I know it is important but is it my responsibility? Embedding literacy strategies across the middle school curriculum

Abstract

This article reports a study on the responses of a group of 49 Western Australian middle school teachers to a year-long professional learning experience, entitled the Making the Links Project. This project was established to help teachers of various learning areas adapt their practices to significant changes in the educational context. In accordance with imminent changes in the curriculum (the Australian Curriculum) and as a response to a national literacy testing agenda (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy [NAPLAN]), the teachers concerned have been under new pressure to teach literacy across the curriculum. Furthermore, they are now expected to teach Year 7, taught historically in primary school settings. This article presents a discussion of teachers’ perceptions of their responsibilities in terms of teaching literacy within their learning areas and how these perceptions changed over the course of the professional learning experience. It also discusses teachers’ responses to ‘trying out’ some literacy pedagogies more traditionally used in primary school settings.