What’s been in the news recently?
- The National Literacy Trust report, “Only 2% of UK children have the critical literacy skills they need to tell if news is real or fake”. Read the final report from the Commission on Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills in Schools. Other key findings include:
* Half of children (49.9%) are worried about not being able to spot fake news
* Two-thirds of children (60.6%) now trust the news less as a result of fake news
* Two-thirds of teachers (60.9%) believe fake news is harming children’s well-being, increasing their anxiety levels
* Half of teachers (53.5%) believe that the national curriculum does not equip children with the literacy skills they need to identify fake news
- As reported in The Daily Telegraph, a major Government study finds that ‘Teenage girls are twice as likely to report cyber bullying than boys‘.
- 5Rights’ Disrupted Childhood‘ Report outlines the damaging effects of ‘persuasive design’ on childhood.
The 24 recommendations set out call on the tech sector to make seismic changes to the design of products and services in order to meet the needs of children.
It calls on government to add ‘compulsive use’ to its current list of harms in all policies and set up a centre of expertise for policy and research where it intersects with childhood.
- In honour of the late and great Stephen Hawking, up to 50 exceptional students will be financially supported though research fellowships.
- Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle, hosted a ‘pyjama rave’ for families – allowing parents to rave with their babies. Seven Stories was founded as a charity in 1996 by Elizabeth Hammill OBE and Mary Briggs OBE. They recognised that Britain needed an institution whose mission was to collect, champion and celebrate its children’s literature.
- Damian Hinds calls on leading employers to lend their business expertise to support schools to improve education for every child.