The Power of Pictures

Power of Pictures Training - an EEF Promising Programme
Enhance your knowledge and understanding of how to develop visual literacy, reading comprehension and the teaching of creative writing alongside renowned author/illustrator, Daishu Ma, using her picturebook Tiger, It’s Snowing! The next course will begin on 1 May 2025 alongside renowned illustrator/author Daishu Ma. Daishu is a Chinese illustrator and graphic artist working in East London. Daishu’s first wordless graphic novel Leaf was published in 2014. All her work expresses a keen interest in science and nature. As well as writing and illustrating her own stories, Daishu has worked on various collaborative projects, including the Chinese edition of the bestselling non-fiction title Seven Brief Lessons on Physics.

Join us for our next Power of Pictures training - find out more.

Power of Pictures Free Resources for Schools
Discover our free teaching plans and videos based on children’s quality picturebooks to enhance children’s reading comprehension and composition of their own creative writing, from Early Years to Key Stage 2.

Explore all the books that are part of the Power of Pictures programme

What is the Power of Pictures?
CLPE’s award-winning Power of Pictures training and resources aims to raise children’s engagement and attainment in reading and writing. The programme supports the development of children's visual literacy, reading comprehension and creative writing skills, enabling children to learn about narrative structure and character development in an accessible way. The training is delivered directly from an author-illustrator of a picturebook and aims to:

• Enhance teachers understanding of picturebooks and ability to teach using picturebooks across the primary age phases (EYFS-Key Stage 2).
• Develop participants understanding of the importance of visual literacy in developing readers.
• Demonstrate how illustration develops children's writing skills.
• Develop children’s engagement and attainment in literacy by creating their own picture book.

This programme has been allocated 'Promising Programme' status by the EEF and Winner of the Teach Primary Best CPD Award 2022, this programme was originally devised by CLPE’s Charlotte Hacking and author/illustrator and CLPE Patron, Ed Vere in 2013. In 2022, Charlotte Hacking was awarded the Anna Craft Creativities in Education Prize for her work on The Power of Pictures

EEF Randomised Control Trial
The programme was independently evaluated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 2019 and announced as an EEF Promising Programme, found that:

• Pupils taking part in the PoP programme made, on average, one months’ additional progress in writing ability (the primary outcome), compared to children in the usual practice control group.
• Among children eligible for free school meals (FSM), those in schools that PoP was delivered in also made one additional month’s progress. 
• Children in PoP schools had higher writing self-efficacy and writing creativity (ideation) scores than those from schools in which the programme was not taught. 
• The visual element of this programme attracted learners who traditionally have difficulties engaging in literacy activities.
• Teachers reported high levels of engagement with the programme, not only from the pupils and themselves, but also from the senior leadership team (SLT) at their schools. 

Read the EEF/RSA evaluation report here.

Read CLPE's evaluation of the six years of Power of Pictures here.