Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to expand critical thinking and media literacy education in primary and secondary schools.

Media literacy is currently covered in the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing curricula. On 15 July 2025, the government published updated RSHE statutory guidance introducing new content on AI, online safety and pornography which has been mandatory since 1 September 2026.

The government accepted the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendations to strengthen media and digital literacy in the refreshed curriculum.

Following the publication of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review final report in November 2025, we expect to consult publicly on proposals for the curriculum and assessment system, including media and digital literacy and critical thinking, later this year. We will take the Internet Matters survey into account as part of this work.