While teachers need training in how to react, they should meet conspiratorial claims with curiosity, not judgment, says Helena Brothwell
Miss, but how do you explain the trails in the sky if planes don’t spray things?”
It is said lightly, halfway through a geography lesson, but the room goes quiet. A few pupils nod. Another – curious rather than confrontational – says they saw a video about chemtrails online. These are not deliberately disruptive moments; they are quiet tests of trust.
Anyone who has spent time in a classroom over the past couple of years will know moments like this are common. Sometimes they feel easy to deal with, but others lead to anxiousness, paralysis even, in how to respond.
It shows exactly why teachers told the Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools they need training and support to feel confident in how to engage with conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation.
It was pleasing to see our research cited in the curriculum review – including our recommendation to embed media literacy across the curriculum.
The Department for Education’s Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance was also updated recently to include misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories as potential safeguarding harms.
Conspiracy theories are distinct from misinformation
Getting the terminology right is important. A conspiracy theory explains events through the secret actions of a powerful group and resists contrary evidence.
This is distinct from misinformation, which is shared in error, and disinformation, which is shared deliberately. Getting these distinctions into shared staff language helps teachers decide whether a classroom moment needs teaching, challenge or escalation.
One of the starkest findings of the report was that the online world looks very different for young people than for people my age. My algorithm sends me holidays and menopause influencers. The algorithm acts very differently towards a 14-year-old girl.
It can feel daunting, impossible even, to keep up. Recently during a lesson walk a teenage girl said that ‘you wouldn’t even understand half of the language or slang that we use’ and our polling indicates that there is certainly a gap.
Young people require better support to navigate the digital world safely, but adults need guidance to know how to help the young people in their lives who are online.
The evidence shows the adults young people trust most are their parents, and teachers are trusted far more than news or Wikipedia. However, over the teenage years, trust in adults generally declines.
Separate healthy debate from conspiratorial thinking
It is important to separate healthy debate from conspiratorial thinking. Pupils questioning what they learn about politics, history or science is a sign of curiosity and good teaching welcomes that.
The challenge comes when a claim shuts down the use of evidence and insists that facts cannot be trusted. At that point it could be a safeguarding matter, because the pupil may be drifting towards voices that undermine trust in others and isolate them from reliable sources of help. The right response is pedagogy, not punishment.
This approach is not about calling pupils out, but calling them in.
These discussions may happen out of curiosity, but teachers told us that they often feel uncomfortable addressing them without clear guidance.
Updating KCSIE is a great first step, but our report recommends the DfE reviews political impartiality guidance as teachers often worry that questioning disinformation, particularly of a political nature, risks breaching these rules. Reassurance is needed.
Changes to the guidance mean safeguarding leads should now treat online misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy belief in the same way they would any other pattern of risk, with clear reporting routes and time for staff discussion.
Ultimately, this is about protecting trust. When pupils bring half-understood claims into the classroom, they are often asking whether adults can be relied on to tell them the truth.
Meeting that with calm curiosity rather than fear or judgement is one of the most powerful safeguarding acts a teacher can perform. If we want young people to keep faith in evidence, institutions and each other, we first have to model that faith.
This article is part of a Schools Week series on countering conspiracies. Read them all here.
Your thoughts