This paper contends that, historically and today, "readiness" functions as a key symbol in discourses of early childhood. Schools and teachers need to make "ready" for different children in a very different world than that in which many people grew up. The interest in the paper, however, is not only in individual difference but…

This paper explores some ongoing dilemmas facing literacy educators, employing a combination of fictional accounts and summaries of actual instances during literacy lessons. Noting that the Commonwealth of Australia's recent policy/monograph is entitled "Literacy for All: The Challenge for Australian Schools," the paper points out that…

Recent debates focus on literacy curriculum as if it is separate from teachers' other work, almost at times as if teachers and their contexts are irrelevant to what is the most appropriate literacy pedagogy. Perhaps learning to read and write is not hard work, but teaching is, no matter which theoretical orientation about literacy is adhered to.…

This paper considers how Australian young people living in relative poverty, per se, are portrayed in media reports and how a specific group of socioeconomically disadvantaged young people are constituted in teachers' classroom talk. The paper begins with the examination of several newspaper reports, part of an archive of articles concerned with…