Social media PSHE resources for secondary schools
The #So.Me PSHE programme is a UKRI Impact Accelerator Account-funded project to develop new, free-to-use Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) lesson materials or key stage 3 (years 7-9).
Between September 2025 and February 2026 we worked with Tooled Up Education, Dr Joshua Stubbs, Internet Matters, and young people in years 7-10, to develop lesson plans that focus on the issues young people experience on social media that are most important to them.
We also spoke to parents and teachers about the challenges they face in supporting young people’s social media use, and used this information to inform the PSHE resources.
What have we learnt?
As well as developing a set of PSHE materials, we learnt a lot about young people and key adults’ needs around social media literacy. Click on the links below to find out more.
We recorded a webinar with Tooled Up Education exploring what we learnt through our workshops with teachers & parents
Project Report 1
Barriers teachers & parents in supporting adolescent social media literacy
Project Report 2
Young people’s priorities for social media literacy
Project Report 3
Development of the final PSHE materials, and teachers & pupils’ feedback
Why is this work needed?
Social media plays a central role in young people’s everyday lives, shaping how they connect and communicate with friends, access news and information, and develop interests and hobbies.
However, while social media provides opportunities, we know it also brings challenges for young people. Often cited concerns centre on access to dangerous and harmful content and individuals, cyberbullying, and navigating mis- and disinformation. Alongside these challenges are some more subtle issues that young people must manage on a daily basis. These include feeling left out, worrying about being judged by what others see about them online, and not feeling totally in control of their social media use.
PSHE lessons offer an invaluable opportunity to explore this range of issues and support young people to develop critical social media literacy skills. However, existing classroom resources have a narrow focus on online safety and high-profile risks, overlooking the subtle, everyday dynamics of social media.
This project responds to this gap in provision. By collaborating with young people, teachers, and parents, we are co-create PSHE lessons and guidance that reflect real experiences, address authentic challenges, and empower both young people and the adults who support them to navigate social media with confidence and care.
What did we do?
We ran a series of workshops with young people and roundtables with parents and teachers, alongside regular meetings with our project partners. Based on these conversations, we developed a set of PSHE lesson materials for schools to use. we Invited some schools to test and provide feedback on the lessons.
Project partners
Dr Joshua Stubbs is an Associate in the University of York's Department of Education and the Institute of Mental Health Research. He has extensive experience of contributing to the development of PSHE education teaching materials on mental health and wellbeing, and is passionate about empowering children and young people to lead safe, healthy and fulfilling lives.
Internet Matters is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping parents, carers, and professionals keep children safe online. They provide advice, resources, and practical tools to help families navigate the digital world and empower children to use technology safely and responsibly.
Tooled Up Education is an digital platform that provides evidence-based resources to support parents, teachers, and school staff in raising and educating children. Their goal is to ensure that educators and parents are as ‘tooled up’ as they could possibly be when it comes to supporting the happy and healthy development of the children in their lives.
A secondary school in Rochdale with a diverse student body. The school has cultivated a strong, deeply ingrained culture over the past 15 years, centred on its core values: CHANGE (Composed, High standards, Agency, Numeracy and literacy, Growth mindset, Empathy). This framework is consistently used by all staff to promote a clear and shared understanding of expected behaviour and attitudes.