Media literacy for primary schools in Birmingham

Ofcom is the UK regulator for the communications services that we use and rely on each day. We regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.

Accountable to Parliament, we set and enforce regulatory rules for the sectors for which we have responsibility. We also have powers to enforce competition law in those sectors, alongside the Competition and Markets Authority.

Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom has media literacy duties including a responsibility to commission activities that support women and girls, help people spot and avoid misinformation, and understand how platforms use our personal data. This ITT sets out our requirements to support children and their parents in Birmingham to improve their media literacy skills.

Birmingham was previously identified as an area that could greatly benefit from programmes designed to improve media literacy skills, due to high levels of ‘passive and uncommitted users’ (Internet User Classification dataset). In 2024 two organisations were commissioned by Ofcom to deliver media literacy interventions in levelling up areas in East Birmingham. These programmes delivered media literacy content via theatre in education, assemblies, workshops and media to more than 6,300 participants including pupils, parents and teachers.

There was valuable insight gained into what could be improved about the programmes and how more effective delivery could be provided. For example, the theatre in education programme evaluation evidenced that delivering outcomes supporting children to manage use of their first smartphone was particularly impactful, with a suggestion that further interventions should focus on Year 6 children, as they are most likely in the age group to be receiving their first smartphone.