Making Sense of Media: What works in Media Literacy?

From the very early stages of this initiative, it was clear that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to media literacy. The recommendations made in this report invite delivery organisations and fellow commissioners or funders to find the approach that works best for the people they aim to support. This is an exciting opportunity for us all to be sure that our work makes a meaningful difference to media literacy in the UK. It also presents a challenge for providing solutions that are scalable, and underpins the view that Ofcom alone cannot address the issue. 

We are hugely grateful to the 13 organisations who delivered and evaluated the media literacy interventions. Most of them were selected because they are experts in the communities they support and how best to support skills development for those people rather than because they are media literacy organisations. In addition, we challenged them to evaluate their projects as robustly as possible in the budget and time available. 

We focused on ensuring the report contributes to an understanding of what works in delivering media literacy projects and celebrates the 13 organisations for their willingness to embrace a learning-focused approach. 

Publication of this report does not just mark the end of these projects, but rather acts as a catalyst for conversations about what works for media literacy. We welcome you to join the conversation through our Making Sense of Media network.