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Education Sciences
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Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices
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Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Early Childhood Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 34542

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Alyson Simpson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Interests: teacher education and professional learning; english and literacy; children’s literature; elearning; visual literacy; blended learning; discourse analysis; pedagogy; learning sciences

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am planning a Special Issue of a journal for Education Sciences to be titled Children's Literature Education: building inclusive literacy practices.  Research has shown that inclusive practices can challenge the Matthew Effect (Stanovich, 1986) and broker success for children with low educational capital (Ellis & Smith, 2017; Hempel-Jorgensen et al, 2018). The focus of this special issue addresses how children’s literature can support human rights and social justice. It will be informed by the Children’s Rights to Read campaign that was launched by the ILA in 2018 with the goal of taking “a bold advocacy stance for children and youth worldwide” literacyworldwide.org/rightstoread  From access to choice to the need for support from government agencies, the 10 principles in the Rights to Read capture the drive behind why we need strong pedagogies for literacy education that are grounded in children’s literature.

I believe that we work in a complex system of inter-related groups who all contribute to a holistic view of student learning (Ell et al, 2019). In 2016, the European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET) identified 11 conditions that could influence the context within which literacy could be developed more successfully (European Declaration of the Right to Literacy, 2016). Condition 11 states, policy-makers, professionals, parents and communities need to work together for equitable access and support for all children to read well and for pleasure. The scope of the issue could therefore include papers from researchers who work in schools, in teacher education, or other education communities. 

Despite the proven correlation between engagement in reading and literacy achievement (Lokan, 2001), opportunities for reading literature for pleasure that support children’s equitable access to literacy have dropped over time in relation to increased emphsais on the teaching of skills and subskills (Cremin, Mottram, Collins, Powell, and Safford, 2009). The purpose of the Special Issue is to gather together the voices of international experts in the field in support of children’s rights to read. Such a collection would curate cutting edge research from multiple perspectives as well as having the potential to influence policy that would make a difference to children’s lives.

References:

Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Collins, F. Powell, S. and Safford, K. (2009) Teachers as readers: building communities of readers. Literacy, 43(1), pp. 11–19.

Ell, F., Simpson, A., Mayer, D., Davies, L.M., Clinton, J., Dawson, G. (2019). Conceptualising the impact of initial teacher education. Australian Educational Researcher, 46(1), 177–200.

Ellis, S., & Smith, V. (2017). Assessment, teacher education and the emergence of professional expertise. Literacy, 51 (2), 84-93.

Hempel-Jorgensen, A., Cremin, T., Harris D. and Chamberlain, L. (2018) Pedagogy for reading for pleasure in low socio-economic primary schools: beyond ‘pedagogy of poverty’? Literacy 52 (2): 86-94.

International Literacy Association (2018). The case for children’s right to read. Newark, DE: International Literacy Association. literacyworldwide.org/rightstoread

Lokan, J. (2001) 15-up and counting, reading, writing, reasoning: how literate are Australian students?: the PISA 2000 survey of  students’ reading, mathematical and scientific literacy skills. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research Ltd.

Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual difference in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 360–407.

Prof. Dr. Alyson Simpson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • children’s literature
  • classroom
  • teachers
  • teacher education

