Special Issue Editorial for Inspiring Engagement Through Reading and Writing with Children’s Literature in Initial Teacher Education

1. Introduction

Reading and writing are more than just skills; they are highly complex socio-cultural practices. For teacher educators, the challenge lies in preparing PSTs to inspire their future students not only to master literacy but to become lifelong readers and writers. Teacher educators have long been concerned about the multiple challenges existing in educational contexts (Groundwater-Smith et al., 2015; Menter, 2016; Sachs, 2005). Yet this task is complicated by well-documented concerns: past research has demonstrated that levels of children’s engagement with reading have dropped (Mullis et al., 2023) and studies of PSTs have shown that their engagement with children’s literature needs support (Cremin et al., 2025; Farrar, 2021; Simpson, 2016). As the pressure on teachers to concentrate on explicit teaching of basic functional literacy skills increases, the responsibility teacher educators have to ensure PSTs experience the richness that children’s literature offers in their initial teacher education (ITE) programs has become more urgent.

Research has shown the impact that extensive engagement with literature can have on children’s reading and writing (Jerrim & Moss, 2019). We also know that it is in ITE that circuit breaking work (Farrar & Simpson, 2023) can occur, reminding PSTs of the potential of children’s literature through aesthetic, pedagogic and personal appreciation (Simpson & Cremin, 2022) as they form their literate identities as reading and writing teachers. ITE programs can encourage PSTs to develop this set of knowledges, as well as the confidence to help school students become engaged, motivated readers. Thus, ITE educators are ideally placed to mitigate competing imperatives through creative program design. Therefore, this Special Issue curated empirical studies that exemplify theoretical and practical approaches showing how teacher educators have supported PST to learn about and through children’s literature to inspire them with a love for reading and writing, as well as the knowledge and skills they need to teach.

2. Content of the Special Issue

This Special Issue, Inspiring Engagement through Reading and Writing with Children’s Literature in Initial Teacher Education, brings together empirical studies that demonstrate both theoretical and practical approaches to supporting PSTs. Authors from the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia are featured in the issue in a collection of nine papers that draw on socio-cultural models of learning. Collectively, the articles highlight how ITE program design and delivery can help mitigate competing imperatives, enabling PSTs to experience children’s literature as both joyful and professionally valuable.

The publication of this Special Issue contributes to global debates on how PST engagement through reading and writing with children’s literature in ITE can and should be enabled.

Themes:

Two key themes are raised in the Special Issue. The first addresses the role of children’s literature in enriching teaching in ITE and the second closely related theme discusses how PSTs’ critical engagement with children’s literature during ITE can support the development of their professional agency.

Theme 1: A clear unifying focus across the issue is an emphasis on improving PSTs engagement with children’s literature during ITE so they become more adept at balancing the what, how, and why of literacy teaching (Lambert, 2018; Poulton & Mockler, 2023). A visible thread running through all the papers is that children’s literature should be viewed as more than just as rich material for teaching literacy skills; it should be adopted as a catalyst in supporting PSTs to learn how to make increasingly well-informed pedagogic decisions that will support student learning. This learning may occur through experimenting with postmodern pictures to question literacy practices (Exley et al., 2025), or through using mentor texts to design meaningful writing instruction that connects engaging writing curricula and pedagogic intent (Poulton & Brosseuk, 2025). Several papers, including those by Green, Price and Simpson, and Hendry et al., foreground how engaging deeply with children’s literature through reading for pleasure principles strengthens PSTs’ pedagogic content knowledge. This engagement enables them to balance the what of text selection with the why of fostering reading motivation and pleasure. Papers such as those by Zapata et al., Colton and Forrest, and Campbell et al. demonstrate that critical, multimodal, and code-related engagements with children’s literature help PSTs integrate aesthetic, social, and linguistic understandings into their teaching. These experiences show how professional judgement in literacy teaching emerges from sustained, reflective interaction with diverse texts and learners.

Theme 2: The second theme running across the issue is the development of professional and pedagogic agency through critical engagement with children’s literature in ITE. Across all the papers, children’s literature functions not only as a resource for teaching literacy but also as a site for identity formation work, where PSTs learn to act within increasing confidence, creativity, and criticality. Through sustained interaction with diverse literary texts, PSTs experiment with pedagogic choices, test their assumptions about literacy learning, and begin to articulate their own teaching philosophies. In this way, children’s literature becomes a powerful medium through which PSTs negotiate the relationship between personal response and professional judgement. The studies collectively demonstrate that when PSTs engage deeply with children’s literature, reflecting on how texts can invite particular ways of seeing, valuing, and teaching, they develop both the agency and literate identity needed to become thoughtful, reflective future-focused literacy teachers.

