Making sense of mixed messages: Literacy within the Australian Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum has a considerable focus on literacy, appearing not only as a core strand within the traditional area of English, but also as a General Capability for the curriculum as a whole. This article examines the meaning of literacy beneath the rhetoric of the curriculum and argues that, despite the claimed messages advocating a functional and critical approach, the suggested message is one emphasising a primary focus on basic skills. Analysing the suite of assessment mechanisms suggested by the Australian Curriculum, we consider inconsistencies between the claimed and suggested messages around literacy.