Abstract:
Cinderella's glass slipper fitted and she was whisked off to the palace to marry the handsome prince. Current literacy professional development programs aim to fit the needs of students in schools. But do they? What are the benefits of pre-packaged programs for literacy development in Victorian schools? If benefits are meagre, what can be done to persuade the Commonwealth to provide more viable alternatives given the current economic climate? Are our efforts merely going to leave us with egg on our faces:the providers of yet another round of ill-fitting but politically expedient programs? This paper will present several case studies of school-based adoption of pre-packaged programs, review current literature related to professional development, and open up the issue for discussion by the participants.