Abstract:
The Ministry of Education has delivered a clear mandate in the last decade for schools to focus on literacy and the literacy development of their students (for example Literacy leadership in schools Y 9–13 (MoE, 2002) and Effective literacy strategies in years 9 to 13 (MoE, 2004). This article is a discussion of some initial data from a work in progress that seeks to consider how different forms of literacy may be targeted at different groups of students in English departments in secondary schools. It examines the nature and content of these programmes in relation to The New Zealand curriculum (MoE, 2007) aims, which stresses the importance of creative and critical capabilities. Using both theoretical and qualitative analysis, this article examines the ‘effects’ of current policy (curriculum and assessment) structures. It seeks to explore how these structures may produce particular teaching and learning practices. Members of English departments in the wider Auckland area were invited to participate in the study and take part in interviews about their targeted programmes. The qualitative data analysis pays attention to how discourses of equity and opportunity are played out in the decisions that English teachers make about what types of literacy to ‘give’ to students.