English teachers have long stood at the intersection of helping young people to read the 'word' and read the 'world' through rich learning experiences that tap into diverse literature, literacy and language practices with purpose, creativity and flair. However, given the complex set of crises facing young people, English curriculum and pedagogy…

Mutual support and dialogue across secondary and tertiary English is vital work in urgent times. In this article, the authors examine Australia's secondary-tertiary English education nexus, building on previous scholarship to explore points of connection and disconnection with a view to identifying sustainable ways of supporting points of…

Is digital fiction worthy of serious consideration as a literary text and does it have a place in the English classroom, particularly in light of the establishment of a stand-alone Literature subject as part of the Years 11-12 English program in the Australian Curriculum? To answer these questions this paper briefly looks at the development and…

This article explores one teacher-researcher's consideration of how the 50-year anniversary of the Dartmouth Seminar continues to influence and hold relevance for the teaching of English in Australian secondary schools. Particular attention is paid to the influence of John Dixon and the Personal Growth model of English. The author, an early career…

Multimodal texts are now part of the curriculum for school English, but they are by their nature inherently complex, and pose many challenges for the classroom. Not least is finding a way to manage the technical complexity of accounting for these texts, as well as finding a way to move students beyond simple observation and description to critical…

Historically, the position of girls as marginalised users of the education system has been acknowledged, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s. However, reflection upon the current "list of prescribed texts", which makes up part of the South Australian Certificate of Education Board's English Studies outline, as well as the author's…

This paper investigates the language of the 2009 NSW Stage 6 English Syllabus. I argue that the language of the syllabus aims to create two distinct subjects: Subject English, that is, what students learn; and the subject position of its students, that is, what students are expected to become. Analysis reveals themes of personal development and…

Young adult literature is a tool of socialisation and acculturation for young readers. This extends to endowing "reading" with particular significance in terms of what literature should be read and why. This paper considers some recent young adult fiction with an eye to its engagement with canonical literature and its representations of…

This paper is about the classroom use of digital literacies. It describes using a hypermedia-authoring program with middle-years students at an Australian secondary school. Classroom environments were created in which collaborative and innovative group work built on technical facilities and expertise developed by students outside of school. The…

This paper discusses a research project undertaken to examine teachers' perceptions of creative writing in the senior English curriculum. It was a case study undertaken in a state high school in Melbourne under the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). The project investigated the challenges facing English teachers as they prepare students to…

At a time when political leaders and media pundits seek to narrow the English curriculum and reduce its knowledge structure to the "basics," it is helpful to revisit the potential of different approaches to learning in English that have evolved over time. In this paper I reflect on the semantic features of personal growth, cultural…

Critical literacy approaches to English teaching have existed in Australia for more than two decades. Despite this, they continue to be criticised by the media, especially during times of perceived "literacy crisis" and curriculum review. In addition, teachers and academics continue to explore their worth and meaning for English teaching…

The current version of the draft National Curriculum (1.0.1) remains a document which dis-integrates the subject through its three strands and fails to conceptualise a relationship between these strands. Drawing on curriculum history, I argue that this stands in strong contrast to a curriculum such as the 1971 NSW Syllabus for Years 7-10, which…

In the past two years, considerable media and government attention has been directed towards the teaching of Australian literature in secondary schools. This article explores the main themes of this discourse, and considers recent discussions about Australian literature in the National English Curriculum in the context of this debate. By way of…

Reports on the problems an Australian high school English department had in promoting a school policy for language across the curriculum. (RL)