It can be argued that to be literate gives one a feeling of self worth and is more positive than being illiterate which implies individual defiency and failure.Whereas literacy leads to economic progress and development illiteracy leads to social demise. The individual themselves may not perceive it this way but the media definitely do and it is through the implications of their reporting that a have-have not structure is reinforced.

What has caused this concern to evolve to what is now viewed as a 'crisis' can be seen in our historical backg

Other soecific example s are obvious, for example, last year I had two students for a part of a special work program and fit them in I took them separately and what was meant to be my lesson turned into an English class because they could cope in the classroom. They both had poor literacy skills but could orally tell me the answers so we worked out that we could do it orally and because it had to be written I copied their response on the board and they copied it down. It took me all my time to get their teacher to accept just the basics from these kids because they were aware of their limitations but they wanted to succeed and they wanted to pass but the teacher could not accommodate them because of their poor literacy skills. I have no doubt that the parents and their primary schools did what they could for them (one is dislexic). This year we have a Futures program for these kidsto try to keep them at school ,it is more hands on and even although they do not get their VCE they do get special certificates for the areAS THAT THEY ARE INVOLVED IN.All of this builds their self esteem and they will hopefully learn some skills thAT CAN BE TRANSFERRED INTO THE WORKFORCE.

Instead of working individually,adults now work as a team to be more productive, to review,analyse and to make the necessary changes to increase productivity consequently we have to be flexible and forever open to change. The conconcept of literacy has changed, in the 50's an 'ideal' literate person was a moral subject but today with all the changes education is linked with economic restructuring and productivity. Surveys or tests now indicate how we are literate and how shools are improving this and on the basis of these there is often seen to be a problen as portrayed in the media. Based on these changes that is what it is, not so much a 'literacy crisis' but a change in the expectations of what an individual should be able to do. They are as in Lo Blanco and Freebody state the ' New Foundations' of literacy. The new modes of understanding means that there are more means of communication to be learnt and more meanings all of which put new demands on the individual and consequently on society as a whole. The definitions of what literacy is vary but generally it is ;a quantifiable continuum of acquisitions-skills that enable developmental community 'function' and not as many believe the 'function approach' concentrating on the 'old basics' in isolation which do not sufficiently relate to something concrete' that can be seen to be in context with the real world. It is therefore the conflict between those with the support for the latter and the real needs of the individual where it then becomes to portray a crisis. Society has changed and will continue to do so' it is more complex, literacy is changing and this is when it becomes portrayed in crisis. The nature of literacy is so diverse from the expected coding of information in the written format,meaning in texts, the diversity of it across cultures especially in a country like Australia, the social aspect, the personal, the public and the international communication. All of these aspects are what we expect a 'literate' person to be competent in and for the education system to provide the basis for. So there tends to become an expectation that schools can do it all and that all children will come out of school competent in these areas. There are some who do not perform and they are the ones often targeted by the media or tests to illustrate this 'crisis' that we are having. The reasons are vast- we are multiculturalist, there are the Indigenous Australians, people's attitude or ability to pursue education depends on their socio-economic class, parental support, home environment. Students with special needs,visual or hearing impairments or other handicaps will influence the individuals progression at school. All of these factors influence the results of tests or surveys but all are rarely mention

Some common words found in the essay are:
Secondary School, USING ASPECTS, TRANSFERRED WORKFORCE, Training Australia1198', Blanco Freebody, ABC Immediately, Indigenous Australians, Professional Development, South Wales, Carolyn Jones, poor literacy, develop skills, 'literacy crisis', literacy skills, primary teachers, read write, catch reader's eye, reader's eye, creating concern, teacher attitude, bleak picture, poor literacy skills,
Approximate Word count = 3287
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)