We are excited to announce that today is the first ever Tuesday News Day – a brand new campaign from the News Literacy Network, which we chair, to encourage primary and secondary teachers across the UK to discuss news and current affairs with their pupils for at least 10 minutes every week.
Every Tuesday during term time, teachers of all subjects will be encouraged to set aside 10 minutes of class time to discuss a news story that matters to their pupils.
Pupils can either come to class with a news story they would like to discuss or a news story can be chosen by the teacher or class from one of a number of child-friendly news sources.
Teachers can then use the Tuesday News Day question card resource to guide conversations and get pupils thinking critically about the news story they have chosen to discuss.
Tuesday News Day aims to give pupils more opportunities to discuss and question the news with a trusted adult after research from our parliamentary Commission on Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills in Schools found that:
- Only 2% of children and young people in the UK have the critical literacy skills they need to tell if a news story is real or fake
- A third of teachers feel the critical literacy skills taught in schools are not transferable to the real world
- Pupils want more opportunities to talk about news and current affairs in school, with only 6.4% of pupils saying they currently talk to their teachers about fake news
Our Director, Jonathan Douglas, said: “Teachers and parents are increasingly concerned about the negative impact news is having on children, and many feel that they don’t have the skills or confidence to have necessary conversations about it. Tuesday News Day aims to provide a structured way to have these conversations and equip children with the skills they need to make sense of the news.
“By looking at the news through a critical lens, children can learn to decipher the messages in it, identify the author’s agenda or bias, and interrogate the points of view represented. It has never been more important to ensure children and young people have the critical literacy skills they need to navigate, participate in and survive the digital age.”
Download your free Tuesday News Day resources and follow #TuesdayNewsDay on social media.
Find out more about the News Literacy Network.