Disrupt Disinformation - Let's change the story in your school

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) have, for some time, been concerned with a rise in anti-equality and prejudicial narratives within society and within educational establishments.

‘Let’s Change the Story in Your School’ is a new project collaboration by the EIS and TIE, drawing on each organisation’s expertise in tackling prejudicial disinformation and fostering constructive social dialogue for equality.

Commenting on the project, EIS General Secretary, Andrea Bradley said, “We are looking forward to continuing our partnership working with TIE in this new initiative. Scotland’s teachers and lecturers have clearly been saying that prejudicial attitudes and behaviours are on the rise and that they are concerned about the impact of these influences on our school communities. 

“This concerning trend comes against a backdrop of increasing prevalence and near normalisation of prejudicial narratives that have crept into our media, politics, and for many, into our everyday encounters.

“Our members are in a unique position to support the resilience of communities, tackling division through the power of education.

“When confronted with prejudicially influenced disinformed narratives, tensions are often high and it can be difficult to know what to say. Many of our members tell us that they are concerned about ‘getting it wrong’ or attracting negative attention when taking forward equality and social justice initiatives, which are core values of teacher professionalism and of our education system. Teachers and lecturers need tools to navigate these difficult conversations and confidently use their voices to disrupt prejudice.

“We are delighted to collaborate with TIE to empower both adults and learners in schools to contribute to changing the story to a more positive and hopeful one”.

Continuing the longstanding affiliation between the two organisations through this project, the EIS and TIE will deliver bespoke interventions in educational establishments as part of the EIS’s wider programme on addressing disinformation and tackling the far-right, and TIE’s wider rollout of new learner workshops for its Digital Discourse Initiative programme across Scotland.

Through a national rollout of the Digital Discourse Initiative in schools, TIE will be offering learner interventions that address prejudicial conspiracy theories, information manipulation, and digital resilience, as well as information for staff and families regarding prejudicial disinformation online.

A spokesperson for TIE said: “We are seeing the effects of online hate and prejudicial conspiracy narratives on children and young people across Scotland, and schools are increasingly looking for practical, evidence-based ways to respond.

“Through our Digital Discourse Initiative programme, we have worked with learners, teachers and international experts to develop interventions that build digital resilience and critical literacy competencies.

“As part of this work, more than nine in ten primary and secondary pupils reported encountering unfair or unkind content about certain groups of people online, with many describing exposure as a daily experience, demonstrating how normalised online prejudice and harmful narratives have become in the lives of children and young people.

“We are pleased to be working in collaboration with the EIS on this important work, helping to ensure that schools and staff are equipped to prevent and respond to the harms caused by an increasingly polarised digital environment, and that children and young people develop the skills needed to navigate it safely and critically.”

The EIS will be offering guidance and professional learning for establishments on evidence-based good practice in addressing prejudicial narratives and navigating difficult conversations with adults in the school community.

‘Let’s Change the Story in Your School’ hopes to contribute to changing the tide of the disinformation era, through the power of education, empathy, social dialogue. Learner workshops and workshops for staff will be available to book via tie.scot