The BRIDGE project was set up to harness the potential of picture book pedagogy and expand upon dialogic teaching approaches. It led to the creation of a model for teaching critical thinking and other skills that primary schools can easily adopt. Sarah Pavey explains
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In an increasingly interconnected and complex world, primary schools face the crucial task of equipping pupils with critical thinking skills, digital literacy, and a sense of global citizenship. As educators, we must constantly seek innovative approaches to address these educational priorities effectively.

The Erasmus-funded BRIDGE project (Abbatecola et al, 2024) offers a compelling solution: harnessing the power of picture books as a bridge to inquiry-based learning, providing a fresh perspective on how we can engage young minds and nurture these essential skills.

 

The case for picture book pedagogy

Picture books, with their rich visual narratives, serve as powerful tools for engaging pupils across the primary age range. These seemingly simple books possess a unique ability to captivate young minds, help develop cognitive critical skills and promote social-emotional growth.

Using the interplay between text and images, picture books create a multi-layered reading experience that encourages deeper comprehension and analysis (Serafini & Reid, 2024).

The cognitive benefits of picture book pedagogy are manifold. As pupils engage with these texts, they develop critical literacy skills, learning to decode both verbal and visual information simultaneously.

This process enhances their ability to make connections, draw inferences, and construct meaning from complex narratives.

Arizpe et al (2023) note that the visual nature of picture books makes them particularly effective in supporting English language learners and pupils with diverse learning needs, providing multiple entry points for comprehension and discussion.

On the social-emotional front, picture books offer a safe space for children to explore complex topics such as equality, diversity, and social justice. Through relatable characters and compelling storylines, these books cultivate empathy and global awareness. For instance, a thoughtfully chosen picture book about migration can help pupils understand the challenges faced by refugee children, evoking compassion and a sense of shared humanity.

 

Strategies for implementing picture book pedagogy

A key strategy in picture book pedagogy is the use of dialogic reading techniques. Dialogic reading, first introduced by Whitehurst et al (1988), is an interactive approach to shared reading that goes beyond simply reading aloud to children. Instead, it encourages active participation and dialogue between the adult reader and the child listener.

This technique is particularly effective with picture books, as it connects with the rich visual content to stimulate discussion and deeper engagement with the text and story.

The dialogic reading approach employs several key strategies, often summarised by the acronym PEER:

  • Prompt: The adult asks questions about the story or pictures.
  • Evaluate: The adult listens to the child's response.
  • Expand: The adult adds information to the child's response.
  • Repeat: The adult encourages the child to repeat the expanded answer.

Additionally, dialogic reading utilises various types of prompts, known as CROWD:

  • Completion prompts.
  • Recall prompts.
  • Open-ended prompts.
  • Wh- prompts (who, what, when, where, why).
  • Distancing prompts (relating the story to the child's own experiences).

By incorporating dialogic reading techniques into picture book pedagogy, teachers can significantly enhance pupil engagement and comprehension. A detailed literature review of this technique was reported by Pillinger and Vardy (2022).

Our aim within the BRIDGE project was to harness the potential of picture book pedagogy, expanding upon dialogic approaches, and we developed a four-step model – wonder, explore, communicate, and reflect.

This aligned with inquiry-based learning principles and as such can be adapted across various subject areas and age groups within the primary school setting.

 

The BRIDGE model

Wonder: This phase encourages pupils to engage with the book's cover and title, making predictions and formulating questions. This initial step activates prior knowledge and sets the stage for active engagement with any text. Teachers can guide this process by asking open-ended questions that stimulate curiosity and encourage pupils to think critically about what they might encounter in the story.

Exploration: Here pupils delve into the story, analysing both text and illustrations to uncover deeper meanings. This phase involves close reading and visual literacy skills, as pupils learn to interpret the subtle interplay between words and images. Teachers can scaffold this process by drawing attention to specific elements of the illustrations, such as colour, composition, and symbolism, and how they contribute to the overall narrative.

Communication: This stage involves collaborative discussions, where pupils share their interpretations and learn from one another's perspectives. This phase is crucial for developing language skills and promoting a community of inquiry within the classroom. Teachers can facilitate these discussions by using techniques such as think-pair-share or small group dialogues, encouraging pupils to articulate their thoughts and listen actively to their peers.

Reflection: This stage prompts pupils to connect the story's themes to their own lives and the wider world. This metacognitive process helps solidify learning and promotes deeper understanding of the book's messages. Teachers can guide reflection through journal writing activities, multimedia responses, or whole-class discussions that encourage pupils to consider the broader implications of the story.

