The+Writing+Subject



In this paper I have written about pedagogy, writing and the writing subject. The setting is the New Zealand primary school system. It is not the whole story of writing in New Zealand primary school education. That story is composed of many strands woven together into a complex web. I have only teased out a few strands that are more important to me.

My particular interests relate to how the explicit and implicit theoretical foundations for writing pedagogy have affected the forms of writing practice. I believe we cannot consider children’s writing practice or instruction without also examining the ‘conditions of subjectivity’ from which the writing will arise. These ‘conditions’ in turn relate to the wider discursive practices within which these educational discourses are set. Consequently, the characters in this story will not be human subjects, but concepts: paradigms, ontologies, epistemologies, subjectivities and pedagogies.