This chapter introduces the work on genre-based literacy pedagogy that has developed in the Sydney School over the past three decades. It begins with the social and educational contexts in which the Sydney School project began, followed by an analysis of the contexts of schooling informed by educational sociology. We then sketch out a general model of pedagogic practice that can be applied to integrating literacy teaching with learning the curriculum, with the goal of overcoming the inequality of outcomes produced by the school. The chapter concludes with an outline of the model of language in social context that underpins genre pedagogy.