Issues addressed include:

*the different ways literacy can be conceptualised through social-science based disciplinary perspectives
*the issues at the centre of current public and professional debates surrounding literacy difficulties and how these have impacted upon pedagogical responses
*the impact of these wider political and social issues on individual students.

This reader forms the basis of the Open University's Difficulties in Literacy Development course, but will also be of interest to postgraduate students, teachers, researchers, education professionals and policymakers who are keen to address difficulties in literacy development.