Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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286. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will outline all the courses taught in secondary school to teach children about fake news and equip them with the necessary skills to spot misinformation; her views on whether adequate hours are being devoted to this topic currently; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21380/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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At Junior Cycle, the provides multiple opportunities for the development of digital skills. A set of 24 Statements of Learning are central to the student experience in Junior Cycle and Statement 24 focuses explicitly on the development of digital skills setting out the expectation that the student uses technology and digital media tools to learn, communicate, work and think collaboratively and creatively in a responsible and ethical manner.

In addition to this cross-curricular focus on digital skills, schools may choose to offer short courses which explicitly focus on digital skills. In particular, NCCA has developed a short course in through which students will learn to use digital technology to engage in self-directed enquiry, to discriminate between multiple sources of information and to participate safely and effectively in an online environment.

At Senior Cycle, one of the Key Skills is information processing. The Senior Cycle Key Skills Framework states “This key skill helps learners become competent in an information-intensive environment. As well as developing the specific skills of accessing, selecting, evaluating and recording information, learners develop an appreciation of the differences between information and knowledge and the roles that both play in making decisions and judgements”. Students have opportunities to develop their digital media literacy skills through engagement with a variety of Leaving Certificate subjects, including English, History, Economics, or Politics and Society. Full details of the specifications for these subjects can be found on www.curriculumonline.ie

In addition, key to the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 is that all learners are given the opportunity to use digital technologies in their learning to reach their full potential and provide them with the necessary digital skills needed for an increasingly digital world. Online safety and the safe and ethical use of digital technologies is a key component of the Digital Strategy. The strategy will continue to work towards ensuring learners have the opportunities to develop their digital skills so that they can navigate the digital world in a confident and competent manner and that their voices are heard and taken into account in further developments in this area.

Support and resources in the area of online safety and digital citizenship are provided by Webwise. Webwise promotes the autonomous, effective and safer use of the internet by young people through a sustained information and awareness strategy targeting school leaders, teachers, parents/guardians and learners themselves with consistent and relevant messages. Misinformation and fake news is also addressed across a range of resources developed by Webwise including the Connectedpost-primary resource, digital citizenship online courses and through the provision of advice for parents, teachers and young people via the Webwise Parents, Teachers and Youth Hubs.