My thoughts on redesigning the English curriculum at Key Stages 3 & 4.
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What if there was no Ofsted, no league tables, no SLT, just you
and your class. What would you do to make your teaching great? Do
that anyway Tom Sherrington
What should we include in an English curriculum?
My underlying principles Education should enrich students
cultural capital Knowledge of grammar is foundational &
transformative Study of English should be based on the threshold
concepts of the subject Knowledge of literature should be
sequentially introduced Sustained progress is preferable to rapid
progress
Cultural capital Its not subjective the best of what has been
thought and known Knowledge is power Teach the cannon, but also
critique it
Grammar To be creative you have to know the rules explicit
knowledge of grammar matters To think analytically you need to
think like an essay grammar is concerned with meaning Deliberate
practice (decontextualised drill) matters.
JB Priestley also presents Mr Birling as confident he says to
Gerald with no hesitation at all But what I wanted to say is theres
a fair chance that I might find my way into the next Honours List
he shows hes confident in his business and in himself and hes not
telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood hes boasting. Daisy
Christodoulou
http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-
JB Priestley also presents Mr Birling as confident he says to
Gerald with no hesitation at all But what I wanted to say is theres
a fair chance that I might find my way into the next Honours List
he shows hes confident in his business and in himself and hes not
telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood hes boasting. JB
Priestley also presents Mr Birling as confident when he says to
Gerald with no hesitation at all: But what I wanted to say is
theres a fair chance that I might find my way into the next Honours
List. Here, he shows hes confident in his business and in himself.
Hes not just telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood; hes
boasting about it. Daisy Christodoulou
http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-
Uncovering the hidden body of knowledge A: Hes not telling
Gerald hes going to have a knighthood hes boasting. B: Hes not
telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood; hes boasting. What
do you need to know to be able to turn sentence A into sentence B?
You need to know where to put a a semicolon. This means you need to
know what an independent clause is. This means you need to know
what a verb is. Daisy Christodoulou
http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-
What is the best way to teach this knowledge? Separate lessons
that involve deliberate practice Activate prior knowledge Teacher
explanation Guided practice Feedback Independent practice More
feedback Daisy Christodoulou
http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-
Threshold concepts Until you get them you struggle to
understand, once you get them they are transformative and
irreversible. Structure & coherence Spelling, punctuation &
grammar Awareness of impact Understanding context Using evidence
Analysing technique
Sequencing Our memories privilege stories Learning is easier
when its in context What is the story of English? Classical Early
Renaissance Victorian Modern
What is progress? Performance vs learning Introducing desirable
difficulties Spacing & interleaving
2. Why is difficulty desirable? Rapid improvement
(performance): predictability, cues, massed practice Sustained
improvement (learning): variability, spacing, interleaving These
slow down performance but lead to long term retention &
transfer of knowledge
Storage strength The (New) Theory of Disuse Childhood address
Old friends address What you learn in this session New friends
address Retrieval strength
Rapid progress prevents sustained progress The higher the
retrieval strength, the smaller the gains from additional study or
practice Forgetting creates the likelihood of increased learning If
learning is difficult, retrieval strength will decrease in the
short term but will increase in the long term
A challenge Everyone likes rapid progress But The route to
sustained progress is counter intuitive
Desirable difficulties Spacing & interleaving Generation
not reading Testing not revising
Understanding context Using evidence Spelling, punctuation
& grammar Structure & coherence Reading Analysing technique
Awareness of impact Understanding context Using evidence Spelling,
punctuation & grammar Structure & coherence Writing
Analysing technique Awareness of impact Understanding context Using
evidence Spelling, punctuation & grammar Structure &
coherence Analysing technique Awareness of impact Interleaving
Writing
Generation Generating information is more memorable than just
reading it Apple Pear Or_____ Ra______
Retrieval induced forgetting Items weve not practised
retrieving are more likely to be forgotten in the short term But,
forgetting increases chances of retaining information that is
represented
Testing Which study pattern will result in the best test
results? 1. 2. 3. 4. STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY TEST STUDY STUDY STUDY
TEST TEST STUDY STUDY TEST TEST TEST STUDY TEST TEST TEST -
TEST
Tests dont have to be dull
My underlying principles Education should enrich students
cultural capital Knowledge of grammar is foundational &
transformative Study of English should be based on the threshold
concepts of the subject Knowledge of literature should be
sequentially introduced Sustained progress is preferable to rapid
progress
KS3 programme of study
Sequenced version
Alex Quigleys POS
Changes to English GCSEs Grading will be numerical, with 9
being the highest score and 1 the lowest. English will be examined
as English Language and English Literature. Literature is not
compulsory. Both specifications will be linear with assessment in
the Summer. November resit opportunities for English language only.
Both English specifications will be assessed by untiered, external
exam only.
English Language There are no set texts Reading is broken down
into: critical reading and comprehension; summary and synthesis;
evaluation of a writers choice of vocabulary, form and structural
features. Writing is broken down into: producing clear and coherent
text; writing for impact. Spoken language is broken down into:
presenting information and ideas; responding to spoken language
(listening and responding appropriately to any questions and
feedback); spoken standard English. There will be a speaking
assessment, which will be reported separately. 20% of the marks are
allocated to spelling, punctuation and grammar.
English language content Unseen high-quality, challenging texts
from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries Texts must include
literature and extended literary non- fiction (essays, reviews and
journalism). Texts that are essentially transient must not be
included.
English Literature Emphasis on classic literature &
substantial whole texts in detail. The exam must include unseen
texts. Reading broken down into: literal and inferential
comprehension; critical reading; evaluation of the writers choice
of vocabulary, grammatical and structural features; comparing
texts. Writing about literature is described as writing effectively
about literature for a range of purposes. However, the AO spells
out that students should be able to maintain a critical style so it
doesnt look as if creative responses are a possibility. 5% of the
marks are allocated to spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Literature content At least one play by Shakespeare At least
one 19th century novel (no short stories!) A selection of poetry
since 1789, including representative Romantic poetry Fiction or
drama from the British Isles from 1914 onwards.
Overall Speaking & listening component no longer counts
towards GCSE grade Media & the digital world do not feature No
spoken language component SPaG and standard English account for a
large part of what is assessed.
Proposed KS4 curriculum
Should all students study English Literature? Morality vs
practicality English will not count unless students study both
English Language and English Literature and the English
Baccalaureate will only be conferred on students who study both
English Language and English Literature. Michael Gove
Should all students study English Literature? At present,
pupils must study some English Literature for any English grades to
count in performance tables, and we want to retain a similar
incentive for schools to offer English Literature courses in
future. Requiring pupils to enter English Literature for the
Language score to be double weighted retains the incentive to enter
English Literature, without making this subject a requirement of
the Progress 8 measure. Reforming the accountability system for
secondary schools
Should all students study English Literature? The eight
subjects against which students will be measured include] a double
weighted English element (the English Language qualification will
count for this element, but will only be double weighted if the
pupil has also taken English Literature. Reforming the
accountability system for secondary schools
Progress 8 Best 8 GCSEs count towards students progress Maths
is worth double = 9 slots English language is worth double if
students have studied literature = 10 slots
Key messages Decide on your values before deciding on your
curriculum Assess what you value Teachers mediate dictats what is
your enacted curriculum? Literature is an entitlement
Theres nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. David
Didau @LearningSpy learningspy.co.uk [email protected]