Risk literacy: Concepts and pedagogical implications for early childhood education

Taking risks and enjoying challenges are fundamental to the lives of young children from a developmental and evolutionary point of view. However, in modern societies, increasing concern about dangers and injuries has led to the escalation in regulation and provisions for the safety of young children. This intent to establish secure and risk-free environments for young children reaches, in some cases, the other end of the spectrum – that of overprotection, constraining children’s drive to explore, dare and experiment. This article explores the relationship between children and risk by focusing on the processes of thinking and acting, drawing on positive and negative discourses around risk. The article proposes that more interest should be directed towards enabling children’s own knowledge and understanding of risk, through early childhood education and risk literacy. The use of graphical representations, children’s probabilistic and possibility thinking, the risk culture of the classroom and a cross-curricular approach are pedagogical implications that could inform policy and practice in early childhood education aiming at present and future agents who are risk literate.