"This book cuts through the rhetoric about a national curriculum in order to raise important questions about the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: English. The aim is to inquire into the claims made on behalf of this curriculum through critical accounts generated by people working within a range of educational sectors and jurisdictions across the country. Key questions posed by this book are: How can the Australian Curriculum be implemented in a principled, ethical, research-informed way for the benefit of all Australian students? How are teachers, educators and professional groups across the country anticipating, engaging with and planning for the new curriculum? How will it connect with the lived experience of teachers and students in Australian schools? What challenges does it pose for developing and implementing curriculum at a school and classroom level How might the three strands - Language, Literature, Literacy - be integrated in a meaningful way? How will educators be able to ensure that young people in schools engage with the curriculum on terms that are relevant to them? How might a single national curriculum that privileges the use of &‘Standard Australian English' meet the particular needs of Australian students within diverse communities? How does the new national English curriculum, compare with existing state-based curriculums? The book seeks to productively engage with issues that are likely to emerge as systems and schools implement the curriculum, re-envisioning curriculum as something that teachers and their students create within their local school communities."--Publisher.