Children's Literacy Play Environments: Snapshots of Practitioner Research for Change

Abstract

THE SEARCH TO IMPROVE achievement in literacy is worldwide. Success is seen as an important social and cultural marker. Contemporary scholars discuss the importance of children's social interactions as they co-construct literacy learning. As early childhood educators play a role in children's communities, their knowledge and literacy teaching and learning approaches are important, and the focus of this paper. Practitioner research, using a literacy environment rating scale and photostories, was used to focus on change in early literacy environments. I share the methods, processes, strategies and approaches for strengthening practice to offer support for others planning and implementing practitioner research or early literacy-focused projects. Action research, accompanied by the use of the mediating artefacts of the scale and photostories, was found to be a useful methodology for change in literacy learning environments, but was not without challenges.