Challenges facing early childhood teachers in literacy education

Early childhood is the time of some of life‘s major transitions (Fabian, 2000), when children make the move from being largely home based, into early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments, and from there to school environments. Literacy has been identified as being foundational to successful transitioning through these times and spaces, and to future success in school and life (Jensen, 2012; Dickinson, McCabe & Essex, 2006). But what is literacy as it relates to young children? What are the challenges that early childhood teachers face in literacy education? How do the politics of literacy education across early childhood settings influence teachers‘ approaches? These are questions explored in this chapter. Based on the increasing focus on literacy learning and measurement of outcomes we propose that educators and teachers inform their practice firstly, from research into literacy education and secondly, through a clear understanding of their own beliefs about early literacy. Some insights are offered for consideration.