Not an easy fix: diverse English literature in schools
Just putting a more diverse range of books onto the English literature GCSE and A Level syllabus won’t work, according to Katy Lewis, head of English, Drama and Modern Foreign Languages at Pearson Edexcel. Here she talks to Rob Mackinlay and explains how she is working with 100 secondary schools to break down the barriers and open up new choices.
TEACHER enthusiasm for a new, diverse choice of writers on Pearson Edexcel’s English literature curriculum was real. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the reality: that teachers stepping off the well-trodden path face massive challenges. Katy Lewis, head of English, Drama and Modern Foreign Languages at Pearson Edexcel, said: “We gave teachers the option to choose new set texts for their students from a broader range of authors in 2019 (Refugee Boy, Boys Don’t Cry, The Empress and Coram Boy). These were an alternative to more traditional white, male English literature material. “There was a lot of interest and enthusiasm from teachers, but we soon realised that the availability of those texts only overcame one barrier and there are plenty of other barriers that might prevent someone from making those choices, even when they really want to. The fact that, for something like An Inspector Calls, you might have 300 copies of it in the store cupboard so you don’t have to pay the cost of re-resourcing; and you have lots and lots of materials for teaching that text; you know that text yourself really well because you’ve spent years teaching it, you know how to mark students studying that text; you feel part of a group because you know lots of other people are teaching that text as well.”
Complicated
Katy’s experience was reflected in a roundtable held by Pearson called
Spring-Summer 2021
‘Plotting Ahead… Diversity, inclusion and belonging’ in 2020. The roundtable led to a report that said: “It’s easy to see why students drop off at an early age because we often don’t appreciate the value of literacy until much later in life. It isn’t however an easy fix. Achieving inclusion is a complicated endeavour and the time and promotion needed isn’t small. It’s not just about having the right things available, of the right quality; it’s about how they are used and how we ensure a balanced, rich diet of literature that can broaden perspectives.”
Katy said that, alongside the increased volume of work that exploring new set texts mean for individual teachers, and alongside the economic cost of buying new books and materials, teachers also have to contend with the education system’s checks and balances. “It’s entirely understandable. There’s so much pressure around grading, accountability, prediction and knowing how every single learner is going to perform. It’s very brave for schools to do something different. I get where that nervousness comes from.”
Pioneers Programme
Katy and her team partnered with Penguin Random House UK and race equality thinktank, The Runnymede Trust, which were already working on an initiative called Lit in Colour, which is looking at the role of formal education in reflecting the diversity of society. Penguin’s Lit in Colour page on its website says: “Every young person deserves an educational experience that more fully reflects Britain’s past and
Katy Lewis.
the lives of its young people today. There has been much debate about the need to reform the History curriculum – but we believe there is a real need to reconsider English literature too. After all, almost every young person studies English literature until the age of 16.” The work it is doing includes com- missioning research from The Runnymede Trust to better understand the scale of the issue and explore possible solutions and to support the campaign over the long-term by providing practical and creative tools to equip and empower teachers and students to make change in the classroom.
The aim is to ensure the teaching and learning of English Literature better reflects contemporary culture and society. The Pearson contribution to
PEN&INC. 29
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