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Only disconnect: rereading Margaret Meek–of policies and practices

  • Andy Goodwyn
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

This article reviews Margaret Meek Spencer’s body of work in relation to the various policies that she critiqued from the Bullock Report in 1974 to the National Literacy Strategy in 2004. She analysed increasingly conservative moves to promote a dominant, elitist version of school literacy. A Critical Realist perspective aligns with Margaret Meek Spencer’s view of a highly structuring political movement to maintain a model of merely functional literacy. She focused on the agentive, engaged reader from birth and some of the intellectual and societal structures that hampered the development of authentic, independent readers. Several of her major themes are reviewed, including her rich and complex view of literacy and its relationship to literary competence, a personal growth view that emphasised the centrality of children’s literature and finally her emphasis on the role of reading in fostering human dignity and self-esteem.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 261-272 (12 pages)

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

English in Education (Volume 56, Issue 3)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 23/06/2022
  • Published - 21/07/2022

Publication status

Published - 21/07/2022

ISSN

0425-0494

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/625591
  • Scopus: 85134619059

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