Critical Literacy
“Critical literacy is central to empowerment, unpacking of privilege, and social responsibility”
(Pack, 2023, p. 95).
Asking Questions: Power, Voice, and Equity
“Through reading diverse literature, through talk, and through dramatic play… [children and educators are] ... encouraged to keep their ears wide open to the diversity of voices around them” (Dyson & Smitherman, 2009, as cited in Souto-Manning & Yoon, 2018, p. 39).
Critical literacy encourages children to look closely at stories and consider the dynamics within them. This includes questions such as:
-
Who has power in this story?
-
Whose voices are centred?
-
Whose perspectives are missing or ignored?
Jones (2012) emphasizes that all stories reflect “social, cultural, and political power” (p. 208), and that critical literacy “demands that the reader interrogates the text and reads the word and the world” (p. 95). With young children, these ideas emerge as simple, open-ended questions and creating space to talk about what they notice.
“The role of the educator is to value the questions that can lead to possibilities”
(Makovichuk et al., 2014, p. 33).
Research on social issues picturebooks (focussing on race, class, or gender, etc.) shows that when educators build space for these conversations, children quickly notice patterns in representation and equity: who is treated kindly, who is harmed, and who takes action (Vasquez, 2016).
​
See “In Practice” for Tools and Strategies