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Ben 10, superheroes and princesses: primary teachers' views of popular culture and school literacy

2014; Wiley; Volume: 48; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/lit.12023

1741-4369

John Dickie, Mary Jane Shuker,

Reading and Literacy Development

Abstract The introduction of national standards for reading, writing and mathematics for children aged 5 to 12 years in New Zealand schools raises the question of whether this will lead to narrower interpretation of the school curriculum. Although Ministry of Education guidelines for teachers interpret literacy as social and cultural practice, national standards indicate a more skills‐driven, teacher‐centred approach. This research explored how primary teachers of children aged 5 to 7 years can reconcile this apparent difference by asking them about their views on incorporating children's funds of knowledge of popular culture into the school literacy curriculum. The findings from a survey and teacher case studies are reported here. Although a small number of teachers viewed popular culture negatively, most positioned it within the official curriculum and drew on it particularly for use with writing activities. In this paper, we aim to illustrate how teachers can avoid a narrow interpretation of literacy curriculum by drawing on children's expertise in popular culture.