Too much of what is valuable about studying English was lost in the educational reforms of the past 14 years. A sharp drop-off in the number of students in England taking the subject at A-level means fewer are taking English degrees. Teaching used to be a popular career choice for literature graduates, as Carol Atherton warmly describes in her new book, Reading Lessons. In it, Ms Atherton, a teacher in Lincolnshire, explains the pleasure she takes in teaching novels such as Jane Eyre that she first encountered herself as a teenage bookworm.
But lower numbers of English graduates mean teacher training courses are struggling to fill places for specialist secondary teaching jobs like hers, making entry less competitive. While trainee English teachers used to be plentiful, compared with subjects such as physics, now recruitment targets are routinely missed.
Changes to the curriculum made under the Conservatives are not the only reason. Chronic workforce shortages afflict much of the public sector, and figures show that schools are following hospitals and care homes in turning to recruitment abroad. A recent report from the National Foundation for Educational Research argued that to boost domestic applications and retention, teachers should be paid bonuses. This would compensate them for not being able to work from home.
But the fall in the popularity of English among over-16s is seen by many as a consequence of ill-thought-through changes, which imposed a model more suited to science and maths learning on to the quite different disciplines of language and literature. A highly prescriptive set of objectives pushes pupils to use ambitious vocabulary and punctuation. But this leaves limited room to encourage imagination, storytelling and interpretation – and the enjoyment in books that is crucial to stimulate a love of books. For Ms Atherton, it was the discovery of ambiguity in literature – the fact that the same texts can mean different things, depending who is reading them – that drew her in.
The researchers behind another book, Dominic Wyse and Charlotte Hacking, share her belief in the power of reading. In The Balancing Act, these authors set out a case that the version of phonics currently taught in primary schools all over the world is overly narrow. While many blame smartphones for the declining popularity of reading among young people, these experts say evidence shows that English lessons themselves bear a share of the blame. They believe a more flexible approach in classrooms, making more use of literature (initially children’s stories and novels) and less focused on grammar, would ultimately produce stronger talkers, readers and writers. The erosion of teachers’ autonomy should also be reversed, if enjoyment in language and ideas is to be strengthened.
There are many other challenges facing schools, which have not received enough support to recover fully from the pandemic. Problems around attendance and the system for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities will be pressing issues for the next government as they are for the current one. But education policy is not all about problem-solving. Schools remain lively places and innovation is essential if institutions and the people in them are to keep abreast of changes in the world. It is time to review the curriculum. When that happens, a fresh look at English, along with the arts subjects wrongly downgraded by the Conservatives, should be top of the list.
• This article was amended on 3 May 2024 to correct the spelling of Carol Atherton’s forename.
