Making an impact

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In numbers

Academic year 2023/24

4,677

children took part in NewsWise

We trained

444

teachers and educators in news and media literacy for the primary age group

542

family members learned news and media literacy skills with their children in our workshops

63,664

free resources were downloaded

Where we went

Academic year 2023/24

NewsWise aims to work with schools across the UK, on a proportionally represented basis. As well as our UK-wide work, in 2023/24 we were also working intensively in Birmingham.

Pupil impact

After taking part in NewsWise in our UK-wide programme in 2023/24:

77%

of pupils would check if news came from a person or source they trust, compared to 26% before

Nearly

Triple

the number of pupils said they were interested in the news

75%

of pupils felt they were better at telling the difference between fact and opinion

I really enjoyed doing NewsWise and it has changed my mind about what I think about news. Now I am thinking about being a journalist.

Pupil

After taking part in NewsWise

Pupils in Birmingham 2022-24

The number who could tell if a news story was real or fake increased from 1 in 3 to

1 in 2

89%

of pupils said they found it easy to tell if a news story was trustworthy, compared to 39% before

83%

of pupils said they now stop, think and check facts before believing a news story

What teachers said

93%

said pupils had increased skills in thinking critically about news stories

97%

said pupils are more likely to use more than one source to check facts

86%

said pupils have increased skills in writing and producing their own news reports

100%

feel more confident in supporting pupils' news literacy

I was learning along with the children when spotting real/fake stories and my teaching of news writing has become forever altered! I will always use real stories and can see so many applications for utilising these real life local events to support writing with a purpose.

Esther Brown

Teacher, Hawes Primary School

With the growth of social media and the instant access to the internet I think that fake news is becoming more of a problem. The workshop dealt with it in a really informative, fun and mature manner which is important to children at this age.

Parent

After taking part in a family workshop

Triple

the number of parents were very confident in helping their children to spot fake news

97%

were very (66%) or quite (32%) confident in spotting fake news themselves, compared to 65% before

Nearly all

(97%) said they knew more about how to check if news can be trusted and how to check if images online can be trusted

96%

said they knew some good ways to help their children with feelings about news

NewsWise evaluation reports

Read the findings of the recent research trial conducted by the Universities of Birmingham and Liverpool, as well as robust evaluation of the NewsWise programme and its impact, conducted by the National Literacy Trust

The impact of news literacy education

Research trial published 2024

Media literacy in community settings January 2023 - March 2024

NewsWise in Birmingham: 2022-2024

NewsWise evaluation report 2021-22

NewsWise evaluation report 2020-21

NewsWise evaluation report 2019-20

NewsWise evaluation report 2018-19

NewsWise pilot report 2018

Natalie - Year 6 teacher

Find out about the impact on a school in Burton, including writing news reports about their first Muslim mayor

Sarah - Year 6 teacher

Learn about the impact on writing skills at a school in Wales

Esther - Key Stage 2 teacher

Discover how NewsWise impacted a rural Yorkshire school

Roz - Assistant headteacher

Learn how and why a school in inner London has incorporated NewsWise into their curriculum

Carrina - Coventry Libraries

Find out about the experience of family workshops and training in library settings

Natasha Hirst - photojournalist

What's it like to volunteer with NewsWise?

Our teacher advisory panel

Everything NewsWise does is informed by feedback from teachers. Our advisory panel provide expert advice and guidance to help us make our resources, training and other opportunities the best they can be.

Our panel is made up of teachers from: Bardfield Academy, Earlsmead Primary School, Grafton Primary School, Longwood Primary School, Orchard Primary School, Reid Street Primary School and St Patrick and St Edmund's Catholic Primary School.

We are grateful to everybody on our advisory panel for their time and commitment to NewsWise.