English Across the Divides: Investigating perceptions of ‘English’ across the Key Stages in England
The Common English Forum’s (CEF) recent Manifesto for English in England (2024) states that subject English is an ‘eco-system’ that stretches from the Early Years and Ks1 to KS5 and beyond. However, it warns that ‘significant damage’ to this system, caused at least in part by the current national curriculum for English (DfE, 2013) and its attendant assessment and accountability frameworks, is now ‘jeopardising’ the eco-system in its entirety. Given the new government’s commitment to curriculum review the time is right to explore perceptions of English within and between key stages, and consider how different phases might learn from and build upon each other.
This event provides an opportunity for dialogue and an exploration of perspectives between experts across phases in England. The four presenters are all English specialists working in primary, secondary and further education (FE).
The event will focus on reading, reading pedagogy and text choices. Because reading is a central element of English, such a focus will allow comparisons to be drawn between phases and will be of interest to practitioners at every level.
With reading as a unifying lens, the presenters will variously explore aspects of curriculum, teacher agency, Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD), student perspective and student voice. They will facilitate a looking ‘forwards and back’ between key stages. Specifically, Brownsword will draw on her doctoral research to focus on primary teachers’ awareness of racial diversity in the fiction texts they teach and make recommendations for practice; Glowach and Ghelani will discuss how the use of non-fiction texts about tree cover in urban settings in both KS2 and KS3 can be used to develop young people’s eco and socio-critical literacy skills; and Kemp will draw on her doctoral research to problematise the reading experience for post-16 students forced to resit GCSE English Language in FE and the impact that this has on these students’ reading identities.
Combined, these three presentations will address what the experience of ‘English’ might look like for a student as they progress through the key stages; consider the importance of subject English teachers’ awareness of the phases that precedes and succeed their specialism; promote good practice in English reading pedagogy; and explore implications for curriculum policy, ITE and CPD. Furthermore, since reading pedagogy is of interest to L1 educators around the world, we would welcome participants from all jurisdictions to share their own experiences and practice.
