Literacy at Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1

h. Non-print media

Student teachers also need to consider how to help children read non-print media. ‘Visual literacy’ is not to be taken for granted. Children’s games, stories, informal talk, drawings and paintings show their interest in the moving image. Learning to read these images more fully and critically can take place alongside learning to read printed texts.

It’s a good idea for student teachers to start by finding out about the extent of their pupils’ experience. They can:

• talk to the children about the television programmes they enjoy and which are their favourites;
• observe the kind of games the children are playing on the playground and in the role play area, to find out about the media characters the children are familiar with;
• watch these programmes themselves, to share the children’s enjoyment with them and consider how programmes like Teletubbies and the wide range of animated stories available on different channels appeal to very young children.

Your student teachers will find that the children do not restrict themselves to Early Years’ programmes, but also watch a wide range of material aimed at adults. Along with advertisements and the computer games, these contribute to their imaginative construction of the world. Student teachers should be aware of some of the more recent research on computer gaming, which shows the complex cognitive skills involved (Beavis, 2001; Mackey, 2004; Smith, 2005).