and extremism.
In addition, school staff told us that there was a lack of best practice available to them surrounding whole-school approaches to tackling conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation. This could be published in the form of short, practical and regularly updated guidance that shares the best of the sector’s current approach and research-informed recommendations for school practice.
3
Expert-led, research-informed and sustained continuous professional development (CPD) must be made available for school staff and leaders.
School staff told us that they would benefit from expert-led CPD if it enabled them to feel better equipped to provide support for young people. This should provide foundational knowledge for school staff regardless of their position, experience or subject-specific expertise.
While school staff were clear that such training needs to be led by experts, the content should be developed in conjunction with teachers and wider school staff to ensure it meets the needs of those addressing conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation with young people.
4
Training on addressing conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation should be embedded into training for early career and trainee teachers
While there is a need for resources to upskill and support the existing school workforce as laid out in Recommendation 3, ensuring that new teachers have a knowledge of issues of conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation as they enter the profession will more comprehensively address teacher confidence in the future.
Of course, we must acknowledge the limited space within the current training and induction periods at the start of teachers’ careers, nonetheless we recommend that training on how to identify and address conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation is included in preparation and induction for all new teachers.
For schools and communities
5
Education on conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation should begin in primary school, where children’s trust in adults is generally still high.
While our research focused on secondary aged pupils, the findings are significant for how we approach educating children about conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation in primary schools. A large majority of children (72%) below secondary school age consume social media in some form or another. In addition to this, our research found that 91% of children have a smartphone by age 11.1 Taken together, these findings suggest that children of primary school age should be provided with the skills and knowledge they need to interact safely with the online world, prior to beginning secondary school.
Some 55% of those aged 11 and 12 cite their teachers as figures who provide accurate information (a percentage that shrinks to just 19% of those aged 18). Hence there is an opportunity to build on the trust placed by young people in teachers at a young age by providing teachers with a curriculum that attempts to address disinformation and conspiracy theories before we see the most concerning elements of online access manifest. This content could sit within the primary English curriculum, but the more interwoven nature of the primary curriculum overall means it would be possible for it to be incorporated into several subject areas. Primary curriculum experts should design the curriculum to include this approach.
6
Media literacy and criticality should be embedded in the curriculum. This should be integrated across the curriculum, including in English Language, History, RS, Citizenship, Science, Computer Science and Mathematics.
Our research demonstrates that teachers are trusted to address conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation in the classroom, but lack confidence to do so. Embedding responses to these issues within the curriculum will give teachers greater confidence to handle disinformation and conspiracy theories both within the classroom and in non-curricular school settings. Tackling conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation is not just a pastoral issue; the knowledge required to ensure young people understand the ways in which they can manifest should sit within the curriculum.
The interdisciplinary and multifaceted nature of conspiracy belief means there are multiple subjects where this could sit. Not all these subjects are compulsory at all age groups, and we suggest that this content should be embedded within at least one core subject. We suggest that there is a clear opportunity for content on addressing conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation in the following subjects:
English Language
Include greater emphasis on the features that frequently characterise disinformation and conspiracy theory texts, as well as how these texts proliferate online.
History
Explore how the online world changes and challenges historiography, and comparison between analogue and digital sources.
Religious Studies
Build on existing curriculum content to address antisemitic conspiracy theories and Islamophobic disinformation.
Mathematics and Science
Show ‘real-world examples’ of statistical and scientific literacy.
PSHE/ Citizenship
There is existing practice in the Citizenship curriculum, for instance the Association for Citizenship Teaching’s (ACT) ‘Deliberative Classroom’ resource pack, and resources by Jeremy Hayward, which can be built upon.
Computer Science
Add work on media literacy and criticality given the current references to ‘responsible, confident, competent and creative users of information technology’ in the Primary and KS3 computer science curriculum.
Personal Development
This is an element of school life that is evaluated separately by Ofsted and includes wider opportunities, including tutor time and trips, visits, and external speakers. This would give greater scope for schools to find space within the curriculum to deliver education on conspiracies, misinformation, and disinformation. However, this should be seen as a supplement to the imparting of knowledge that happens in the classroom within subjects, and must not be the sole place in which schools take on this important issue.
The Francis Review of the curriculum provides us with an opportunity to ensure that the relevant content is added into the curriculum to support young people and prepare them for future life. Given that young people are increasingly gaining information, interacting, socialising, and in many other ways living their lives online, it is vital that the new curriculum is fit for this digital age, not only for the wellbeing of the individual, but also for the future of democracy.
7
There needs to be a whole community approach to addressing conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation in schools.
While this research identifies schools and school staff as key actors in addressing conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation in schools, they cannot do so alone. Schools are anchor institutions with a critical role to play, but the wider suite of community organisations across the youth and voluntary sectors must also be empowered to play their part. Schools should use the expertise, knowledge and capacity of these organisations to help them. In some cases, this will involve schools reaching out to local youth work organisations, community groups and place-based institutions for assistance, expertise and support.
This community approach must be reciprocal, however. Just as schools should look at the resources around them when addressing this issue, communities must look at how to help their schools. Local authorities should take Recommendation 1 seriously in the context of both maintained schools and academies, recognising that school staff need to address contentious issues without fears of reprisal, asking how they can help and protect schools. Ofsted should also play its part, working with schools to ensure vexatious complaints regarding the teaching of contentious issues are not a burden.
8
Specific training on conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation should be embedded into the qualifications for allied and ancillary staff, particularly youth workers.
While this research has been centred on the experiences of young people in schools, we know that schools operate in a wider ecosystem of support for young people. Youth and care professionals are often the first point of contact and key trusted adults for many young people outside of formal education settings, making them crucial in addressing these issues.
By incorporating training on misinformation and disinformation into their CPD and accredited qualifications, youth workers can be better equipped to recognise and respond to the ways these challenges manifest among young people and the factors that promote resilience to them. Such training should happen in partnership with infrastructure organisations and be embedded within existing safeguarding or professional development frameworks, ensuring consistency across the sector and fostering a shared understanding of how to combat misinformation at both local and national levels.
9
Specific training on conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation should be included in safeguarding training and processes.
School staff told us they did not feel confident in addressing specific examples of conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation where they encountered it. It is essential that there is expertise within each school so that individual staff can tap into advice and support when they need it. Specific guidance should be provided within Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) statutory guidance for schools and colleges.
Changes to training and processes regarding safeguarding should be seen through the lens of providing additional support to young people, rather than a punitive sanction for conspiracy belief; our research suggests that there is significant support within schools for this approach.
Young people who believe a conspiracy theory have the propensity to believe other such theories and are therefore vulnerable.The ‘conspiracy pipeline’ should be addressed at source to prevent further and more problematic conspiracy belief progressing over time.
For research
10
More research should be undertaken to understand how parents and families can be supported to address conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation at home.
This research has identified both the critical role parents play as trusted adults in the lives of young people, and their own vulnerability to conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation. More work is needed to better identify how this finding can be translated into actionable support for parents and carers, as well as wider family members.
11
More research needs to be undertaken into how conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation presents and impacts specific groups of young people, including young people with SEND.
The research undertaken by the Commission to date has identified particular student groups that are more vulnerable to conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation, some of which do not bear out the stereotypes and preconceptions. These include the following demographic groups: girls, young people eligible for free school meals, young people with SEND, and those with older siblings. It has also identified psychological factors including marginalisation, a stronger belief that the lives of ordinary people are getting worse, a belief that the world is becoming a scarier place, and a belief in the inalienable right of free speech.
Further research is needed to better understand the vulnerabilities of the demographic groups we have identified in order to design and offer tailored and impactful interventions and support.