This paper provides an overview of the Reading Wars as a site of discursive struggle. Using a digital sociological account of online events associated with the 2018 Phonics Debate hosted by the Australian Centre for Educational Research and the think tank the Centre for Independent Studies, this paper works to illuminate and challenge contemporary…

Australian early childhood education positions literacy learning as a set of social practices contextualised by one's unique experiences and knowledges. Despite widespread agreement about the need to teach phonics and other code-breaking practices, the ways early childhood educators integrate "constrained" skills are not well understood…

Recent Australian data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicate that around 14% of children are performing poorly on reading. Comparisons with earlier data show that the relative numbers of Australian children with low reading status have not declined in this century. This is despite a surge of robust research…

Controversy has surrounded the annual National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) since its introduction in 2008. This initiative was designed to provide nationally consistent information on student progress in basic skills in years 3, 5, and 7, replacing the various state-based tests that preceded it. A great deal of criticism has…

In this paper, we adopt Bernstein's notion of the pedagogic device to serve as a framework for explaining conflict and change in the field of literacy education across the past few decades, particularly in England, the USA and Australia. Following an overview of the pedagogic device and related constructs, we examine the relationship between the…

This paper examines the media and political landscapes within which "whole language" is currently constituted in Australia. Through surveying the themes and rhetoric deployed in media texts over recent years, we consider how "whole language" has been taken up as part of a wider media campaign around education generally. We…

This pilot study investigated the efficacy of "Phonics Alive 2: The Sound Blender", a computer-based phonological skills training program, delivered with both at-home and at-school components over a 10-week period, as a potential treatment of phonological dyslexia. Participants were 20 dyslexic primary students with an average delay of…