The competition asked educators to share their ideas and experiences around using captions in the classroom, with St Anthony’s emotionally moving entry showing how they are integrating captions. Responses from students demonstrate how captions enhance learning and engagement with audiovisual materials.
Emma Clancy, the Year 2 teacher who submitted the entry said, “It’s blown me away. Something so simple can really enrich learning so much for each child… And it’s not just literacy benefits. There was such a difference to how they were engaged.”
A Year 1 student said, “You got to really easily read the story. If it was a bit muffly and you can’t hear it properly you could read the words underneath.”
Other major prize winners include Brighton Secondary School, Redcliffe State High School, Casimir Catholic College, St Augustine’s College, St Jerome’s Primary School, St Paul of the Cross School and Mt Lilydale Mercy College. Sixty teachers nationwide won minor prizes. Entries highlighted proven benefits of captions for all students, particularly those who are Deaf or hearing impaired, speak English as a second language (ESL), are struggling readers or have learning disabilities.
“A lot of people think captions are just for the kids that need them, who are hearing impaired, ESL students or children that need extra literacy support. We’ve seen it – the other children get so much more out of it. It’s for all children,” said Clancy.
St Paul of the Cross, a school with 98% of students with a Language Background Other Than English (LBOTE), 87% ESL students and 37 fully-funded special needs students, links captioning to an open and inclusive learning environment. The school’s winning entry looked at practical and easy ways to use captions for their diverse student body.
School Principal Mary Colagrossi said, "We've found captions to be of great benefit in our school. Not only do they help improve literacy, comprehension and learning outcomes for all of our students, their use encourages an inclusive learning environment and equitable access to the curriculum. We're very excited about it and I encourage all teachers to give it a go and see the difference captions can make!"
Competition entries can be viewed at www.capthat.com.au. Teaching resources incorporating captions are also available for free download from the website.
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