1. Introduction 2. Re-emerging debates over methods and standards: 1945-1965 3. Reading debates and the Bullock Report: 1968-1975 4. Post-Bullock reactions to a literacy crisis: 1975-1983 5. The renewed reading standards debate of the early 1990s 6. The Advent of National Literacy Strategies 7. Reading Recovery: A comparative Case Study. Conclusion

This study addresses the critical issue of literacy crises around the world questioning their wider sociological and educational impact and demonstrating how literacy crises in one country can stimulate and shape literacy crises elsewhere.