Art Education: A Key Weapon in Fighting Disinformation

In an increasingly visual society, experts are raising concerns about the declining role of art education in fostering critical thinking skills vital for democracy. A new report commissioned by the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency identifies visual literacy as a fundamental democratic competence that is currently undervalued in the educational system.

The report, titled “Visual Literacy and Preparedness,” highlights the problematic status of art education compared to core subjects like Swedish and mathematics. Researchers argue this imbalance leaves students ill-equipped to critically examine the images they encounter daily.

“In a visually dominated society, it is problematic that art education plays such a marginal role. It affects how well equipped students are to understand and critically examine the images they encounter,” says Tarja Karlsson Häikiö, Professor of Visual and Material Culture at HDK-Valand and one of the researchers behind the report.

The findings emphasize that art education extends far beyond creative expression. From preschool through secondary education, art instruction helps develop analytical abilities essential for navigating today’s media landscape. Through hands-on work with visual media, students learn how images are constructed and how they influence emotions, opinions, and interpretations.

“Being able to produce images oneself is an important part of recognizing manipulation and disinformation,” Karlsson Häikiö explains. “Just as we learn to read through writing, we need to actively work with images to truly understand them.”

The research team advocates for elevating the status of visual education, including a specific recommendation to reinstate art as a core subject in upper secondary schools. This proposal comes at a time when digital and social media platforms increasingly dominate how information is consumed and shared, especially among young people.

Currently, visual literacy is primarily associated with art education, despite the fact that visual elements permeate nearly all school subjects. The report suggests that visual literacy should be integrated into other disciplines, particularly as part of source criticism in subjects like social studies and history.

However, implementation remains inconsistent. The researchers found that incorporating visual literacy across the curriculum often depends on individual teachers’ initiative rather than being systematically included in educational frameworks. This ad hoc approach creates gaps in students’ ability to critically evaluate visual information.

“To strengthen visual literacy in society, we also point to the importance of teacher education,” Karlsson Häikiö notes. “Future teachers need tools to work with visual issues—regardless of subject. Our teacher students at HDK-Valand gain this competence, but it is equally important for all teachers who will work with source criticism in the future.”

The report frames visual literacy not just as an educational matter but as a component of societal resilience. In an era where news consumption increasingly occurs through image and video-based platforms, the ability to identify misleading content becomes crucial for maintaining democratic discourse.

Educational experts note that while limiting screen time and promoting traditional literacy through books remains important, developing visual and digital competence is equally essential. The skills to decode, analyze, and create visual media have become necessary tools for informed citizenship.

As disinformation campaigns become more sophisticated, often leveraging compelling visual content to spread misleading narratives, the researchers argue that visual literacy represents a fundamental defense mechanism that should be prioritized within educational systems.

The findings come amid growing concern among media literacy advocates about the vulnerability of democracies to visual manipulation, especially as artificial intelligence makes creating convincing fake images and videos increasingly accessible.