If you give them the chance, they will thrive: exploring literacy development through the arts in early childhood education

Listening to young children’s voice is important to access their learning meaningfully. This is challenging in early childhood education, where children don’t always communicate their thoughts verbally, as they use multimodal means of communication. There is extensive research on empowering children in their learning journey in primary education, but there is a gap in the nursery. This project aims to bridge this gap by exploring the effects of a child-led methodology on literacy development. Building on previous research, this project focuses on three-year-old children and using a variety of art forms. The sample included 13 settings from London and Greece. The Play and Learn through the Arts programme (PLA), implemented as a child-led methodology over for four months, supported children to raise their own voice in literacy projects. Data were collected through weekly observations. The findings indicated significant improvements in children’s confidence, reading and writing habits, participation in discussions, and overall enthusiasm.