Methodology: As the papers all address PSTs’ experience of learning in ITE contexts, a frequently adopted methodology in the Special Issue is case study (Yin, 2009, 2014) due to its power in collecting rich, thick description of participants’ experiences and reflections (Merriam, 2009). Whether semester-long, small-scale or year-long, multi-site case studies the methodology demonstrates how holistic understanding of complex social interactions may result from data ranging from multimodal artefacts (Jewitt et al., 2016) to in-the-moment retrospective interviews. The study by Green stands out methodologically as reporting one phase of a small-scale, ongoing action research study. This paper demonstrates the action research process as iterative, related phases of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting (Kemmis et al., 2014). However, despite this minor difference, all the authors support the use of critical analysis (Punch & Oancea, 2014) that explores, for example, reflection-in-action Neumann (2000), to encourage teachers to continually consider how their teaching may be improved.

Though largely designed around qualitative processes (Miles et al., 2014), quantitative approaches also appear, for example, in the use of descriptive statistics to report results emerging from surveys or questionnaires. These tools are employed in multiple papers to measure knowledge of and engagement with literature during ITE as a complement to the exploration of the embodied PST experience (Tombs & Strange, 2024). More typically the papers showcase how activities such as read-aloud discussions and the use of open-ended questions can be interpreted through reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022; Corbin & Strauss, 2015). The demonstration of mixed methods is clearly documented across the Special Issue increasing the impact of the studies by offering helpful models of successful research processes recently enacted in ITE.

Contributions:

This collection is the first Special Issue in recent times to bring together international views on the topic of teaching with children’s literature in ITE. It updates the work published in 2016, which reported on the international use of children’s literature in teaching as a study of politics and professionalism within teacher education (Simpson, 2016). In this set of current papers, the collective contribution to the field lies in the updated and continued importance of reasserting the centrality of children’s literature as both a pedagogic and professional learning resource for ITE. At a time where world-wide narrowing of literacy curriculum focuses largely on skills development, the authors reveal the challenges inherent in their local contexts and the ways they are working to improve the literacy outcomes for PST and their future students. Together, the papers reposition children’s literature not merely as a vehicle for skill instruction but as a dynamic medium through which PSTs can explore the aesthetic, social, linguistic, and ethical dimensions of literacy teaching. The papers advance understandings of how engagement with diverse and complex texts cultivates PSTs’ professional identities, pedagogical content knowledge, and capacity for reflective decision-making. Each of the papers demonstrates the what, how, and why of literacy teaching in a different Higher Education context. Ultimately, this body of work contributes a coherent vision for the ways in which initial teacher education in Australia and beyond can foreground critical, creative, and situated engagement with children’s literature as foundational in the development of effective and responsive literacy pedagogy.

The papers are listed below in reverse order of publication, with the most recent appearing at the top of the list. For each paper, we provide a brief description of the content based on the abstract submitted by the authors.

• Designing English Curriculum Courses for Primary Preservice Teachers: A Focus on the Transformative Potential of Postmodern Picture Books
• by Beryl Exley, Kylie Zee Bradfield and Danielle Heinrichs Henry
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(6), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060755

This article documents the experiences of teacher educators from two different Australian universities as they designed and implemented two courses that scaffold primary PSTs to engage critically with postmodern picture books and to explore a range of pedagogical practices for using postmodern picture books in classrooms with young children.

• Empowering Pre-Service Teachers as Enthusiastic and Knowledgeable Reading Role Models Through Engagement in Children’s Literature
• by Mel (Mellie) Green
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(6), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060704

This article presents early insights from a small-scale action research project designed to promote positive reading dispositions and expand reading repertoires among PSTs at a regional Australian university. Building on Professor Teresa Cremin and colleagues’ seminal Teachers as Readers research in the U.K., the study highlights the critical role of teacher educators in fostering pre-service teachers’ knowledge and enthusiasm.

• Teaching Phonics and Vocabulary Through Children’s Literature in Early Childhood Initial Teacher Education: Trial of the Non-Scripted Intentional Teaching (N-SIT) Tool
• by Stacey Campbell, Michelle M. Neumann and Lesley Friend
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(6), 684; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060684

This article reports on a mixed-methods pilot study undertaken in Australia that investigated the Non-Scripted Intentional Teaching (N-SIT) tool as a means of supporting PSTs studying birth-to-eight years teaching, pedagogical practice, and knowledge to teach code-related literacy and supplementary vocabulary in conjunction with quality children’s literature.

• Developing Pre-Service Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Reading for Pleasure: What Is Missing? What Next?
• by Helen Hendry, Teresa Cremin and Anna Harrison
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(5), 588; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15050588

This article reports on data collected across 10 UK universities from 595 PSTs’ questionnaire responses about their expectations of RfP pedagogy and knowledge of children’s literature to offer a starting point for ITE program design that develops pedagogical content knowledge for RfP.

