Media literacy - the ability to evaluate media critically, both online and offline - is a vital life skill. Improving the media literacy of the UK public should be a national priority. A failure to do so poses a threat to social cohesion and democracy itself.

The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee, which I chair, has been investigating media literacy in the UK since March. We found that, at present, UK adults, children and young people are not adequately equipped to deal with today’s complex media environment.

Earlier this year the TV series Adolescence highlighted the gap between parents and their children when it comes to experiences of the online world. The drama sparked a national conversation about how we equip young people to navigate and analyse the vast amount of content they encounter on their smartphones and laptops.

The parents we spoke to as part of our inquiry shared real concerns about how they could support their children to make sense of the information and opinions that they see online.

Media literacy education

But none of this is new to teachers. As the Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools recently emphasised, school staff have the greatest insight into how the online world is shaping children’s lives and beliefs.

According to a recent survey conducted by First News, 83 per cent of teachers think that media and information literacy is important or very important. However, 61 per cent say it is not currently taught at their school.

Good media literacy education needs to be sustained and repeated. It also needs to start early. But we heard that schools do not currently have the capacity or support to deliver this kind of provision.

At present, guidance for schools on media literacy is split across at least 13 statutory and non-statutory documents. Subjects such as relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing - where media literacy currently sits - are already dealing with too much content.

Meanwhile, teachers face mounting pressure to prioritise subjects that are formally assessed and inspected by Ofsted. As a result, members of the Youth Select Committee told us that media literacy teaching is sometimes relegated to a single annual assembly.

The curriculum review

It is clear that the status quo is not working for teachers or students. The government’s curriculum and assessment review presents a crucial opportunity for meaningful change. That’s why we’ve recommended that the government use the review to embed media literacy right across the national curriculum, starting from the beginning of primary school.

The basic skills that are fundamental to media literacy - critical thinking, understanding the motivation of an author, distinguishing reliable information from associated “noise” - are applicable to a wide range of subjects.

There is also value in media literacy being anchored in a core subject, most likely English. We heard evidence that updating the GCSE English language curriculum to include a wider range of modern media, such as websites and adverts, would provide valuable opportunities for students to examine how meaning is constructed in online environments.

Curriculum reform will not be effective without improved support for teachers. According to polling, only 5 per cent of teachers would feel “very confident” teaching media literacy at present.

The ad-hoc nature of current media literacy education means that teachers are often having to deal with the topic reactively, navigating challenging conversations triggered by the content pupils are consuming online, and keeping up with new media trends.

We heard that responsibility for handling these discussions can often by placed on younger teachers, on the assumption that they - as “digital natives” - have greater confidence in this area. This is clearly unsustainable and insufficient.

ITT and CPD can help, too

Teachers need support to develop the skills and knowledge to teach media literacy as they would any other subject. That’s why we’ve recommended that initial teacher training and CPD should be updated to incorporate media literacy.

It is time to take media literacy seriously. It can no longer be seen as a “nice to have” in schools and must be fundamental to how we educate young people. The current curriculum review provides a unique opportunity for major reform. The government must not fail to take it.

Baroness Barbara Keeley is chair of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee

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