Diverse Literacies in Early Childhood: A Social Justice Approach

The editors and many of the contributors worked together on a joint project funded by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training and the New South Wales Department of Community Services which culminated in the publication in 2001 of Literacies, Communities and Under 5s, a resource for early childhood educators to facilitate the support of young children's understandings of literacy (Jones Diaz et al. 2001, p. 8). This research-based resource, based on the theory of literacy as social practice, identified five key principles of effective early literacy teaching. This book provides an opportunity to return to the concept of literacy as social practice, to share the key principles for practice from this project with a wider audience, and to illustrate the complexity of literacy learning with findings from the authors' current research in the area.