This literature review focuses on engaging communities in children and young
people’s learning, in particular establishing engagement between early childhood education
and care (ECEC) settings, schools, teachers, and library services to promote literacy/digital
literacy and numeracy (LDLN) development in the community. The literature evidences the
adage that ‘it takes a village to rear a child’. The concept of community engagement is
complex and recognises that such engagement is a reciprocal process underpinned by “the
aspirations, concerns, needs and values of citizens and communities … in policy
development, planning, decision-making, service delivery and assessment; and by which
governments … involve … communities and other stakeholders in these processes (United
Nations, 2005, p.1). We therefore recognise that community engagement is a two-way
process.