Critical literacy: power and pleasure with language in the early years

Critical literacy has sometimes been considered the realm of the upper grades or even just for adults. Others have seen critical literacy as extension work for able students. This paper considers why some early years educators may have seen critical literacy as inappropriate for young children, and examines some of the work that has been done by educators. It conceptualises critical literacy in the early years as involving three pedagogical moves: identifying and mobilising children's analytic resources, examining critical texts and offering children new discursive resources. It also tackles some common questions early childhood teachers ask about critical literacy and argues that critical literacy is by no means an optional extra for early childhood curriculum, but a centrepiece in educating young children.
In Australia, critical literacy enjoys a new prominence in most state curriculum frameworks. Internationally it is being explored by a joint Critical Literacy Task Force (an International Reading Association and [...]