This article serves as an invitation to see the way the teaching of biography-driven writing has been increasingly pushed out of the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in favor of highly structured, formulaic, and impersonal writing, and how this is a setback for students in their preparation for college and career writing. The…

A significant body of research points to the challenges faced by English teachers in balancing creative pedagogy with the demands of high-stakes testing. However, few studies have examined teachers' conceptions of the importance of creativity in the context of end-of-school examinations. This study addresses this critical gap by exploring the…

As burgeoning twenty-first century technologies have enabled new ways of reading, writing and communicating, conceptions of literacy have changed -- and English curricula internationally have been modified to include "new literacy skills." Second-level English teachers, however, report needing more guidance in incorporating the teaching…

The growing interest in the history of curriculum and pedagogy in subject English might be seen as a response to educational reforms that are replacing earlier, progressive understandings of subject English with narrowly technical understandings of teacher professional knowledge and practice. This essay emerges out of an intergenerational,…

Just after the First World War the English Association published The Teaching of English in Schools. It argues that developing children's 'creative spirit' is fundamental to maintaining peace in Europe. Seventy years later, the first National Curriculum promotes a creative, unitary English appropriate for 'a European context'. In contrast, today's…

English teaching reform is critical for the cultivation of skilled talents and the development of national economy. The paper attempts to analyze the guidance principles of English teaching reform in the higher vocational colleges underlying "The Basic Requirements of English Curriculum Teaching in Higher Vocational Colleges",…

This article takes up questions about knowledge and the school curriculum with respect to literary studies within subject English. Its intention is to focus on literary studies in English from the context of current waves of curriculum reform, rather than as part of the conversations primarily within the field of English, to raise questions about…

In the United States from 1941-1945, wartime teachers of English faced public and institutional pressure to evaluate, prioritize, and demonstrate the value of English education to the war effort and to higher education's commitment to the nation's defense program. During this time, college English teachers published hundreds of articles that…

The installation of the new Australian Curriculum offers rich possibilities for rethinking English in Australia, and beyond. This paper proposes that rhetoric is usefully drawn into this work of reconceptualisation, as strategically an organising principle for English curriculum theory and practice. It reviews existing work on rhetoric and…

Since its publication in 1921, "The Teaching of English in England," otherwise known as the Newbolt Report, has informed both the shape of English as a school subject and the discourse about the teaching of English in England. The 1960s saw the report as promoting a cultural heritage rooted in outdated social values; the 1970s explored…

Since 2013, English Language and Literature courses in England have experienced changes to assessment and curriculum that have ushered them in a supposedly new direction, both under the umbrella of wider reforms. This divergence has included the abolition of controlled assessment and the concurrent resurgence of academic courses being assessed…

It can be argued that nearly thirty years of heavily centralised intervention into English pedagogy, curriculum and assessment have had a deprofessionalising effect on teachers. The accountability stranglehold means it is safer for English teachers to implement accepted strategies that are perceived to enable pupils to negotiate assessment…

This essay explores the role that storytelling might play in the professional learning of English teachers. It begins by reflecting on the ways that stories shape our everyday lives, and then considers how the meaning-making potential of storytelling might enable us to gain insights into our work as educators. This is in contradistinction to the…

This article draws from a Masters research study investigating the early implementation of the NSW English K-10 Syllabus in Year 9 with a focus on, teachers' perceptions of the various forms and purposes of assessment and the role these play in the classroom. The five participants were drawn from one English faculty in a single sex school in the…

In this piece I explore the concept of 'growth' in English teaching. Starting with John Dixon's 'growth' model, I argue that, by re-imagining his ideas in current contexts, practitioners might re-focus and re-invigorate the priorities of English teaching. Dominant conceptions of 'growth' are explored, along with their influence on teacher working…