New urban terrains : literacies, world kids, and teachers

Abstract

Literacy is a long-established focus of urban education. Given the populations of migrants, refugees and transient populations of industrialized Western cities, it is a target that has been understood historically in terms of linguistic and cultural difference, as well as poverty. In Australian educational research and policy over the last three decades, there been an ongoing recognition not only of links between poverty and educational outcomes, but also of schools' failure to serve aspirations of migrant and refugee families of non-English-speaking background concentrated in industrialized cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Wollongong and Newcastle (Cahill, 1996; see Blackmore, 2007). Today, literacy achievement of urban populations is again a focal point of considerable public and media debate, which although appearing to focus on issues of curriculum and instruction, readily turns to debates over declining morality, deterioration of cultural values and national traditions. Yet, questions about the impact of new media technologies on youth culture, and implications for conceptualizations of school literacy education are at the core of contention in Australian educational development and public debate. These questions have generated increasing research activity in the last decade, with several major federally funded projects into youth literacies, new technologies, social identity and educational issues (Alloway, Freebody, Gilbert, & Muspratt, 2002; Department of Science, Education and Training, 2002a, 2002b; Hill, Louden, & Reid, 2002; Louden et al., 2000; Luke et al., 2002). However, ongoing work is required because the rapid development and dissemination of new communication and information technologies into communities has serious ramifications for social relations, work, and youth cultures.