Young children’s writing in the 21st century

This chapter aims to capture the challenges experienced by a group of early years educators as they work to help young children begin to develop their writerly identities and behaviours in the digital age. For many adults, writing is a necessary skill, an asset and a source of enjoyment. The chapter focuses on the views of educators working with the youngest children in formal settings, as they embark on becoming writers in the digital age, and in so doing, contribute to the literature that explores what it is to be a writer in the 21st-century textual landscape. In many cases, children will have participated in writerly behaviours and play involving technology. The potential for rich multimodal composition is clearly afforded by digital technologies in the home and classroom. Children’s writing is framed as a situated and relational activity; a multimodal endeavour, involving authoring using the widest range of semiotic systems available: talk, drawing, gesture and dramatic play.