Today in our Picture News lesson in 11A we have been discussing YouTube and other video sharing platforms. The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has recently written to YouTube and other video sharing platforms and asked them to post more educational content. This has come following the Government's concern that young people are watching too much low quality material online. We chatted about what we watch or play online. The comments from the class were things like "Minecraft videos", "playing Roblox", "watching football videos".

Mrs Fisher read out some quotes that had come from YouTube and the Government about their stance on online videos and what the young people today are watching. YouTube said that their platform can help young people learn more about important topics and can help them with their school work. The Government argue that although high quality content is broadcast on TV channels such as BBC and ITV, more and more young people are turning to video sharing platforms where they may find videos of much lower quality content and less educational value and that these are not regulated. We discussed whose view point we agreed with. The majority of the class said they agreed with YouTube as they like to use the platform and think that this is OK. Josh very maturely pointed out that, although he does like watching YouTube, he thinks that the Government are correct and that, in his opinion, more should be done for younger viewers to keep them safe.

Finally, we split into groups to complete our written work. One group were asked to type some sentences about what sort of videos they like to watch online and give a reason why they enjoy watching them. The other group were posed the question "Should YouTube have more rules for younger users?" and asked to choose their response (yes they agree or no they don't) and give reasons for their opinion. 

After dinner, we came back together and everyone shared their work with the class. We had some excellently thought out opinions and reasoning and it has posed lots of questions around the use of AI and discussion around should YouTube bring in restrictions to their platform to make it safer for all?

We hope that you enjoy reading the pupils' work on the photos below.

11A Picture News Week 3