We are very excited to announce that Tooled Up Education are going to collaborate with researchers from the University of Manchester on an academic research project. The project is titled ‘Working towards social media literacy: co-producing a new PSHE resources for secondary schools’ and will ultimately aim develop new, evidence based PSHE resources on the topic of digital literacy. These resources will be particularly unique as they will have been co-created (developed with the help and input of) young people, parents and teachers.

We know from research that navigating the digital space is a huge issue for children and young people. Approximately 80% of the UK population use social media on a daily basis, and approximately 90% of them are teenagers. At least 75% of children 12 and under, and 95% aged over 13 years. Research shows that young people actively use social media on a daily basis, averaging about four hours per day, but sometimes even more. A recent study found that young people are experiencing some unique experiences from daily social media usage that are having a profound impact on their mental health, including feeling left out, trouble navigating social conflict and increased anxiety over their online image. While some schools are taking steps to improve wellbeing in schools by banning the use of smartphones during school hours, we know from our recent interview with Researcher of the Month, Dr Victoria Goodyear, that banning smartphones is not enough.

Dr Goodyear notes that, “We actually need to do more than just ban phones in schools”, arguing that we should move beyond an exclusive focus on banning access to technology, towards a rights-respecting approach underpinned by age-appropriate design and education. Within this, children have the right to be educated on, and develop, healthy tech habits.

This is exactly what Dr Hickman Dunne and her team plan to do with this research grant and Tooled Up is thrilled to be a part of this extremely important work.

We hope to have some new resources to share on our platform by summer time 2026! We will keep you all updated with our progress!

Are you a teacher in a Tooled Up school?

Did you know we currently have over 100 PSHE resources on our platform including lesson plans, staff CPD and classroom activities?