Primary School Reading Materials and Contexts of Change in New Zealand's School Journal, 1907-1989

Authors

  • Vivien Van RiJ

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/iasl8110

Abstract

This paper considers primary school texts as resources for teaching reading and as children's literature, applying principles of close reading and New Historicism theory to explore the effects on texts of changing social, political, and pedagogical contexts in the twentieth century. Particular issues discussed are predominant themes and ideologies, narrative technique, representations of systems of authority and control, the positioning of the child reader, and the relationship of the text to curriculum and the teaching of reading. There will be a focus on the School Journal, as New Zealand's longest running periodical, an apt illustration of contextual change.

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Published

2021-03-22