Teach children about fake news to stop them becoming extremists, OECD says

A new category to global tests will assess youngsters on how well they can think critically about information diseminated on social media Credit: PA

Children must be taught about fake news in schools to stop them from turning to extremism, a major international think-tank has said. 

Under new plans unveiled on Saturday, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will add a new category to its global tests called "global competency", which will assess youngsters on how well they can think critically about information diseminated on social media, and detect dubious claims. 

The shake-up to the OECD's global test is aimed at preventing students from being brainwashed into believing, for example, that they should travel to Syria to fight for the so-called Islamic State

The move, due to be announced this weekend at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, is significant because governments around the world often use these test results to inform policy.

Distinguishing what is true from what is not true is a critical skill todayAndreas Schleicher, OECD

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director of education and skills, suggested that social media creates an "echo-chamber" in which users only hear from viewpoints similar to their own. He argued that schools have a role to play in making sure that young people have a chance to debate different views and opinions.

"Social media is designed to create an echo chamber. We are likely to talk with people who are like us. Who think similarly to us. And that's precisely, almost the antithesis, to global competency."

One example, he said, is young people from Europe going to fight for Islamic State, turning "the multi-religious, multi-ethnic powerhouses of the Middle East back to a kind of mono-culture".

"That's really I think an outcome of the thinking that there is only one truth and there's only one way to live.

"I think that social media can reinforce that. The algorithms under-pinning them tend to relate people to people who are similar, rather than creating spaces for people to discuss debate and find common ground."

He will announce the OECD's plans to test young people's attitudes to global issues and different cultures, their analytical and critical skills and abilities to interact with others.

"In the past, when you needed information, you went to an encyclopaedia, you looked it up, and you could trust that information to be true," Mr Schleicher said.

He added that today, anyone using social media or even news sites has to be able to assess, evaluate and reflect on the information they are given.

"Distinguishing what is true from what is not true is a critical skill today," he said. "Exposing fake news, even being aware that there is something like fake news, that there is something that is written that is not necessarily true, that you have to question, think critically. That is very important. This is something that we believe schools can do something about."

Pupils can learn about the world, how to analyse what they see and hear around them and engage in debate in lessons.

"Schools can do a lot to equip students with the kind of cognitive ability to access and analyse meaning, culture, practice, things like this," he said.

He added that it is not a matter of schools teaching a new subject, but building these skills into all lessons, from science to history.

The new computer-based "global competencies" tests will be taken by 15-year-olds around the world alongside the OECD's current reading, maths and science assessments which are conducted every three years.

The results of these assessments - and the rankings of around 70 countries and economies based on the results - are seen as important by governments worldwide, including the UK.

The tests are due to be taken next year, with the results published in 2019.

Mr Schleicher said: "This assessment is about the capacity of young people to see the world through different perspectives, appreciate different ideas, be open to different cultures, which is an increasingly important dimension in a more interconnected world - both economically and socially."