NOS shares the results of its own research among 190 teachers on this subject in an article dated 3 May 2026. “Students no longer know what is real and what is fake because of AI and TikTok,” says history teacher Maarten Post. Stichting School & Veiligheid recognizes this picture. Misinformation is spread to influence opinions, make money, or cause harm to our society, democracy, or public health (source: NCTV).
What can you as a teacher and as a school do to help students learn to recognize misinformation? Here are some practical tools:
In the classroom
- When you see, read, or hear incorrect information, state that this is misleading and therefore nonsensical information (debunking).
- Explain why misinformation is harmful (for example, because it calls people’s rights into question or portrays people as ‘dangerous’).
- Teach students to recognize misinformation themselves, so that they become more ‘resilient’ to it (prebunking). Have them investigate the source of a message, how it is presented, why the message was written, and whether the facts and figures are correct, and then discuss this together in class.
At school
What can you as a school leader do to limit the influence of different truths, misinformation, and disinformation as much as possible?
- Train your team in how they can teach students to investigate whether their sources contain factual information. What are facts and opinions, really? And what constitutes good journalism?
- Give your team the opportunity to develop professionally in this area. Teachers often have insufficient knowledge of these topics to teach about them. Sometimes students use sources that are in fact valid, such as Al Jazeera, but team members are not sufficiently familiar with them.
- Concrete actions to take:
- Appoint a team member who develops expertise on the topic of misinformation and involves the team in this.
- Hire an external expert to train the team.
- Appoint a working group (temporarily) to deepen knowledge of these topics and write advice on how you can incorporate them into the educational curriculum.
Download the publication that matches your role
Are you a teacher?
- Discussion guide: Discussing socially sensitive topics in the classroom
- Brochure: Dealing with conspiracy theories in the classroom
Are you a school leader?
- Guidance document: Dealing with social controversy