Literacy, adolescence and schooling; or a challenge in the middle years

One of the most intriguing developments in the recent burgeoning of the literacy studies field is the emergence of a distinctively new category ' 'adolescent literacies'. This is intriguing, and potentially exciting, because to date, in Australia at least, the policy practice has been to think in terms of two general categories: 'child literacy' on the one hand, and 'adult literacy' on the other. These categories have effectively corresponded with, respectively, the formal literacy work of schooling, from the early years through to the post-compulsory stage, and the realm of adult, community and workplace education. Now we seem to have a third, intermediary category, referring specifically to the notion of adolescence, and presumably aimed at that section of the school population which is in-between childhood and adulthood.