Literacy In The Middle Years: Learning From Collaborative Classroom Research

Abstract

This book has a long history. That history is characterised by collaborations between literacy educators working in different educational settings - classrooms, schools, universities, a department of education, and a teacher education union. The project on which the book is based - 'New literacy demands in the middle years: Learning from design experiments' - grew out of a sense of the value at this time of working together to develop new knowledge about teachers' work in changing school contexts. Educators and policy-makers in the education department in South Australia were keen to build on Peter Freebody and Allan Luke's conceptualisation of literacy as repertoires of practice, and particularly what that meant for middle years teachers working in different curriculum areas. Also, they were eager to learn more from the work of scholars such as Victoria Carrington about the ways in which digital literacies and youth cultures might be brought into the curriculum to enhance student engagement. The Australian Education Union (AEU) in South Australia had already prioritised supporting the development of middle school teachers' knowledge and wellbeing. Researchers, Barbara Comber, Anne-Marie Morgan and Helen Nixon, at the University of South Australia, had undertaken collaborative research with the department, the union, schools and individual teachers for several decades.