Laura Webb CPD

When the changes to GCSE English Literature were announced, I was outraged. Relatively new to teaching, caught up in the wave of Gove-hatred which I felt was the accepted way to feel, I was indignant about the announced alterations. But, I am not ignorant. I am open to change.

With my year 11s last year I ensured they knew the poems and key texts well enough that they could plan a rough answer without searching through the text. I guess my mindset was that I was doing it with year 10, so why not year 11? And I think their analysis became all the better for it; they were able to adapt quotations, develop their analysis, become more flexible with their understanding of character and theme presentation. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. And when a far more experienced and wiser teacher than myself told me that the students not…