Alarming PISA Study: Only 44 Percent of Teenagers Recognize Fake News

The corresponding data for Austria has not yet been published. However, as OECD Education Director Andreas Schleicher explained on Tuesday in the Ö1 "Morning Journal", 15-year-olds also perform poorly in this country. Only 44 percent manage to check the quality of information on the net. The OECD average was over 50.

Moreover, more than one in three teenagers share information on social media without checking its truthfulness beforehand. Thus, according to the report, Austria is at the bottom of the statistics, behind Bulgaria and ahead of Morocco.

Recognition of Fake News: Schleicher Sees Schools as Responsible

To improve the situation, Schleicher believes that the focus should primarily be on schools. Reading competence is still too often understood as the processing of information, according to the OECD Education Director. While in the past the content of textbooks was simply memorized, today information must also be questioned. "This is something that is not yet fully recognized in Austria."

The proportion of students who find it easy to evaluate information is significantly below the OECD average in Austria. In countries like Singapore, Ireland, and Denmark, teenagers are particularly good at dealing with online information. There, how to distinguish false information from real ones is often addressed in everyday school life.

"This is taken seriously in all school subjects, that a fact-based worldview is created, that information is viewed from different perspectives, that one critically engages with various sources of information," said Schleicher. This is also important in a democratic society. After all, it is based on the fact that opinions are shared, evaluated, and jointly arrived at fact-based conclusions. "If this knowledge is lacking, it has major implications."

(APA/Red)

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