Current policy in England, informed by a version of cognitive science, enforces an absolute distinction between experts and novices, or teachers and learners; from this binary, operating in tandem with regimes of performativity instantiated in a curriculum shaped by high-stakes testing, are derived particular forms of pedagogy and particular…

Ian Cushing's 'Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England's Schools' draws on raciolinguistic theory to offer a detailed and compelling critique of language policies and teaching practices in contemporary urban schools in England. It argues that 'minoritised' pupils and teachers are consistently positioned in deficit…

The British government's current educational policy for England draws on E.D. Hirsch's writings on 'cultural literacy'. This paper aims to uncover the roots of Hirsch's influential views through a genealogical critique. Hirsch admired the Scottish Enlightenment educator Hugh Blair as a model architect of a hegemonic culture to unite disparate…

Recent reforms to Initial Teacher Education in England are a continuation of a decades-long political project, aiming to change the whole social complex around teachers' professional education. But the most recent frameworks present some new inflections to the construction of learning, pedagogical relationships and difference. Positivist versions…

This paper explores GCSE English re-sits in post-16 education. The re-sit policy was introduced in England and Wales to improve national literacy rates, yet persistently poor pass rates have drawn robust criticism of the policy. This article argues that traditional discourses of literacy predominate and contribute towards antagonisms between…

This essay draws from the experience of observing writing practices in English lessons from 2010-2019, to suggest that the influence of education policy during this phase prioritises preparation for examination questions above the imperatives of learner creativity or volition. Through discussion of ways in which the 'high stakes' examination…

This essay explores some of the problems that emerge from the imposition of a very narrow conception of the English literary heritage on pupils across England. It considers the role of government and school policy -- and of teachers and pupils -- in mediating set texts, and the ways in which problematic aspects of these texts are questioned and…

The Covid-19 pandemic has created global disruption in education. It has served to highlight pre-existing inequalities, at the same time as it has stimulated new forms of educational provision, notably 'online learning'. This article focuses on the debates and conflicts provoked by the pandemic's impact on schooling in England. It aims to show how…

The article describes the increasing discrepancy between the curriculum policies of the Conservative government and the policy directions argued for by business organisations and other advocates of a human capital perspective in education. It traces some of the origins of the current Conservative preference for cultural rather than economic goals…

It is now five years since the introduction of the current National Curriculum for English in England; it is just over 50 years since the Dartmouth Conference drew together American and English educationalists. This paper reports on a hermeneutic study that presents voices from the field of English teaching in England. It asks questions of today's…

This paper explores a three-year Creative Professional Development programme for teachers which encourages them to develop their skills as writers and illustrators in order to bring creative and original ideas about writing and illustrating into their classroom practice. The implicit message within such a programme is that without it, teachers,…

John Yandell's "The Social Construction of Meaning: Reading Literature in Urban Classrooms" provides a powerful counterpoint to current policy discourse in education. By focusing on the social interactions that occur in the classrooms of two English teachers, Yandell shows how their pupils are able to explore dimensions of language and…

This essay explores the complexity of imposing texts that are considered part of the English literary canon on students from multicultural backgrounds. It considers the rhetoric of the coalition government, in the recent drive to emphasize the importance of the literary heritage and return to English culture and how its impact has been felt in the…

The article uses the policies of the English Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, to contrast the oddly adventurous character of English Conservatism and the more hesitant positions of those who in some sort oppose it. It suggests that in defence of its own policies, Conservatism edits and co-opts opposing traditions, in the effort to…

This essay takes as its starting-point the recent announcement that GCSE English, the high-stakes test taken by 16-year-olds in England, will no longer include the assessment of speaking and listening. It attempts to place this decision, and other recent policy interventions that will have an impact on how talk in the classroom is conceptualised…