Critical English Online

Welcome to Critical English Online. This site is a project of the Wilf Malcolm Institute for Research in Education and is hosted by the School of Education at Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand.

We would like to point out that the word "Critical" is not meant to be off-putting. Rather it underlines one of the aims of this site which is to encourage thinking about issues and topics of concern to English teachers. It also makes a connection with Critical Theory, which suggests that constructions of "English" and "literacy" can serve the interests of some groups and marginalise the interests of others.

We would like this site to further the following goals:

to support teachers who aspire to be critically reflective practitioners
to encourage classroom-based research by English/literacy teachers
to provide a forum for English/literacy teachers to communicate on issues of concern and to network with colleagues who share similar professional interests
to locate English as a theorised practice with social justice implications on an international stage by incorporating international perspectives and encouraging communication by colleagues beyond national boundaries
to provide selected links to resources that can help English/literacy teachers to reflect on their practice

To meet these goals, Critical English Online offers or will be offering in the near future the following features:

Email registration
English/Literacy related Resource pages
An Electronic Journal: English Teaching: Practice and Critique
Material related to Critical reflective practice for teachers.