The Power of Pictures

Image
Yijing Li - Headshot
BOOKS

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.

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 Endownment Foundation (EEF) and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 2019 and 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.
 

Power of Pictures Training
The next course will begin on 25 April 2024 alongside renowned illustrator/author Yijing Li whose debut book, Through The Forest, was published in Spring 2022 and won the Merit Award in the 9th Hiii Illustration International Competition, as well as being long listed for the 2023 Klaus Flugge Prize. 

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

 

VIDEOS

Power of Pictures Training - April 2024

Video