Addressing literacy in secondary schools: introduction

his special issue of Language and Education reports on an independent threeyear research evaluation of a major professional development initiative to promote cross-curricular, whole school literacy policies – also known in the wider literature as ‘school language policies’ – in secondary schools in New Zealand. The findings from this evaluation, we believe, have significant implications for other national contexts. The professional development initiative in question – the Secondary Schools’ Literacy Initiative (SSLI) –was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education between 2003–2005 and involved a group of 60 pilot secondary schools, 20 each year.