School pupils across Scotland will learn how to identify fake news through a new resource produced by Oxfam Scotland and Christian Aid Scotland.
The organisations have teamed up to launch a new pack for secondary school teachers which helps pupils learn about aid and development, including how the UK spends its aid budget.
The pack also includes lesson plans which will help pupils begin to analyse media coverage surrounding overseas aid; encouraging pupils to develop skills in separating fact from opinion and judging whether or not stories are coming from a reliable source.
The pack, ‘Fair enough? Talking about aid and development’ is launched today and will be freely available to all secondary school teachers in Scotland ahead of the beginning of the new school year.
Ryan McQuigg, Oxfam Scotland Policy & Public Affairs Manager, said: “For millions of the world’s poorest people, aid from the Scottish and UK governments is the difference between sickness and health, between eating and going hungry, even between life and death – and it’s needed now more than ever.
“This exciting new resource will help school pupils explore and understand aid and development, while gaining vital myth-busting skills which will help them to critically evaluate the effectiveness of UK aid.
“Scotland’s young people are our future; it’s vital we give them the tools they need to be able to distinguish fact from fiction so they can become active global citizens and help make the world a more just and sustainable place.”
Emma Gardner, Education Coordinator from Christian Aid Scotland added: “This resource has been developed to help pupils understand how funding decisions for development projects are made, and how these long term projects can lift people out of poverty by, for example, providing them with sustainable employment opportunities.
“The pupils will also explore the Global Goals for Sustainable Development and how these have the potential to bring global organisations together to eradicate poverty and tackle issues such as climate change. With this new resource, we are supporting teachers to talk about controversial global issues in the classroom.”
The pack is the latest in a series of educational resources produced by the charities. Both Oxfam Scotland and Christian Aid Scotland are members of the International Development Education Association Scotland, which is a network of organisations involved in Development Education and Education for Global Citizenship across Scotland, and provides training, support and resources for teachers and schools.
Download ‘Fair enough? Talking about aid and development’ here.