This book outlines and critiques international strategies and programmes designed to address difficulties in literacy development. The high-profile team of contributors consider teaching programmes which operate at family, school, pupil and teacher levels. They argue that school is not the only legitimate location for literacy education, and show how difficulties in literacy can be addressed sequentially, both in and out of the school context.

Issues addressed include:

*the dilemmas facing practitioners in choosing between multiple approaches to practice

*the factors which must be addressed in strategies which operate at the level of the family and the community

*how to ensure the school can support programmes designed to improve literacy learning

*how to put theory into practice in programmes designed for use with individual students

*the teacher as 'reflective practitioner' - developing professional practice which effectively raises literacy achievement.

This book will be of interest to postgraduate students, teachers, researchers, educational professionals and policymakers who are looking for practical strategies to address difficulties in literacy development.

This reader forms the basis of the Open University's Difficulties in Literacy Development course, and is ideal for similar courses nationally and internationally.