RENOWNED national charity, Art UK, is launched a free programme, The Superpower of Looking®, to equip young people with the visual literacy skills that have become essential to successfully navigate the modern, image-saturated world.
In the UK, it is estimated that young adults have a combined total of approximately 10 million photographs on their smartphones. Additionally, recent analysis found that by 2030 there will be 382 billion images on Google Images. Against this expansive backdrop of our increasingly visual world and the rapid developments of AI, it is vital that young people are empowered to fully embrace the opportunities of digital advancements of the evolving world around them and the future advancement still to come.
An evidence-based programme, The Superpower of Looking accelerates curriculum development by providing free resources that empower students to critically observe, analyse, question and interpret images and communicate with confidence. This includes bespoke films, full lesson resources, teacher training videos, a lesson toolkit and access to Art UK’s digital database of artworks, which includes more than 300,000 pieces of work by more than 500,000 artists across more than 3,400 British institutions.
This launch follows the completion of two successful pilots in partnership with 70 schools in England and Scotland which found that The Superpower of Looking:
- Increases pupils’ confidence
- Improves visual literacy skills across all assessed areas, including understanding new concepts, substantiating points with evidence during peer discussions, critical thinking and more
- Achieves high pupil engagement with lesson materials
- Increases pupils’ interest in cultural education spaces.
Additionally, 95 per cent of teachers that participated in the pilots reported feeling confident incorporating the resources into their classes and 92 per cent said they would recommend the programme to their peers.
Gill Sekatawa, Year 4 teacher, Art and Design Subject Lead at Nelson Academy in Norfolk, said:
“I would definitely recommend The Superpower of Looking to other teachers. During the pilot, staff from across our school took part – both experienced and less confident teachers of art. The scheme provides sessions which are varied, clear and engaging with detailed, easy to access guidance and links to high quality visuals. The children also loved the activities provided from the quick 5-minute tasks to longer, more in-depth projects.
“We noticed that those who took part had developed higher level observation skills across the curriculum, for example when looking at sources in history or illustrations in English. Their ability to communicate and ask meaningful questions also increased.
“It was really lovely enhancing our curriculum with this programme – having time to really look at a piece of art in detail for a longer period of time. This is so rare when there is so much to fit into our day, but so valuable and so much fun!”
Katie Leonard, Head of Learning at Art UK, said:
“At a time when digital mediums and imagery play an increasingly important and influential role, it is vital that we are empowering young people with the knowledge, confidence and skills to successfully navigate the world around them.
“By launching The Superpower of Looking today, we are making more than 300,000 works of art from more than 3,400 British institutions available to young people across the country. It is our hope that by doing so, this programme will help embed visual literacy in the primary curriculum and make art an integral and accessible part of every primary school classroom in the UK.”
The Superpower of Looking is supported by Freelands Foundation. For more information about The Superpower of Looking and to sign up to the programme, please visit: artuk.org/learn/the-superpower-of-looking.
