The Rise of English

From the 19th Century to the 2008 National Curriculum

Aims

• To reflect on key moments in the development of subject English

Objectives• Know some of the key factors that have

influenced the current secondary English curriculum

The Rise of English

The Nineteenth Century :

• Arnoldian View; English as a civilising agent

• Utilitarian approach – educating, to an extent, a workforce

• A form of social control? (see Eagleton)

The Rise of English

Early Twentieth Century:• Becomes a required school subject (1904)• ‘Civilising agent’ as seen in Circular 753 (1910):

‘Literature supplies the enlarged vocabulary which is the mechanism of enlarged thought and for want of which people fall back helplessly on slang, the base coin of language. Pure English is not merely an accomplishment, but an index to a formative influence over character.’

• Literature, essentially, didn’t include novels in this definition.

The Rise of English

The Teaching of English in England (1921)(The Newbolt Report)‘Progressive Ideas’:• student centred teaching • Class discussions, drama work • Peer marking/criticism• Value of oral work• Critical of over emphasis on spelling,

punctuation and grammar• All teachers are teachers of English

The Newbolt Report

Traditional Views:• ‘The great difficulty of teachers in many districts is that

they have to fight against the evil habits of speech contracted in home and street. The teacher’s struggle is thus not with ignorance, but with a perverted power.’

On the working class’ attitude to literature:• ‘agnostic to, and contemptuous of literature…. A subject

to be despised by really virile men….to be classed by a large number of thinking working men with antimacassars, fish-knives and other unintelligible and futile trivialities of ‘middle-class culture’

The Rise of English

The 1930sThe Spens Report (1938)

• Continuing view of English as civilising; a legacy to hand on

• Spoken English ‘slovenly, ungrammatical and often incomprehensible to a stranger’

• ‘Teachers….struggle against the popularisation of the accents of Hollywood. The pervading influences of the hoarding, the cinema and a large section of the public press are subtly corrupting the taste and habits of the rising generation’

The Rise of English

The Influence of Leavis

• The rise of practical criticism

• Different practice – similar philosophy (the Great Tradition), similar view on popular culture

The Rise of English

Emerging Themes• Establishment of a canon of works that

embody timeless values• Such works have a humanising effect• Students should appreciate, not criticise,

great literature• Working class language is ‘corrupt’• Exposure to fine writing will enable students

to use standard English• Popular culture is a ‘corrupting’ influence• ‘The Cambridge School’

The Rise of EnglishPost-War English• The rise of the ‘London School’ (London Day Training College/Institute of

Education, London Association for the Teaching of English)• Associated with bigger educational shifts – the rise of comprehensives,

mixed ability teaching, raising of school leaving age, CSE, coursework assessments, multi-cultural education, anti-racist, anti-sexist agenda

• Looking at English in use; valuing individual’s dialects; seeing language as core to personality, personal growth and development.

• Key moment the 1966 Dartmouth Conference, and John Dixon’s Publication from this Growth Through English

• A focus on links between language and thought, leading to James Britton’s influential text Language and Learning, the ‘discovery’ of Vygotsky

• Valuing diversity• Key figures: James Britton, Douglas Barnes, Harold Rosen, Nancy Martin.• Characterised as ‘progressive’, ‘slack on standards’, ‘neglecting basics’,

etc… one of the targets of the ‘Black Papers’, which led to the Bullock Report.

The Rise of English

A Language for Life (1975)The Bullock Report• Saw complexities of English/language teaching• Reinforces language and literature• Condemns decontextualised study of grammar• Promotes talking and writing • Raises ideas about language across the

curriculum• Reaffirms the idea that all teachers are teachers

of language

The Rise of English1980s, 1990s, 2000s – The Rise of the National Curriculum and the Key

Stage 3 Framework• Kingman Report (1988) – ‘to recommend a model of the English language

…..which would serve as the basis of how teachers are trained to understand how the language works’

• Failed to recommend ‘formal’ grammar teaching• Foreshadowed the LINC (Language in the National Curriculum) project• English in the National Curriculum 5 – 16 (The Cox Report) (1989)• English in the National Curriculum 5 – 16: Revised Orders (1993)• English in the National Curriculum (1994)• National Curriculum for English (1999)• The National Literacy Strategy (Key Stages 1 and 2) (1997)• The Key Stage 3 English Framework (2000)• A range of reports from OFSTED (notably on Boys and English), and QCA

(on Boys, and on Grammar Teaching)• English 21• Revised National Curriculum Orders (to be implemented from September

2008)

The Rise of EnglishEssential Features of the Cox Curriculum (1989)• Lengthy rationale, discussion of place/status of Standard

English, range of reading including multi-cultural texts, media texts. Established place for drama.

• Five ‘views’ of English teaching: – Personal growth – focusing on relationship between

language/learning and role of literature in developing the imagination

– ‘Cross-curricular’ – emphasis on the fact that all teachers are teachers of language

– ‘adult needs’ – English as preparation for the working world and life beyond the school

– ‘Cultural heritage’ – responsibility to introduce students to finest works of literature

– ‘Cultural Analysis’ – the role of English in helping students towards a critical understanding of the world in which they live

More Key Features of the Cox Curriculum

• Division of English into three Attainment Targets: AT1 Speaking and Listening, AT2 Reading and AT3 Writing

• A programme of study for each attainment detailing range and breadth of experience

• 10 Level scale for each AT showing continuity/progression• Used the ‘Key Stages’ –

– Key Stage 1 – Year 1-2; (5-7)– Key Stage 2 Year 3-6; (7-11)– Key Stage 3 – Year 7-9; (11-14)– Key Stage 4 Years 10-11 (14-16)

• Fundamental in bringing a degree of standardisation to Departmental schemes of work

• Content not pedagogy (what, not how, to teach)• Almost immediately called to be reviewed, deemed to be weak

on Standard English, phonics, ‘suitable literature’, and SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar)

The Rise of English

Essential Features of the 1994 Curriculum• Used defunct 1993 curriculum as basis• Retains three attainment targets but

‘slimmed down’• Each AT divided into Range, Key Skills and

Standard English and Language Study• Listed authors for pre-19th century reading• 10 level scale replaced by 8 levels, each level

consisting of a description of a typical student at that level (‘best-fit’ model)

The Rise of English

Essential Features of the 1999 Curriculum• AT1, 2 and 3 renamed En1, En2, and En3.• Each programme of study subdivided into

two sections: Knowledge, Skills and Understanding and Breadth of Study

• 1900 watershed moved to 1914• Higher profile for media texts (particularly

moving image texts)

The Key Stage 3 Framework

• To build on NLS at Primary

• Word, sentence and text level objectives for each of Years 7,8 and 9

• Heavy emphasis on ‘basic skills’ and ‘genre based’ approach to writing

• Non-statutory

• Accompanied by huge investment in training material and consultant support

The Rise of English

The 2008 revised National Curriculum• Key Stage 3 and 4 separated• Restructured into 4 key concepts:

Competence, Creativity, Cultural Understanding, Critical Understanding

• Key Processes - Speaking and listening, reading, writing

• Range and content• Curriculum Opportunities

National Curriculum Odd One Out

• Charlotte Bronte Emily Bronte Anne Bronte• Sir Walter Scott Robert Louis Stevenson Daniel

Defoe• Mary Shelley Bram Stoker Kate Chopin• John Bunyan William Thackeray Anthony

Trollope• Thomas Hardy Henry James James

Joyce• Henry Fielding Virginia Woolf Charles

Dickens• Elizabeth Gaskell Edith Wharton Jane

Austen• H G Wells Rudyard Kipling Joseph Conrad