<i>Look and Read</i>: BBC School Television and Literacy Teaching 1957-1979

Steven Barclay

doi:10.18146/view.280

<i>Look and Read</i>: BBC School Television and Literacy Teaching 1957-1979

Authors

Steven Barclay University of Westminster https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6080-8456

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18146/view.280

Keywords:

educational broadcasting, school broadcasting, BBC, Look and Read, Words and Pictures, Literacy, Progressivism, Phonics

Abstract

The BBC began broadcasting school television in 1957. As school television developed in the 1960s, the BBC engaged with educational research and addressed national educational problems. Pedagogy in UK schools was becoming more progressive, and literacy was one of its most important and complex elements. UK Schools had struggled to achieve universal literacy among 7–9-year-olds. The series Look and Read and Words and Pictures used literacy research, adapted to the best method of presentation by television. The series took advantage of the developing televisual genres of children’s drama and animation.

Author Biography

Steven Barclay, University of Westminster

Steven Barclay is a media historian and social researcher. He holds an MA in media and communication studies from the University of Amsterdam and a PhD from the University of Westminster. He formerly worked in the television industry. He is currently working on a British Academy funded project on the life and career of broadcaster Alistair Cooke and a Joseph Rowntree trust funded project on the decline of local journalism in the UK.

Downloads

Published

2022-08-03

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 21 (2022): Education & TV: Histories of a Vision

Section

Explorations

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).