Literacy once meant reading and writing words on paper. Today’s students need to be able to understand, use and critically analyse many different text types for different purposes in diverse contexts.

This book sets out to support teachers to engage with the theory and practice of critical literacy. The author is an engaging and thoughtful guide through the theory, or "why this chapter is too important to skip," to the practical considerations. These include the tensions between traditional assessment critical literacy ("how do I know what they have learned?") and managing student voice ("when do I get my voice back?").

Planting Seeds is written by  Dr Susan Sandretto, senior lecturer and primary programmes co-ordinator at Otago University's College of Education, with Scott Klenner.

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This issue of Curriculum Matters contains an enticing range of articles across themes of culture and diversity and contested and contradictory notions of curriculum. Three articles  explore  aspects of the social sciences curriculum and three focus on mathematics, including an exploration of curriculum change in mathematics through the lens of Parliamentary discussion over the past two decades. One article  challenges the borrowing of epistemological concepts from one cultural context for use in another, using the example of the concept of hauora, while another discusses equity and diversity at the level of teacher practice. In the editorial, Carol Mutch reflects on a year of turmoil, including the Christchurch earthquakes and the Pike River mine explosion and what the response to these events might teach us about the connections between crisis, curriculum and citizenship.