Literacy describes a range of complex skills. It includes the word-level skills of both word reading and spelling and the text-level skills of reading comprehension and writing composition. The overall aim of these skills is for an author to effectively communicate their message and for a reader to understand it.

Evidence shows that educators working with early years children can play a pivotal role in laying the foundations for literacy, through careful implementation of identified approaches.

Most of the studies that look at the impact of educators’ practice on children’s literacy outcomes involve the educator receiving relevant and appropriate professional development or training.

The Early Years Evidence Store can be used as a valuable starting point for any early years educators looking to engage in professional development and improve their practice around the teaching of Early Literacy. As well as providing a background of the evidence used to identify recommended approaches, each approach is exemplified with a selection of videos and written examples of what the approach might look like in practice.

To support educators with their ongoing use of this key resource, we’ve now added a useful, downloadable summary of the Early Literacy theme page.

Want More?

Download our Guide to Effective Professional Development in the Early Years to support choosing, developing or planning high quality professional development opportunities for early years practitioners.

Take a look at our Preparing for Literacy guidance report.