Analysis of Children's Literature in Catalan in relation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Primary Education Objectives

Enfoque

Modern Children’s and Youth Literature serves to highlight a range of 21st-century issues and dilemmas prevailing in our family, school, and social life. Those controversial topics, which are of utmost importance, need to be addressed through the literature didactics. For that reason, its primary goal is to provide a basis for the development of critical thinking among children, to understand the nature of those problems, and to encourage solving them creatively. The aim of this research was to analyze outstanding literary works in Catalan for their suitability to the SDGs and primary education objectives. The cases were selected from a list of best works published by the Spanish Organization for Children´s and Youth Books (Organización Española para el Libro Infantil y Juvenil – OEPLI) for the years 2022 and 2023.

The analysis of the latest trends in children’s literature in Catalan was approached from the following categories: book format, languages, length of the work, literary genre, highlighted key concepts, adequacy to the SDGs and primary education objectives at a national (Spain) and regional level (Generalitat de Catalunya) between 2022 and 2023.

Analyzing those works for the public between 6 and 12 years old was a motivating activity. A bibliographic review was made to provide a socio-educational perspective and to produce links with theories of cognitive development and the importance of Children´s Literature in fostering critical thinking and problem-solving. The adequacy of selected cases in Catalan to the SDGs and the primary education objectives was confirmed based on a data synthesis carried out numerically in percentages.

The main trends were the dominance of the illustrated album format and that the books were issued in two languages, in the language of the autonomous community in Catalonia (Catalan) and in Spanish. The leading literary genre was narrative, with elements of adventure or fantasy with family-related themes. The most significant SDGs were SGG3: Health and Welfare, SDG4: Quality Education, and SDG10: Reduction of Inequalities. The primary education objectives were in consonance with the selected literary works, specifically in such values as artistic expression, focus on health, focus on personal and social development, effective growth and development, rules for peaceful coexistence, and the promotion of equal rights and opportunities.