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 288 KiB  
Article
Responsible Reading: Children’s Literature and Social Justice
by Alyson Simpson and Teresa Mary Cremin
Educ. Sci. 2022, 12(4), 264; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/educsci12040264 - 08 Apr 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4658
Abstract
In high accountability cultures, primary phase literacy education tends to focus on improving children’s test scores. Driven by each country’s performance in international league tables, this results in narrow, predominantly skills-based programmes designed to address attainment gaps. While scores may have been enhanced [...] Read more.
In high accountability cultures, primary phase literacy education tends to focus on improving children’s test scores. Driven by each country’s performance in international league tables, this results in narrow, predominantly skills-based programmes designed to address attainment gaps. While scores may have been enhanced in recent years, there is little evidence that policy directives have positioned literacy in the lives of learners in ways that have become meaningful for them or been transferred into ways of thinking that promote social equity. Indeed, teaching practices that exacerbate the challenges for those young people who are already disadvantaged by circumstance have become more prevalent. Teachers, therefore, have an ethical responsibility to redress this through their teaching. This paper argues that literature is core to more equitable literacy development. As not all reading practices are equal, developing literacy education for a more socially just society needs to challenge the dominant pedagogic hegemony. Literature has the potential to spark the kind of mindful disruption necessary to shift standardised paradigms of thought, so literacy education should have children’s literature at its heart. By examining the value of literature through a set of complementary lenses, this paper seeks to reveal its affordances in young people’s lives. Then, through commentary taken from a pair of vignettes drawn from professional learning contexts, we illuminate shifts in teacher perception gained through scaffolded introduction to reading literary texts. The insights teachers gained reveal reconceptualisation of reading and the role of literature in primary education. This has the potential to redirect their future classroom practice. Consequently, we propose that for teachers to be adept at improving literacy outcomes through productive adoption and use of literary texts, they need: an aesthetic appreciation and knowledge of children’s literature; personal experience with reading such literature as social practice; and pedagogic insight into how to use literature to teach literacy and develop volitional readers. We call this knowledge set the additive trio, noting that no ‘step’ or understanding is sufficient on its own, and that together they can enable the development of Reading Teachers who work with literature to advance the social justice agenda. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices)
18 pages, 635 KiB  
Article
When Authenticity Goes Missing: How Monocultural Children’s Literature Is Silencing the Voices and Contributing to Invisibility of Children from Minority Backgrounds
by Helen Adam
Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(1), 32; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/educsci11010032 - 15 Jan 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 9673
Abstract
The importance of recognising, valuing and respecting a child’s family, culture, language and values is central to socially just education and is increasingly articulated in educational policy worldwide. Inclusive children’s literature can support children’s human rights and contribute to equitable and socially just [...] Read more.
The importance of recognising, valuing and respecting a child’s family, culture, language and values is central to socially just education and is increasingly articulated in educational policy worldwide. Inclusive children’s literature can support children’s human rights and contribute to equitable and socially just outcomes for all children. However, evidence suggests many educational settings provide monocultural book collections which are counterproductive to principles of diversity and social justice. Further, that educators’ understandings and beliefs about diversity can contribute to inequitable provision and use of diverse books and to inequitable outcomes of book sharing for many children. This paper reports on a larger study investigating factors and relationships influencing the use of children’s literature to support principles of cultural diversity in the kindergarten rooms of long day care centres. The study was conducted within an ontological perspective of constructivism and an epistemological perspective of interpretivism informed by sociocultural theory. A mixed methods approach was adopted, and convergent design was employed interpret significant relationships and their meanings. Twenty-four educators and 110 children from four long day care centres in Western Australia participated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, video-based observations, field notes, document analysis and a book audit. This study firstly identified that current book collections in kindergarten rooms of long day care centres promote mono-cultural viewpoints and ‘othering’ of minority groups through limited access to books portraying inclusive and authentic cultural diversity. Secondly, that educators had limited understandings of the role of literature in acknowledging and valuing diversity and rarely used it to promote principles of diversity, resulting in a practice of “othering” those from minority group backgrounds. The key challenges which emerged from the study concerned beliefs, understanding and confidence of educators about diversity and inclusion, and the impact of these on their approaches to promoting principles of diversity through the use of children’s books. This research contributes to discussion on the value of children’s literature in achieving international principles of diversity. These findings have important social justice implications. The outcomes of this study have implications for educators, policy makers, early childhood organisations and those providing higher education and training for early childhood educators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices)
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13 pages, 3373 KiB  
Article
Children’s Literature in Critical Contexts of Displacement: Exploring the Value of Hope
by Julie E. McAdam, Susanne Abou Ghaida, Evelyn Arizpe, Lavinia Hirsu and Yasmine Motawy
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(12), 383; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/educsci10120383 - 16 Dec 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4532
Abstract
The article builds upon work carried out through a Children’s Literature in Critical Contexts of Displacement (CLCCD) network funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council–Global Challenges Research Fund. The network brought together academics as well as government and non-governmental organisations with expertise [...] Read more.
