Schools should urge parents to turn on television subtitles to help their children’s literacy, a campaigner has said.

Education technology consultant Henry Warren, who is working with broadcasters on the issue, said almost all broadcasting and video on demand was now capable of showing subtitles, and children’s literacy would improve if these were switched on so they could see the words while listening and watching.

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He said schools should tell parents about the benefits of subtitling and “ask them to switch these on while their children watched television”.

Subtitles ‘improve children’s literacy’

Mr Warren, a former director of learning and innovation at global education company Pearson, said it had long been well known in academic circles that watching subtitles would help children’s literacy but “that knowledge has been locked away in academia, because academics are not good at communicating, and we are trying now to join those dots”.

The rise of video on demand made the use of subtitles easier since almost all would have these available, he said. He is seeking to persuade broadcasters to automatically turn on subtitles for all children’s programmes.

Former education secretary Justine Greening spoke last year in support of the idea.

She said: “If we could just get parents having subtitles on the TV as a matter of course for a child’s early years. If you’re not a great reader yourself, as a parent, that’s one thing you can do, to help children listen and learn words.

“It can help. It’s not going to change the world, but it can help.”

Her comments were supported at the time by the National Literacy Trust.