Delivering the navigate strand | Secondary school

Key topics

• Social and political issues.
• Misinformation, disinformation and fact checking.
• News sources, media and bias.
• Social media and algorithms.

Why the Navigate strand matters in secondary schools

This strand is important to secondary education because it explores the challenges of living in a complex information age. Learners are interacting with information in a variety of ways and need to build the skills to assess bias, evaluate trustworthiness, and critically engage with content. Additionally, learners may encounter information that is technically accurate but still selective, misleading or presented without sufficient context. Whenever they are interacting with issues or media learners should be thinking critically and assessing the information they are engaging with.

Students will have the opportunity to learn the differences between misinformation and disinformation and how to recognise this when evaluating news and media sources. Also, learners will gain an understanding of the use of algorithms in social media and how this can affect opinion and perceptions on an issue. Students should  be encouraged to think critically and use informed judgement when evaluating news items on social and political issues. These skills will help improve the media literacy of young people to enable them to make safer and more informed choices about the content they consume online.

One challenge that faces secondary schools when teaching about media and information is that the landscape is constantly shifting. Both adults and young people may struggle to stay up to date on the newest advances and trends in media. Secondary schools can address this by:

• Focusing on critical thinking. Consider what skills and tools can be applied to multiple types of media while also building life-long habits. Learners should be encouraged to ask questions about the source, purpose, evidence and presentation of information.
• Inviting learners to share their own experiences and perspectives. Young people consume media in many different ways. Have learners reflect on their own experiences, including when they have recognised, or failed to recognise mis and disinformation.
• Revisiting content throughout lessons. Media literacy is not a skill that is taught once, it needs to be reinforced and reassessed throughout multiple contexts. Revisit key concepts and questions across subjects and year groups, increasing the complexity of the examples and the level of independence expected.
• Modelling curiosity and healthy scepticism. Learners should not feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the media, but they should approach information with a degree of scepticism. Teachers can model this by demonstrating their own thought processes when consuming media, including how they respond when they are uncertain or when new evidence changes their understanding.

My approach

This strand presents opportunities for learners to engage with real-world discussions about where they source information online. I recommend open discussions about current events that demonstrate how two different media outlets cover the same story but from different perspectives. Learners can be encouraged to say or annotate the similarities and differences in the presentation of facts and accompanying narrative.

Learners could be supported to consider:

• What facts are included or omitted?
• What language and images are used? What emotional responses do these prompt?
• What sources or evidence are cited?
• Whose perspectives are represented and which perspectives might be missing?
• How might the presentation influence audience understanding or opinion?

This activity could be used to compare sources from social media with discussions centred around reliability, verified facts and emotive responses. It could also be extended to explore how algorithms and platform design may influence the information learners encounter, including the ways in which content is selected and shared.

The teacher should also make clear that impartiality does not mean that all claims are equally credible. Learners should be encouraged to distinguish between evidence-based claims, opinions and unsupported assertions. The role of the teacher is to help learners develop the skills to evaluate information and participate respectfully in discussion, rather than to tell them what to think.

If you can only do one thing…

Ensure learners have the tools to critically examine media. They should be able to determine different types of media, including the difference between news and opinion.

Where this fits into the curriculum

• Tutor time - Building media literacy skills and critical thinking skills.
• Citizenship or PSHE lesson - Connecting media literacy to political literacy.
• English - Build critical thinking skills, including how language, structure and persuasive techniques influence the presentation of information. These skills can also be applied to expository writing.
• Assemblies - Invite a guest speaker to lend further expertise on social media, AI safety, or journalism.
• In subjects such as IT, RE and Maths - discussions on AI, algorithms, mis and disinformation, how issues are discussed on social media, the use of statistics in news stories.
• Enrichment activities/libraries - opportunities to support independent research and the development of information-seeking habits.

Key resources

If you have 30 minutes or less… 

• How mis and disinformation impacts politics: full lesson, The Electoral Commission and Shout Out UK - Deliver slides 1-15.

1 hour…

• How mis and disinformation impacts politics: full lesson, The Electoral Commission and Shout Out UK - Use the full 1-hour version.

1-3 hours… 

• Navigating mis and disinformation: mini lessons, The Electoral Commission and Shout Out UK - Deliver all 4 lessons. They cover all of the key components of the strand. They include videos explaining the differences between mis and disinformation; AI, deepfakes, along with quizzes and opportunities for further learning.

4-6 hours...

• Lead an initial discussion-based activity in the classroom surrounding what key social and political issues they are already aware of and where they got this information from.
• How can we protect ourselves from misinformation?, What is the social impact of digital media within a democracy and Should the media ever be censored? From Oak National Academy - Use these lessons, allowing time for discussions of content and activities.

 6 hours plus…

• Use the above resources but also include current examples of contrasting media sources about a similar topic to elicit open classroom discussions about reliability, trustworthiness and use of emotive language to attempt to influence opinion.
• How does the media hold those in power to account? Oak National Academy - Use this selection of lessons, activities and worksheets, allowing time for discussions of content.

Considerations for learners with additional needs

It is important to ensure lessons are inclusive for all learners, especially those with additional needs. Teachers will already be aware of the specific learner needs within their groupings and can make effective adaptations during delivery by asking diagnostic and formative assessment questions to identify gaps in knowledge for specific learners.

All learners consume media, thus it is crucial that all learners are able to critically assess what they are reading and viewing. Consider the following actions:

• Assess different types of media, including print, online, and videos. This can include both traditional and new media.
• Build vocabulary. Students should have a shared vocabulary to discuss media literacy. Frequently come back to definitions, adding complexity as learners become more familiar with key concepts and ideas.
• Ask similar questions throughout to build cognitive routines. Questions like: Whose perspectives are we hearing? What perspectives are missing? What sources are used to support the claims? Can all help to build comfort and familiarity.
• Examine images that accompany media, or that tell a story. Start by asking learners to assess what they see and expect the story to be about before moving into text.
• Use consistent questions across different activities and subjects so that learners begin to recognise media literacy as a transferable skill.