Critical Literacy: Challenging the Assumptions of Mainstream Educational Theory

The focus of traditional educational theory and practice has long been on the acquisition of functional literacy skills. The discourse that emerges from this perspective has been linked to the maintenance of the structural inequalities that characterize the wider society. Educators who are seriously interested in schooling for social transformation in the interest of democracy and justice need to move beyond this limited vision. To challenge the traditional discourse of schooling, educators need to develop a new language. This paper argues that such a challenge can be initiated around the notion of critical literacy. By focusing on what it means to be a critically literate, democratic citizen, a collective vision of what it might be like to live in the best of all societies can be created and strategies developed to act upon that vision.