Media Literacy: a resource to Empower young minds

At the National Literacy Trust, we recognise that the rise of misinformation is not just a challenge, but a crisis for today’s youth. Events like the 2024 summer riots have shown how rapidly false information can escalate into real-world harm. Now, more than ever, it is critical that we empower students with the tools to navigate this digital landscape responsibly.

Our new assembly and lesson toolkit are designed to meet this urgent need. Focused on developing critical thinking and media literacy skills, these flexible, ready-to-use resources for secondary learners, will help students become informed and discerning digital citizens. Through these lessons, we equip teachers to take action in the classroom and give young people the skills to assess online information with confidence and care.

Empowering young minds: Media literacy resources

These resources have been designed specifically to help teachers guide students through these difficult but essential conversations. The assembly and accompanying toolkit lessons aim to develop critical media literacy skills, ensuring that students can assess, analyse and respond to the information they encounter online. Our hope is that this resource will support you in fostering thoughtful and informed digital citizens, who can navigate online spaces with care and confidence.

How to use our resources

The resources are designed to be used with secondary school children aged 11 to 14 (KS3 or S1 to S3) but can be adapted for use with children aged 14 to16 (KS4 or S4 and S5).

Our set of resources includes:

• An assembly power point to introduce the topic.
• Three lesson plans to provide you and your students with strategies that will support their online experiences.
• A mini-workbook with activities linked to the sessions.

For schools looking for a more comprehensive approach, explore our Empower programme, or join our Media Literacy Leaders course to champion media literacy in your school.