 

A collaboration

Implementing this approach effectively requires collaboration between teachers and librarians. Together, they can curate a diverse collection of high-quality picture books and design engaging learning activities that extend beyond the pages. This partnership ensures that pupils have access to a wide range of texts that reflect different cultures, experiences, and perspectives, enriching their learning and broadening their worldview (Roche, 2014).

Professional development also plays a crucial role in equipping educators with the skills and confidence to implement picture book pedagogy and dialogic reading techniques successfully. By investing in training opportunities, schools can empower their staff to fully embrace this innovative approach.

This might include workshops on visual literacy, seminars on facilitating inquiry-based discussions, or collaborative planning sessions to integrate picture books across the curriculum.

 

How picture books help cultivate global citizenship

One of the most compelling aspects of picture book pedagogy is its potential to cultivate global citizenship. Through carefully selected stories, pupils can explore themes of migration, displacement, and the human experience across different cultural contexts.

This exposure evokes cross-cultural understanding and a sense of global responsibility from an early age (Short, 2009). Consider, for example, a picture book that tells the story of a child refugee's journey.

As pupils engage with the story, they develop empathy for the narrator's experiences. Class discussions, guided by dialogic reading techniques, can then extend this understanding to real-world issues, encouraging pupils to reflect on their own role in creating a more inclusive society. This approach aligns seamlessly with the primary curriculum's emphasis on personal, social, and emotional development, as well as global learning outcomes.

Moreover, picture book pedagogy can serve as a powerful tool for addressing digital literacy in an increasingly visual world. By teaching pupils to critically analyse visual information alongside text, we prepare them to navigate and interpret the multimodal information they encounter in digital media. It can also play a significant role in promoting inclusive education.

The visual nature of these texts makes them accessible to pupils with diverse learning needs, including those with language barriers or learning difficulties. By providing multiple modes of engagement with the content, picture books create a more equitable learning environment where all pupils can participate and succeed.

 

A strategic approach

For headteachers, this pedagogical approach provides an opportunity to support and empower staff, ultimately promoting a generation of engaged, thoughtful global citizens. Your support could take various forms, such as:

  1. Allocating resources for building a diverse and high-quality picture book collection in your school library.
  2. Providing time for collaborative planning between teachers and librarians to integrate picture books into lesson plans.
  3. Offering professional development opportunities focused on picture book pedagogy, visual literacy, and dialogic reading techniques.
  4. Encouraging teachers to share best practices and successful lesson ideas for using picture books.
  5. Incorporating picture book pedagogy into school-wide literacy initiatives and curriculum planning.

The BRIDGE project provides a wealth of resources to support the implementation of picture book pedagogy in schools. By tapping into these materials and encouraging professional development in this area, teachers are equipped with the tools they need to unlock the full potential of visual narratives in the classroom.

It is important to note that while picture books are often associated with younger children, especially in the UK, their potential extends across the entire primary age range.

Sophisticated picture books can engage older primary pupils in complex discussions about literary techniques, visual symbolism, and societal issues. As Pantaleo (2017) demonstrates, even key stage 2 primary pupils can benefit from the rich, multimodal story-telling offered by picture books, developing advanced comprehension and analytical skills.

  • Sarah Pavey has worked as a school librarian for more than 20 years and is founder of the education training company and consultancy SP4IL. Sarah is a Fellow of CILIP and the Royal Society of Arts and is part of an Erasmus project team researching digital and information literacy in Europe. She is the author of The Networked Librarian (Facet Publishing).

 

Further information & references

  • Abbatecola et al: Information and digital literacy at school: A bridge to support critical thinking and equality values for primary education using children’s literature and transmedia, Erasmus+ project BRIDGE, 2024: https://bridgeinfoliteracy.eu/training/ 
  • Arizpe, Noble & Styles: Children Reading Pictures: New contexts and approaches to picturebooks, Routledge, 2023.
  • Pantaleo: Critical thinking and young children's exploration of picturebook artwork, Language and Education (31,2), 2017.
  • Pillinger & Vardy: The story so far: A systematic review of the dialogic reading literature, Journal of Research in Reading (45,4), 2022.
  • Roche: Developing Children's Critical Thinking Through Picturebooks: A guide for primary and early years students and teachers, Routledge, 2014.
  • Serafini & Reid: Analyzing picturebooks: Semiotic, literary, and artistic frameworks, Visual Communication (23,2), 2024.
  • Short: Critically reading the word and the world: Building intercultural understanding through literature, Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature (47,2), 2009.
  • Whitehurst et al: Accelerating language development through picture book reading, Developmental Psychology (24,4), 1988: https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.24.4.552