Child's train story pushes conservatism: researcher

Children's programming plays a big role in shaping a child's view of the world, and shows like Thomas the Tank Engine are not always constructive.

A researcher has blown the whistle on Thomas the Tank Engine, saying the classic series pushes "conservative political ideology" on to children.

Storylines written for Thomas and his steam-powered friends appear to "punish individual initiative", the Canadian study found, while female characters are shunted into support roles only.

Political scientist Shauna Wilton, who is an assistant professor in the department of social sciences at the University of Alberta's Augustana campus, said parents should be more mindful of children's programming.

It played a major role in shaping a child's conception of the world and in the case of Thomas the Tank Engine, it was not always constructive.

Dr Wilton said the show conveyed a number of positive political values such as tolerance, listening, communicating with others and contributing to the community.

"It also represents a conservative political ideology that punishes individual initiative, opposes critique and change, and relegates females to supportive roles," she said.

She analysed 23 episodes of the model train-based series, which is shown in 130 countries. There were storylines in several episodes that divided the characters into different social classes and punished those who tried to gain individual power.

"Any change is seen as disrupting the natural order of things," she said.

Of the 49 main characters listed in the show, only eight were female and Dr Wilton said this reflected a general bias towards male characters across all of children's programming.

"We tend to think of children's TV shows as neutral and safe but they still carry messages," she said. "Eventually, these children will attain full political citizenship and the opinions and world outlook they develop now, partially influenced by shows like Thomas and Friends, are part of that process."

Australian Professor Sue Grieshaber said children gained the ability to think about the subtle messages contained in programming, like Thomas the Tank Engine, from about age 4 or 5. She said that in this case, Thomas' storylines may have been written years ago and they could reflect views from "a bygone era".

Parents and teachers should point out these cases to children where they saw them, said Professor Grieshaber, who is professor of early years education at the Queensland University of Technology.

"You can point things out to children and say why are all the people in the Thomas story males? Can you name any female engines?" she said.

"Or what sort of roles did the females have? Children aged 4 or 5 can think about these issues if you point them out."

- AAP