Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to incorporate content into the national curriculum to support educators to counter conspiracy theories.

In June 2019, we published guidance on teaching online safety in schools, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.

This non-statutory guidance outlines how schools can ensure their pupils understand how to stay safe and behave online as part of existing curriculum requirements. It complements existing and forthcoming subjects, including Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, Health Education, Citizenship, and Computing.

There are many aspects of the curriculum that can help young people develop the knowledge and digital skills they need to recognise misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. For example, citizenship teaches about critical media literacy in relation to the proper functioning of a democracy. Pupils learn about distinguishing fact from opinion, as well as exploring freedom of speech and the role and responsibility of the media in informing and shaping public opinion. History teaches pupils to understand how different types of historical sources are used to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed. The computing curriculum, introduced in 2014, is providing children and teachers with the fundamental knowledge to make well-informed decisions on e-safety, from Key Stages 1 to 4. There is progression in the content, to reflect the different and escalating online risks that young people face.

Additionally, 'Education for a connected world', developed by the UK Council for Internet Safety Education group, provides schools support to develop a rich, effective and developmental curriculum, which will support young people to be safe, healthy and thrive online. It includes a section on the importance of children knowing how to identify and distinguish between fake news, disinformation, and misinformation.