ABSTRACT
The stories that are presented to children in a pre-school setting in the form of storyreading, story-telling or dramatic representation provide the essential models that they need to develop their own ability to narrate. Stories should be presented in ways that excite and engage them, remain within but serve to enhance their levels of competence and also make explicit the fact that stories are constructs. If this happens, much will be done to assist them to develop their understanding of the stories they encounter and begin to construct narratives for themselves. They need more than good models. They also need specific opportunities to examine narrative structures and to practise narrative construction for themselves. These will inevitably entail the active intervention and support of the practitioner. It will not just happen, especially in the cases of those children with special needs or with backgrounds (not necessarily the most deprived in other respects) in which there is little appreciation of the pleasure and intellectual stimulation children gain from stories.
