Kids, take a look at this! Visual Literacy Skills in the School Curriculum

Oct 3, 2026

Although the paradigm of visual literacy (VL) is rapidly emerging, the construct lacks operational specificity. Using a semiotic understanding of visual culture as an ongoing process of “making meaning”, the study proposes a skills-based classification of VL across perception, imagination and creation, conceptualization, and analysis. A qualitative curriculum analysis shows Belgian compulsory-education standards reference visuals only peripherally, with VL attention declining from secondary education onward.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction: Handling Images

Handling Images: A Process That Requires Learning

Teaching Visual Literacy: More Than Teaching Visual Arts

Setting the Scene: The Construct of Visual Literacy

Attributing Meaning to an Image

Journal of Visual Literacy ISSN: 1051-144X (Print) 2379-6529 (Online) Journal homepage: [https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjvl20](https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjvl20) Kids, take a look at this! Visual Literacy Skills in the School Curriculum Lode Vermeersch & Anneloes Vandenbroucke To cite this article: Lode Vermeersch & Anneloes Vandenbroucke (2015) Kids, take a look at this! Visual Literacy Skills in the School Curriculum, Journal of Visual Literacy, 34:1, 106-130, DOI: 10. 1080/23796529 .2015.11674725 To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/23796529.2015.11674725](https://doi.org/10.1080/23796529.2015.11674725) Published online: 29 Feb 2016. | Submit your article to this journal | | | --- | --- | | Article views: 231 | | | | View related articles | | | View Crossmark data | | Citing articles: 7 View citing articles | | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rjvl20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rjvl20) Kids, take a look at this! Visual Literacy Skills in the School Curriculum Lode Vermeersch Brussels, Belgium Anneloes Vandenbroucke Leuven, Belgium Abstract Although the paradigm of visual literacy (VL) is rapidly emerging, the construct itself still lacks operational specificity. Based on a semiotic understanding of visual culture as an ongoing process of ‘making meaning’, we present in this study a skill-based classification of VL, differentiating four sets of VL skills: perception; imagination and creation; conceptualization; analysis. A qualitative curriculum analysis based on this framework revealed that curriculum standards for compulsory education in Belgium refer only peripherally to the use of visuals. The attention for VL skills also decreases from secondary education on, especially curriculum standards related to the analysis of images are scarce. Keywords: Semiosis, cognition, visual literacy skills, curriculum standards, curriculum analysis 106 Introduction: Handling Images Handling Images: A Process That Requires Learning Learning to skillfully handle images is not a complete spontaneous process of itself. A number of visual literacy skills (VL skills) develop almost automatically and independently, based on direct experience and without the input of teachers (Avgerinou & Ericson, 1997; Bamford, 2003; Mitchell, 2008) . For instance: seeing the difference between a foreground and background, or correctly interpreting certain simple visual prompts, such as learning to “read” icons in preschool education. This automatic acquiring of VL skills mostly concerns so-called ‘lower order thinking skills’(Tillman, 2012) . However, striving for a deeper and more durable use and understanding of images, and thus of today’s world, requires a conscious learning effort, and often also an intervention of an educator (Bamford, 2003; Mitchell, 2008; Seels, 1994) . Such an intervention implies the recognition of the importance of VL by the teachers and, more general, an education system that outlines goals that go beyond the classic literacy process (reading, writing, counting and text memorization) and with more than just the occasional forays into images (Elkins, 2008; Stokes, 2001) . Teaching Visual Literacy: More Than Teaching Visual Arts The question of how images are currently used in educational contexts isone that is only partially answered by research. Many research projects focus on the visual arts in education, but visual literacy and visual education are evidently not limited to lessons on visual arts (Duncum, 2002, 2003) . Images are comprised in the didactic materials for almost all courses (from biology to history), as a mere illustration or as the object of knowledge transfer. Moreover, a multitude of pictures – from comics to tattoos – are part of the daily life of teachers and students and that availability of those images carries

FAQs

Why does the article say visual literacy lacks operational specificity?

It argues that despite visual literacy’s emerging paradigm, the construct is still not operationally specified, making it easier to describe than to define.

What four sets of visual literacy skills does the study distinguish?

The framework differentiates skills in perception, imagination and creation, conceptualization, and analysis.

How do Belgian curriculum standards address visual literacy skills?

Curriculum standards for compulsory education refer to visuals only peripherally, and attention to VL skills decreases from secondary education on, especially for analysis of images.

Oct 3, 2026

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