ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the New Zealand curriculum and state-mandated assessment policies and practices to identify the extent to which the underlying discourses are conducive to the enactment of critical literacy practices in primary and secondary classrooms. At the beginning of the 1990s, as the Ministry of Education was establishing a team to develop new curriculum documents for each learning area, critical literacy was establishing a precarious foothold in Aotearoa. Critical literacy is about acknowledging and interrogating the power of texts to influence our understandings of ourselves, others and the world. Literacy policies and assessment directives in Aotearoa New Zealand do not constitute an official mandate for primary teachers to implement critical literacy practices. Regardless of the lack of an official mandate, teacher educators and professional development facilitators have the power to help teachers develop their own critical literacy skills.
