“It has been really transformational; the students are now confident to use their voice.”

Before working with The Guardian Foundation, staff at Derby College were worried about how to tackle misinformation.

“There were lots of instances of students encountering mis- and disinformation and quoting it,” the college's curriculum manager, Debbie Painter, recalls. “Although we had access to a few resources, we did not have a holistic programme that tackled it.”

The Guardian Foundation's Media Literacy Ambassador programme offered a structured, scalable solution for the college, training young people to spot misinformation and share what they’ve learned by teaching their peers.

“We wanted our students to be more critical about what was going on in the world around them, but we wanted to empower them by leading each other within the programme.” The peer-led model and in-college delivery made it inclusive and impactful: “Many of our students come from deprived backgrounds […] so having it in the college made it really inclusive.”

"The programme has transformed teaching and learning at Derby College. ‘Horizontal research’ is a term we now hear frequently in the classroom. Critical thinking and fact-checking are now regularly part of lesson plans in English, Sociology, History and STEM subjects."

"The student impact has been equally significant; some students have gone on to advise Ofcom, speak at national events like the Children's Media Conference, and take up leadership roles in college."

Debbie Painter is a Curriculum Manager at Derby College Group