As big tech abandons truth, teachers like me must be the fact-checkers

As we enter another school year, I feel a slight knot in my stomach as a high school teacher thinking of ways to engage students with the so-called “real world”.

It’s a necessity in subjects such as commerce, legal studies and economics (my stomping ground) to make connections with real-world issues, and I will often grab a news story on my way into work that’s relevant to something we are doing in class that day. But students will also have seen plenty of stories on their social media feeds on their way to school; discussions about what’s true, what’s opinion, whose perspective, and how this is relevant to what we are doing in class, inevitably come to the fore. What rabbit hole of rubbish might they have been led down today?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has dispensed with fact-checking on his platforms.Credit: Bloomberg

That sounds harsh, but students are used to a bit of pushback from me. They know I like to engage in robust discussions, in-depth debates or quick learning opportunities without taking offence. After all, high schools are supposed to be places where students start to explore and experiment with little and big ideas.

But with emboldened male supremacists, far-right extremists and the demise of the online global moderation and fact-checking on platforms such as X and Meta, schools’ duty of care in this space is certainly being tested.

Misogynistic attitudes, shockingly, have been allowed to simmer away in some school environments for some time. Many female teachers have experienced this, leading to Monash University conducting research on gendered authority and misogynistic attitudes deployed to exert power over women and girls in schools (“The problem of anti-feminist ‘manfluencer’ Andrew Tate in Australian schools: women teachers’ experiences of resurgent male supremacy”). The fact that teenage boys may experiment with or be influenced by the views of far-right live streamers is no surprise given their stage of development. More concerning to me as a teacher is the risk that these attitudes may be enabled – even exacerbated – in certain high school settings.

How has this happened? Of all workplaces, high schools should be pushing back most strongly against misogynistic and extremist attitudes and their manifestations in various bullying behaviours and inappropriate comments.

Because the male brain is at its most vulnerable between the ages of 13 and 17, high schools have a huge responsibility in this regard. As a teacher, I have the privilege to share space with these malleable minds for extended periods every day. I am privy to all the boisterous conversations in the classroom, off-hand remarks, conspicuous gestures, tones of voice, confident or faltering comments and questions and demonstrations of kindness, gratitude or otherwise. I am acutely aware of my ability to influence those interactions and attitudes in some small way each day – for better or for worse. How I respond to the way students treat me, and their peers, matters enormously at this precious transient stage of their development.

But what I might do as a teacher on any school day is nowhere near enough – in less than an hour those young minds are off to another classroom or an assembly, house meeting or sporting field, and the responsibility rests with someone else at the school.

What matters most in addressing bullying and unfair treatment of any kind, by any person at a school, is the whole school culture. And that takes exceptional leadership – not grandiose statements which, from the safety of a stage or school policy document, espouse the importance of respectful behaviours and encourage members of the school community to “speak up” when wrongful behaviours are observed or experienced.

Rather, exceptional leaders are willing to get a little grubby by shuffling through the congested corridors like the rest of us, mingling in staffrooms and playgrounds, standing at the front gate and dropping into classrooms – constantly listening, observing, and questioning. Modelling appropriate behaviours towards female staff, not undermining them.

When bullying behaviours or inappropriate comments are reported – and they will occur, no matter how good the school – exceptional leaders are willing to do the hard yards of setting up, implementing, and overseeing transparent processes that fact-check and get to the truth.

They are also prepared to deal with any inconvenient truths by ensuring those responsible for such behaviours are held accountable. They are prepared to look a victim in the eye and apologise for any bullying behaviours that festered or unfair comments that were ignored under their watch. That’s how to stamp out misogyny. That’s how to treat people fairly.

Schools are on notice to be the best they can possibly be in the face of these attitudes.

Fiona Richards is a high school teacher.

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