A new survey of 775 Aussie parents and teachers conducted by Squiz Kids revealed that 41% of Australian primary school kids get their news and information from social media.
The key findings of the inaugural Kids + Media Survey also revealed that 78% of parents and 83% of teachers said they were ‘very worried’ their child or student was being exposed to misinformation on social media. More than half of survey respondents said they had ‘low confidence’ the kids in their care knew how to tell if something they came across on the internet was true or false.
Additionally, 90% of teachers said they had not received specific training on how to teach media literacy, but that it was one of the “most pressing areas of professional development’.
The survey was conducted over four weeks across the month of February 2023, polling the Squiz Kids audience of parents and teachers.
“Primary school kids are on social media in ways that most parents and teachers can’t begin to fathom,” said Squiz Kids creator, Bryce Corbett. “And while they spend lots of time on TikTok and Instagram – few of them have been taught how to be critical consumers of media.
“As a result, they’re believing and circulating to friends information that often has no basis in truth. And with more information coming at our kids than at any other time in history, there’s never been a more important time for them to be taught the basics of media literacy.”
Bryce Corbett and Amanda Bower
Created in 2020 by journalist Bryce Corbett, the Squiz Kids daily news podcast is listened to each day by over 160,000 Australian kids – including in more than 5,000 classrooms.
In October last year, and in partnership with the Google News Initiative, Squiz Kids launched Newshounds, an eight-part media literacy podcast programme for primary school children.
In it, Squiz-E the Newshound takes kids on a fun, board-game inspired adventure to learn how to recognise misinformation on the internet.
In the five months since it was launched, Newshounds has been accessed by over 870 classrooms around the country.
See also: Google and Squiz Kids partner on Newshounds media literacy program