Literacy (secondary level)

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Literacy (secondary level)

HomeSchool resourcesLiteracy (secondary level)

Topic summary

Literacy is an essential life skill, not only for accessing education but for participation in society more broadly.

The purpose of literacy is to share meaning between an author and a reader – to understand what others have written, and to share your own ideas with others. Literacy depends upon a wide range of language and cognitive skills. Most children begin to learn to read and write following many years of experience understanding and speaking spoken English. While spoken language usually develops spontaneously given sufficient exposure to speech, literacy normally depends upon explicit instruction. 

Children who struggle to read and write will find it difficult to access all areas of the curriculum. Adults with low literacy not only have limited employment opportunities but also worse health outcomes. It is crucial that we support learners to attain good literacy skills.

Literacy is one of the areas of education in which there is a good deal of high-quality research. For example, evidence over the last twenty years has clearly demonstrated that providing systematic, explicit teaching in phonics (which can include either analytic or synthetic phonics) is more effective than whole language or embedded phonics approaches. There is also extensive evidence that learners show better reading comprehension when they have relevant background knowledge about a topic. However, some care is needed when making research-informed decisions on how to teach. While there is ample research on what to teach, there is relatively little research on how to teach.

It is important to pay attention to non-cognitive factors such as motivation and reading self-concept in literacy teaching. Literacy is an area of learning in which motivation is particularly important, because evidence shows that learners who read for pleasure outside of school can substantially improve their vocabulary and reading skills. The role of background knowledge, both in terms of a broad base of general knowledge as well as more specific domain knowledge, is also critical in literacy teaching. 

  • How have you designed your literacy programme and what evidence have you drawn on it inform its design?
  • How do you embed literacy across the curriculum?
  • How do you support students who exhibit less well-developed literacy? 

Research reviews

Literacy: Why it matters

The importance of literacy is promoting a wide range of outcomes in education and beyond

How to plan for whole-school literacy

Priorities and guidelines for developing a school-wide literacy policy.

Literacy across the curriculum at secondary school

The importance of literacy teaching and learning across all curriculum areas at secondary school, and strategies for taking a cross-curricular approach.

Marginalised adolescent literacy learners

How to support students who need to make accelerated progress in literacy.

How to encourage teens to read

Why reading for pleasure is so beneficial for teenagers' learning and wellbeing, and what the research says about getting them to read more.

Turning boys of all ages into life-long readers

Research-based strategies for encouraging boys to read for enjoyment.

Webinars

Teachers’ professional decision-making about text choice in secondary school English

LIVE EVENT: 7.30PM MONDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2025
There are many considerations when choosing which texts to teach. Teachers Taylor Hughson and Jordan Tricklebank, along with Claudia Rozas from University of Auckland, explore the factors influencing teachers’ decision-making

Using Comparative Judgement to improve writing

Daisy Christodoulou discusses how comparative judgement can help schools improve students’ writing.

Improving the coherence of literacy learning from ECE to Year 13

Teachers from Pupuke kāhui ako discuss their work to improve the continuity and coherence of literacy learning from early childhood education to Year 13.

Improving writing instruction across primary and secondary school

Teacher Jeanette Breen discusses what is most important for students to learn in their writing journey from Primary to Secondary

Reading in the digital age

Professor Emerita Naomi Baron of American University discussed the extensive research from the past decade that has explored the nature and impact of reading digitally

Literacy for secondary learning area teachers

Practical ways that secondary school teachers can use effective literacy approaches in their classroom teaching and learning programmes

The state of literacy webinar

The perilous state of literacy in New Zealand – The Education Hub launches its latest report with a panel discussion

Infographics

Snapshots

How to support ESOL students in the classroom

Key insights from a webinar with Michelle McKinlay from the University of Auckland.

Writing in a digital age

Key insights from the webinar with Professor Emerita Naomi Baron of American University on the impact of digital tools on how we write.

Improving literacy across a Community of Learning

Key insights from the webinar with the leaders of the Pupuke Kahui Āko.

What teachers need to know about digital reading

The key insights from our webinar with Professor Naomi Baron on the research into reading print versus digital texts.

An introduction to the Comparative Judgement approach to marking writing

An innovative but highly reliable approach to marking writing.

Promoting effective literacy practices at secondary school

Key insights from our webinar with Irene Anderson and Jennifer Glenn on teaching reading and writing across subject areas in secondary schools.

Why is literacy important?

Exploring the importance of literacy at school and in life beyond school.
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