Teach Secondary Issue 13.4

TEACH THEM ABOUT... MISINFORMATION AND BIAS Needto know The Education Policy Institute has embarked on awide-ranging project to facilitatemeaningful comparisons between the different school groupsmaking up England’s educational landscape. The project aims to go beyond traditional measures of progress and attainment, bytaking account of school groups’performance in terms of inclusion,workforce health andfinancial efficiency.The EPI has therefore unveiled an online tool that can nowbe used to compare the inclusion and attainment outcomes of differentMATs, LAs,dioceses and federations,with‘financial health’and‘workforce indicators’ promised in future updates. The data is pulled fromthe 2016/17 and 2018/19 academic years, covering groups operating at least two schools since 2015. Accompanying the launch is the first in a series of EPI-produced reports that will highlight key comparisons and trends across different school groups over time. This initial report (see bit.ly/ts134- LL3) finds that largerMATswith 10ormore schools report higher rates of persistent absence, suspension and unexplained exits than smallerMATs and LAs. It also notes that themedian LAsees fewer suspensions than themedianMAT– though the medianMATsees higher progress scores for disadvantaged and previously lowattaining pupils than themedian LA. TheEPI’sonlinecomparisontool canbeaccessedvia bit.ly/ts134-LL4 64% of secondary teachers agree with the statement ‘My line manager helps me to do my job better’ Source:TeacherTappsurvey datedApril 2024 In an increasingly polarised world, young people need to be able to navigate the fine line between fact and fiction.We want to help them to tackle what is an incredibly challenging news environment. When launching its ‘Other Side of the Story’ media literacy initiative, BBC Education carried out research which revealed that 80%of secondary school students believe it’s important to know about what’s going on in the world. Yet at the same time, nearly two thirds don’t know where to go, or whom to trust, when trying to find out. How can you even begin to address the power of misinformation in the classroom? Auseful starting point could be to focus onmaking students aware of just how quickly their view of the world can change, depending on bias, debate, algorithms and other factors theymay be exposed to every day. Students need to grasp how bias feeds into how people think and feel about different issues. They should be taught to understand the power of a reasoned and rational debate, and the value to be had in ‘disagreeing agreeably’. Most students will also need to better understand how algorithms can skew views and opinions, creating echo chambers and social bubbles. Teachers keen to help young people navigate our increasingly complexmedia landscape can trymaking use of the following three suggested activities: 1. UNDERSTANDING BIAS Split your students into three groups, give each group an envelope containing information on a specific topic (such as ‘AI and the future’) and ask them to prepare a one-minute news report. Each groupmust adopt a different assigned angle – or bias – for their report, which could amount to ‘ AI is bad ’, ‘ AI is good ’ and ‘ AI has pros and cons ’. Once the groups have presented their reports (which should differ widely, based on their bias), let themknow that the provided source material was exactly the same for each group. 2. INFORMED OPINIONS Divide the classroom into three distinct areas – ‘agree’, ‘disagree’ and ‘not sure’ – and then give your students an opening statement on a topical issue, such as ‘ Social media firms should be banned from storing your personal data ’. Ask your students to stand in the classroomarea that best reflects their starting opinion on the issue. Then reveal two or three further items of information and views regarding the issue and give your students the opportunity to move. Point out that our starting points can change considerably once we acquire more facts or hear differing opinions. 3. POLARISEDVIEWS Present your students with a flippant or funny opening statement, such as ‘ School dinners are brilliant. ’ Then ask them to line up across the classroom. Find out which students seem to hold the most reasonable views on the issue and ask them to stand in the middle of the line. Proceed to then line up the remaining students extending outwards in both directions, so that those with the most extreme views on either side are furthest from the middle. Beginning in the centre, have the students each express one brief comment on the topic until you reach either end of the line. If all goes well, you’ll have two students voicing completely opposed and seemingly irreconcilable views. The aimhere is to demonstrate how quickly opinions and arguments can become more extreme, and have the students consider whether those extreme positions serve to perpetuate or de-escalate certain points of view. ANDREWSWANSON IS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY; FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT BBC.CO.UK/TEACH 80 teachwire.net/secondary