Look and Read: BBC School Television and Literacy Teaching 1957-1979

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.