ABSTRACT
How can we teach media and information literacy and maintain the necessary balance between scepticism and trust when the societal foundations for this balance are unmoored? Chapter 5 starts out by providing a brief examination of different ways in which media and information literacy and similar notions have been considered in curricula and educational practices in different countries as well as by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international programme for assessing pupils’ abilities and knowledge concerning literacy. Particularly, this chapter zooms in on curricula from USA, England, and Sweden – countries with different approaches to media and information literacy. Referring back to earlier chapters, the authors discuss what kinds of media and information literacy are taught and measured in schools. Then various difficulties arising from these are highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the notion of trust and how trust relates to questioning and doubt. It is argued for the need to distinguish between constructive mistrust and destructive distrust and draw attention to the risks that intermixing mistrust and distrust in relation to educational goals carries with it. The authors employ the notion of performative probing to describe a practice of situated meaning-making through critical engagement with media and information as situated and productive of trust rather than merely reactive. The chapter consolidates the different contradictions laid out by discussing what the authors call a trust paradox.
