Globalised literacy education:Intercultural trade in textual and cultural practice

Abstract

Freebody and Freiberg enquire as to what gets delivered to school children under the rubric of 'literacy' in educational settings. They see what counts as literacy in schools as a particular 'compacted concept', streamlined for administration and for measurement, and tied to particular reasoning practices that teach children to attach layers of significance to the material objects of literacy, to 'see through' books and to make messages and texts of particular kinds. They suggests that this 'line' is also about aligning individual identities with public interests and structures, and emphasise the links to wider social processes as to how global dynamics are played out in particular settings. In turning attention to the issue of globalization and literacy, they argue that it is this ideological, culturally specific compacted concept of 'literacy' that gets 'globalised', through materials and training programs.