OUTLINE

The aim of this study is to investigate the pedagogy of publishing books with children as authors (sometimes referred to as co-publishing with children) in formal and informal education settings. This research uses arts-based processes in a multi-method project to examine educators’ perceptions of, and practices related to co-publishing with children. Here, educator is defined broadly as someone who engages with children in an educational role and has experience of co-publishing with children in their communities. The study will draw together their collective knowledge and understandings to:

1. increase understanding of the pedagogies employed in publishing books with young children and

2. theorise the publishing of books by young children as pedagogical praxis.

The overarching research questions are:

1. How have educators perceived their pedagogical basis for co-publishing books with children over time?

2. From educators’ perspectives, how do their practices of co-publishing books with children engage with children’s sense of being in relation-centred and socially just ways?

3. How might a theory of publishing pedagogy emerge in the context of broader language and literacy practices?

ABSTRACT

Informing educational policy is necessary in Tasmania and elsewhere, in order to increase access for those currently marginalised within our education system. Evidence suggests that children need literacy practices that are relational and communal, culturally contextualised, and offer ‘real-world’ learning. Yet the place of publishing books with children as a pedagogical approach remains little understood and a significant gap in the academic literature. This inquiry seeks to provide a comprehensive description of children’s community publishing through an account of the advent, effects and prospects of publishing books with children over a 30-year period. This long term initiative has facilitated children, alongside their families in diverse communities, to curate their creative ideas, stories, images and other content into published paper-based picture books that promote literacy engagement, creativity, voice and agency in their world. It is hoped that by drawing together the collective stories of advocates for children’s community publishing over time, it will be possible to theorise publishing books with children as a pedagogy and identify a prospective international community of practice for children as authors of books.