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International research suggests that government policy, institutional culture and learner characteristics influence the attrition rate of first-year tertiary education students. These variables were investigated in relation to a cohort of 21 New Zealand students who failed a core literacy paper. The research utilised questionnaires, interviews with staff and students and observations around a series of workshops designed to review the literacy course. Results align with international findings, but also differ because of site-specific institutional, and student socio-cultural factors. The workshops improved students' course content knowledge, but did not address deep-seated, literacy and culturally-based impediments that contribute to attrition. Principles of social justice and social contract theory described by Rawls (1958) and Sen (2009) are used to critique policy and pedagogical and learner characteristics. Based on this critique, the research concluded that some aspects of policy and institutional, cultural and student behaviour were unjust.

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Pedagogical practices in formal educational settings together with the nature of communication technologies in the media and elsewhere mean that children will encounter on-screen typography and screen-based learning opportunities in both formal school settings and during their daily recreational pursuits. Internationally, there is a lack of research informing what good reading practice might look like when teachers use reading material in a screen-based environment. More specifically, there is a lack of research around best practices for the design of this material for children. Greater understanding of how the colour of text and the colour of background influences the "readability" of these reading materials is required. This research sets out to determine the readability of text and background colours in on-screen books for young readers through discussion of the literature to date, as well as discussion of a small scale study which includes a rate-of-error experiment as well as qualitative feedback to provide greater knowledge of the most positive reading environments for children.