Government responds to the year-long school Curriculum and Assessment review (the Review) with promise to improve media literacy education in England schools.
Explore what this means for schools, teachers and children.
Summary
- Three quarters of children say they’ve experienced some form of harm online.
- Children need strong media literacy skills to support their safety and future.
- At present, schools are not supported to deliver effective media literacy education.
- The Government have committed to improve this in the new curriculum, which will be taught from 2028.
- To deliver this effectively, schools and teachers need clear guidance, access to good-quality resources and teacher training.
What is media literacy?
Across the sector, the term ‘media literacy’ is used to describe a range of competencies including critical thinking, responsible and safe online engagement and the ability to protect yourself from harm online.
The Review — and corresponding Government response — both use the following terms to describe these sets of skills and knowledge.
- Media literacy focuses on understanding and engaging critically with the messages conveyed through different media channels, including AI.
- Digital literacy addresses the knowledge, behaviours and confidence required to use technologies and computer systems creatively, safely and effectively.
Why media — and digital — literacy is important
Children typically spend more than a day per week online. During that time, many experience harm. In fact, three quarters of children tell us they have experienced some form of harm online like bullying or contact from strangers.
We also know that some children have more negative experiences online. For example, vulnerable children — such as those with special educational needs — encounter more harm online (85%) than their peers without these additional needs (76%).
Children need strong media literacy skills to safely use technology. This is key not just to keeping children safe, but it is fundamental to their future work, their engagement with democracy and the UK’s national security. As we look to lower the voting age to 16, it has never been more important for children to know how to recognise mis- and disinformation.
The current state of media and digital literacy in England
In our Vision for Media Literacy report, we found that media and digital literacy education is currently a postcode lottery. While there are lots of opportunities to teach its various elements, many schools struggle to deliver it well. This is especially true of schools in less affluent areas.
Key elements driving these differences are that the guidance for teaching media literacy is split across many different documents, teacher training is sparse and access to teaching resources is inconsistent. This means that individual schools and staff hold responsibility to decide how its key areas should be taught, often without adequate support. As a result, schools regularly take different approaches – and some are more effective than others.
Things can fall through the gaps and key knowledge areas and competencies are often overlooked altogether. One expert told us that, “I don’t think there’d be a coherent understanding . . . across the school sector, and that is in part because there’s never been an effective approach to media literacy within education.”
The Curriculum and Assessment Review
In July 2024, the Government commissioned an independent review into how the England school curriculum and assessment system could be improved to ensure that all children are fully equipped through their education to thrive in the modern world.
The Review published a call for evidence in November 2024, which Internet Matters responded to, calling for the need to improve media literacy education.
The Review has now published its final report, aimed at making the curriculum inclusive and fit for a fast-changing world. The Review recommended that:
- Media literacy should be taught from primary school onwards, through statutory Citizenship. This subject will cover democracy engagement and the critical evaluation of online content to counter mis- and disinformation.
- Computing should be used as the main subject to teach children about digital literacy. This is where children should learn about how to use AI, and the positives and negatives of its use.
- Other elements of media and digital literacy should be covered in: English, History, Science, PSHE and RSHE.
- Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) should be better supported through guidance on adapting the curriculum and an accountability system that rewards schools for providing an inclusive curriculum and capturing pupil progress.
- Improvements should be made to curriculum sequencing, both across subjects and key stages, such that there is little overlap of the same content across different subjects and that children are taught media and digital literacy in a timely and age-appropriate way.
- The curriculum should be kept up to date and relevant through a rolling program of light-touch updates.
- Learners aged 16-19 should be provided with the opportunity to learn key skills around media and digital literacy and democracy, regardless of what they choose to study.
We welcome the Government’s response
While the Government will fully respond to the Review in early 2026, we are delighted to see that the Department for Education have already taken steps towards positive change by committing to making Citizenship, which will include elements of media literacy, a compulsory subject in primary school. This will empower children to spot fake news, identify misinformation and develop critical thinking from an early age.
We are also very pleased to see further Government promises to embed media and digital literacy into the curriculum, including learning not just about how to use AI, but the challenges and opportunities it presents. We are also pleased to see an acknowledgement that children with SEND need better support.
What we think
It is excellent that children will now begin learning about areas of keeping themselves and others safe online at the start of primary school. We welcome the commitment to embed media and digital literacy, including AI literacy, into the curriculum such that all children are taught about all areas of online safety.
To deliver on this commitment, Government must support schools and teachers with guidance, training and resources. Without adequate support and prioritisation, media and digital literacy education runs the risk of remaining fragmented and piecemeal.
Co-CEO of Internet Matters, Rachel Huggins, said: “Understanding how to stay safe and critically engage online is essential learning for every child; while responsibility for their online safety must not rest with children alone, these skills are only becoming more important as technology evolves and as Government looks to lower the voting age to 16.
“The changes the Review recommends reflect the needs of a digital world and we call on the Government to deliver robust implementation of the changes, with sufficient investment to ensure that schools and teachers are supported to deliver them.”
What happens next
The Government will now consider how best to deliver the changes it has already announced, as well as what further changes it will introduce.
The Government will publish its full response to the Review, as well as wider Government research and findings, in early 2026.
Any changes to the school curriculum will come into force in 2028. In the meantime, parents and teachers can find advice and resources to support children’s online safety and media literacy through various resources across our website.
Internet Matters stands ready to assist the Government in delivering a school curriculum that prepares all children to be safe, confident and resilient online.
