The politics and pedagogy of teaching literacy in the state of Victoria, Australia

Abstract

This education policy analysis reviews the state of Victoria, Australia’s position on the teaching and learning of literacy. This is of interest because until recently Victoria had resisted the trend of mandating pedagogical approaches to the teaching of literacy and more specifically to the teaching of reading which has and is occurring nationally and internationally. While much has been written in criticism of Victoria’s approach to the teaching and learning of literacy, limited documentation has been found on why Victoria has developed the stances it has to underpin its ideology and epistemology. Through a document analysis of curriculum websites and the research literature, this paper wi..