Key Sentence:
- Over the past year, Manchester United footballers have campaigned for social justice on social media.
- Providing free meals to students in need, fighting racial abuse online, and helping disadvantaged children to read.
Fighting the pandemic has primarily been left to individuals and grassroots operations to feed hungry children during school holidays and provide essential whiteboard resources. More specifically, Manchester United football star Marcus Rashford spends his time advocating for social justice on social media.
Last year, footballers battled child food poverty, pushed the government to provide free meals to needy students, combated racist abuse after missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final, and started a book club to support reading among disadvantaged children.
After receiving praise for his social media campaign – Rashford’s work is officially included in the GCSE media research curriculum.
The GCSE AQA Examination Board decided to include courses covering online presence, communication skills, and Rashford engagement.
AQA Creative Arts Curriculum Manager Sandra Allen hopes this new course will motivate and inspire students. “Marcus Rashford is one of the UK’s most influential and inspiring young people, so students can learn a lot about how he uses social media to make a real impact,” he told The Guardian. He continued, “It’s not just an opportunity for them to learn about social media – it’s also a great way to think about key social and racial issues as part from our commitment to equality, diversity, also inclusion in the curriculum.”
Other recent training topics include:
- Marvel’s Black Widow characters.
- The breakfast radio show Kiss.
- Heat Magazine.
- The TV series His Dark Materials.
GSCE’s new media research curriculum begins next September. We spoke with Rashford about summer 2021 – an interview can be found here.