Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how media and digital literacy education in the new curriculum will be kept up-to-date with trends in technologies and emerging threats.

Media literacy is currently covered in the citizenship, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing curricula, while digital literacy is addressed in computing and RSHE.

On 15 July, the government published updated RSHE statutory guidance, introducing new content on artificial intelligence (AI), online safety and pornography, which will become mandatory learning in schools from 1 September 2026. Following publication of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report on 5 November 2025, vital applied knowledge and skills in media and digital literacy will be embedded into the revised curriculum from 2028.

The department will engage with sector experts in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum, including to ensure that the curriculum is accessible to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and adaptable to remain current in a rapidly changing context. There will be a public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study to seek views on the content before it is finalised.

To support schools with teaching in the short and longer-term, Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum support for schools, including resources for computing and secondary citizenship, which can be found here: https://www.thenational.academy/.

In addition, the Educate Against Hate website hosts a series of online media literacy resources to support teachers and school leaders to build resilience to extremist narratives online in children and young people. The National Centre for Computing Education also provides teachers with subject knowledge courses and resources to support the teaching of computing topics, including digital literacy and AI.