Reimagining Literacy through Participatory Family Empowerment: A Freirean Analysis of Mothers Co-Creating Digital Storybooks in Disadvantaged South African Schools

Abstract

Educational inequality in South Africa continues to restrict literacy opportunities for children in marginalized communities, reflecting entrenched systemic and structural inequities. This study investigates how Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR), framed by Freirean emancipatory pedagogy, can empower mothers in a low-income community to co-create culturally relevant digital storybooks as literacy resources. In alignment with equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) priorities (Sim et al., 2024), this research repositions mothers from a deficit-based to an asset-based perspective (Howard et al., 2024), recognizing and leveraging their community cultural wealth to enrich their children’s literacy experiences. Twelve mothers engaged in participatory workshops that built their skills in digital storytelling while also deepening their critical awareness of literacy as a social practice and tool for transformation (Brubacher & Filipek, 2025). Data generated through reflective journals, focus groups, and workshop observations were thematically analyzed, revealing significant shifts in participants’ confidence, agency, and collaborative capacity. These findings highlight how PALAR, as a relational and decolonial research methodology, can foster co-learning partnerships between schools and families (McKee et al., 2022), challenge deficit narratives, and support community-driven, culturally sustaining literacy practices. The study demonstrates the potential for participatory, community-embedded interventions to address educational inequities and contribute to more responsive and socially just teaching and learning.