Helping the Scouts to tackle fake news
Mark Fawcett
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman @ We Are Futures | Building advocacy for brands amongst young people, through social impact | Speaker on social mobility, skills and education | Host of Careers Unwrapped podcast
We were tasked by our clients, the Scouts, with creating a programme of activities around digital citizenship – a difficult task for a group that often meet in town halls and classrooms with no computers in sight!
Ofcom reported that half of all adults have been exposed to fake news during the Covid-19 pandemic and almost 60% of 12-15 year olds said it was hard to work out whether news on social media was accurate, or not. Now the UK's 638,000 Scouts are able to learn to spot false reporting and non-stories as well as tackle cyber-bulling and protecting their privacy online.
The badge has been relaunched by the chief scout and TV explorer, Bear Grylls, who says “I am known for being able to survive in the wild,” he said, “but it’s just as important that young people today have their wits about them when online.”
The badge will require Scouts to learn how people from different backgrounds interact online and to consider if the people they interact with with most are similar to them or different in terms of gender, ethnicity and interests and what impact that might that have on the views and opinions they see and believe
Some out of the box thinking was required to create a wealth of fun, hands on activities that were easy to deliver for Scout leaders of all abilities. Well done the team at We are Futures!