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the project is the Lit in Colour Pioneers Programme, working together with Penguin Random House and the Runnymede Trust, to give guidance and resources to 100 secondary schools. When the programme was announced the teacher enthusiasm was still there, and the 100 places were all taken within a month of being offered.
The schools taking part in the pioneers programme will get:
l Copies of the set texts for every student in the relevant year group;
l A programme of work and series of free resources, including CPD training webinars for teachers and school librarians plus qualification switching support and training where required;
l Support programmes of work for each set text, including creative content from authors, including videos and a range of resources to support the specification;
l A Lit in Colour mini library including 300 free Penguin books by writers of colour designed for all age groups, together with colourful posters and artwork;
l A student ambassador programme.
Katy said: “We’re hoping the pioneers programme will also feed back into building up confidence in the wider- schools community who are not part of the programme. They will be able
to see case studies, examples of student responses, questions from exam papers and other materials.” So, alongside the specific help being offered to the pioneer schools, the project will also give all secondary schools across the UK free access to the online training events and workshops, as well as free digital teaching resources. This is aimed at both English Literature GCSE and A Level English Literature.
“Most of the resources that Pearson is producing will be available to everyone because we want more than just these pioneers to select these texts,” Katy said, adding that schools taking part in the programme will also be encouraged to use social media to share resources with those who aren’t and build wider confidence. “We’ve created schemes of work, pre-recorded lessons, knowledge organisers, student exemplar materials and Powerpoints. We’ve also had a student conference with Jamila Gavin, author of Coram Boy, and Tanika Gupta who wrote The Empress and we had a virtual, online conference with Benjamin Zephaniah, who wrote the original novel of Refugee Boy. And we’ve also had online webinars for teachers. So we’ve put quite a lot of support in place.”
However she added that “Some of the support will be available only to pioneers as a closed group, so they can reflect on their experiences – what is working and
30 PEN&INC. Spring-Summer 2021
Achieving inclusion is a complicated endeavour and the time and promotion needed isn’t small.
what isn’t – with people doing the same things.” She said the resources and CPD will remain free and accessible next year but she isn’t sure if the programme will run again, adding: “In theory I’d like to, it’s a brilliant way to support people.”
Wider context
The pioneers programme may be exam- focused and led by a qualifications and examination body, but it hopes to influence the culture around reading in general, not just results and exams focussed activity. “Some of the research and commentary that we saw around 2017 and 2018 prompted us to look at GCSE and a broader range of books that could show students examples of themselves – both as characters in stories and as writers of literature. And also to show learners someone different from themselves – that was one of the aspirations too. So, we were aware of that broader context and that is what the library of 300 books (provided by Penguin Random House) will help address, as a way of bringing different titles into the school that might offer more relatable and engaging options for students across the whole of Key Stage three and four.
Reigniting the canon
The 300-book donation to pioneer school libraries is about giving students a better chance of finding literature that they ‘get’ or engage with beyond the classroom and exam. “Students have to do Shakespeare,
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