• Exploring the Role Children’s Literature Plays in Preservice Teachers’ Curriculum-Making Capabilities: Designing Meaningful Lesson Sequences to Teach Writing
• by Phillip Poulton and Deb Brosseuk
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(5), 549; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15050549

This article investigates how children’s literature can support PSTs’ curriculum-making capabilities in designing meaningful writing instruction. Through analysis of fourth-year PSTs’ reflections, the study that took place in an Australian ITE program shows that using mentor texts fosters strategic pedagogical decisions, deeper consideration of student experience, and greater confidence in creating holistic, engaging writing curricula.

• ‘You Really Have to Get in There and Actually Figure It Out’: Engaging Pre-Service Teachers in Children’s Literature Through Transmodality
• by Jill Colton and Sarah Forrest
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(4), 496; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040496

This article examines how transmodality, the transformation of texts into different modes, can deepen PSTs’ engagement with children’s literature in ITE in Australia. Drawing on two case studies, the authors demonstrate how embodied and multimodal responses—such as gesture, space, and soundscapes—foster aesthetic, cognitive, and affective connections with texts, offering important implications for English curriculum and teacher education internationally.

• Teaching Justice-Oriented Picturebooks Through Collaborative Discussion and ‘Slow Looking’: Implications for Initial Teacher Education Settings
• by Angie Zapata, Sarah Reid and Mary Adu-Gyamfi
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(4), 447; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040447

This article based on data collected in the US explores the role of picturebooks in ITE, cautioning against their use solely for isolated skill instruction and emphasising the need to engage with their aesthetic and sociopolitical dimensions. Through qualitative analysis of a fifth grader’s interactions with a justice-oriented picturebook, the study highlights how such texts can foster identity affirmation, multimodal expression, and critical engagement, offering key implications for PSTs as thoughtful curators of picturebooks.

• Teacher Candidates’ Use of Inclusive Children’s Literature in Interactive Read-Alouds: Successes, Challenges and Implications
• by Francesca Pomerantz
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(2), 245; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020245

This article examines how two teacher candidates engaged with inclusive children’s picture books during their practicum, amid the broader context of book banning and censorship in the United States. Findings show that while the teacher candidates valued inclusive literature and used open-ended questions to encourage critical thinking, they struggled to extend students’ ideas, underscoring the need for more practice, feedback, and modelling in teacher preparation programs.

• “You Learn So Much from Reading for Pleasure”: Exploring a Reading for Pleasure Pedagogy Impact on Pre-Service Teachers’ Literate Identities
• by Katherine Price and Alyson Simpson
• Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010007

This article investigates how engagement with Reading for Pleasure (RfP) practices influences the formation of preservice teachers’ literate identities. The authors report on the impact of a six-week RfP program run with final-year Bachelor of Education students in NSW, Australia. The study highlights the social and pedagogical value of integrating RfP into initial teacher education.

Conclusions:

Tovey (2022) recommended embedding meaningful engagement with literature in ITE programs to improve PSTs’ self-perception as readers. The papers in this Special Issue collectively demonstrate the transformative potential of children’s literature in initial teacher education, showing how engagement with diverse texts supports PSTs’ development as reflective, creative, and confident literacy teachers. By positioning literature as more than a tool or resource for teaching knowledge and skills, these papers highlight its role in fostering professional judgement, pedagogical innovation, and an enduring love of reading. Equally, they underscore how critical engagement with children’s literature can cultivate professional and pedagogic agency, enabling PSTs to act with growing confidence, autonomy, and purpose as they shape their emerging literacy practice.

These qualities are essential for preparing teachers capable of inspiring their future students. The broader impact of this work lies then in its challenge to the adoption of narrow, skills-focused approaches to literacy, reaffirming the value of integrating aesthetic, social, and ethical dimensions of literature-informed literacy into initial teacher education. Collectively, these insights offer both practical guidance for teacher educators and a research agenda that can inform policy and program design. They also reinforce the enduring importance of children’s literature in shaping responsive, reflective, and socially aware literacy teaching worldwide.

The papers show how teacher educators can create places and spaces where PSTs encounter literature not simply as a tool for teaching literacy, but as a source of personal enjoyment, professional growth, and pedagogical innovation. We invite readers, whether researchers, teacher educators, or policy makers, to consider how the ideas presented can inform practice and shape future directions for literacy education worldwide.

Future research could build on this body of work by examining the longitudinal impact of PSTs’ engagement with children’s literature on their classroom practice and professional growth, particularly within the constraints of increasingly centralised curriculum materials. Comparative studies across Australia and beyond could explore how differing curriculum contexts and initial teacher education sites influence PSTs’ sense of agency in creating literature-rich, responsive literacy pedagogy. Further inquiry is also needed into how teacher educators’ modelling practices impact on PSTs’ literate identities as well as their engagement with a diversity of multimodal and digital texts. It is equally important to explore how PSTs navigate issues of equity, inclusion, and representation when selecting and teaching with children’s literature within the boundaries of centralised curriculum materials. Together, these directions would deepen understanding of how children’s literature continues to shape adaptive, agentic, reflective, and socially responsive literacy teaching.