The article builds upon work carried out through a Children’s Literature in Critical Contexts of Displacement (CLCCD) network funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council–Global Challenges Research Fund. The network brought together academics as well as government and non-governmental organisations with expertise in children’s literature, migration, and education who were actively working in Egypt and Mexico. They collaboratively designed workshops that examined the use of children’s literature as a cultural tool for post-crisis interventions that could contribute to creating a safe space for children and their families to reimagine and restore their self and group identities. This article begins by unravelling the concept of hope, arguing for a critical understanding of hope for transformative use within contexts of flux. Using a critical content analysis approach, five picturebooks used by Egyptian and Mexican mediators were analysed in order to develop an understanding of how critical hope developed within the texts. The emerging themes have been expanded into a set of guiding questions that will enable mediators and educators to use children’s literature in contexts of displacement or precarity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices)
15 pages, 237 KiB  
Article
Literacy Teacher Educators Creating Space for Children’s Literature
by Lydia Menna, Clare Kosnik and Pooja Dharamshi
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(10), 288; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/educsci10100288 - 17 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2880
Abstract
This paper reports on a qualitative research study that examined how 10 literacy teacher educators (LTEs) utilized children’s literature to invite teacher trainees to critically engage with social issues, challenge their assumptions about literacy, and begin to develop the knowledge and dispositions to [...] Read more.
This paper reports on a qualitative research study that examined how 10 literacy teacher educators (LTEs) utilized children’s literature to invite teacher trainees to critically engage with social issues, challenge their assumptions about literacy, and begin to develop the knowledge and dispositions to work alongside diverse learners (e.g., culturally, linguistically, socio-economically). The LTEs recognized that teacher trainees often entered their literacy courses with restricted conceptions of literacy and deficit assumptions about children from economically marginalized and/or culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Within their courses, the LTEs positioned literacy as a multifaceted social practice, wherein access to a variety of representational resources facilitates the active construction of knowledge and identities. The LTEs modeled instructional strategies and designed assignments that encouraged teacher trainees to use children’s literature as a means to connect with issues relevant to the lives of young learners within contemporary classrooms. This research will be of interest to LTEs who endeavor to use children’s literature as a springboard to support teacher trainees to develop a self-reflective stance and a critical cultural consciousness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices)
14 pages, 896 KiB  
Article
Rights of Indigenous Children: Reading Children’s Literature through an Indigenous Knowledges Lens
by Shelley Stagg Peterson and Red Bear Robinson
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(10), 281; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/educsci10100281 - 14 Oct 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 7728
Abstract
Indigenous children’s literature supports Indigenous communities’ rights to revitalization, and to the transmission to future generations, of Indigenous histories, languages, and world views, as put forth in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Drawing on Indigenous teachings that were [...] Read more.
Indigenous children’s literature supports Indigenous communities’ rights to revitalization, and to the transmission to future generations, of Indigenous histories, languages, and world views, as put forth in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Drawing on Indigenous teachings that were given to him by Elders, an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, Red Bear, interprets 10 Indigenous picture books published in Canada between 2015 and 2019 by mainstream and Indigenous publishing companies. These books were selected from the International Best Books for Children Canada’s list of Indigenous books and websites of four Canadian Indigenous publishers. We discuss the Knowledge Keeper’s interpretation of books that are grouped within four categories: intergenerational impact of residential schools, stories using spiritual lessons from nature, autobiography and biography, and stories using teachings about relationships. Recognizing the richness, authenticity, and integrity of Red Bear’s interpretation of the books, we propose that all teachers should strive to learn Indigenous cultural perspectives and knowledge when reading Indigenous children’s literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices)
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15 pages, 241 KiB  
Article
The Joy of Having a Book in Your Own Language: Home Language Books in a Refugee Education Centre
by Nicola Daly and Libby Limbrick
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(9), 250; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/educsci10090250 - 15 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3541
Abstract
In 2018, Aotearoa/New Zealand increased its annual refugee quota to 1000. When refugees arrive in Aotearoa/New Zealand they spend six weeks in a resettlement programme. During this time, children attend an introduction to schooling. First language (L1) literacy support for children experiencing education [...] Read more.
In 2018, Aotearoa/New Zealand increased its annual refugee quota to 1000. When refugees arrive in Aotearoa/New Zealand they spend six weeks in a resettlement programme. During this time, children attend an introduction to schooling. First language (L1) literacy support for children experiencing education in a medium that is not their Home Language has been identified as essential for children’s educational success. This knowledge is reflected in Principle 4 of the International Literacy Association’s Children’s Rights to Read campaign, which states that “children have the right to read texts that mirror their experiences and languages...”. In 2018, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)-Yamada Foundation granted funding to IBBY in Aotearoa/New Zealand (IBBYNZ)/Storylines to supply books in the Home Languages of the refugee children in the introduction to school programme. Over 350 books were sourced in a range of languages including Farsi, Arabic, Tamil, Punjabi, Burmese, Karen, Chin, and Spanish. In this article, the sourcing of these books and their introduction to children in a refugee resettlement programme is described. Interviews with five teachers in the resettlement programme concerning the use of the books and how children and their families have been responding are reported. Future programme developments are outlined. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Children's Literature Education: Building Inclusive Literacy Practices)
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