My thoughts on redesigning the English curriculum at Key Stages 3 & 4.

2. 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

3. What should we
include in
an English
curriculum?

6. 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

7. Cultural capital
• It‟s not subjective – “the best of what
has been thought and known”
• Knowledge is power
• Teach the cannon, but also critique it

8. 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.

9. JB Priestley also presents Mr Birling as
confident he says to Gerald with no
hesitation at all ‘But what I wanted to
say is there’s a fair chance that I might
find my way into the next Honours List’
he shows he’s confident in his
business and in himself and he’s not
telling Gerald he’s going to have a
knighthood he’s boasting.
Daisy Christodoulou
http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

10. JB Priestley also presents
Mr Birling as confident he
says to Gerald with no
hesitation at all ‘But what I
wanted to say is there’s a
fair chance that I might
find my way into the next
Honours List’ he shows
he’s confident in his
business and in himself
and he’s not telling Gerald
he’s going to have a
knighthood he’s 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
there‟s a fair chance
that I might find my
way into the next
Honours List‟. Here, he
shows he‟s confident in
his business and in
himself. He‟s not just
telling Gerald he‟s
going to have a
knighthood; he‟s
boasting about it.
Daisy Christodoulou
http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

11. Uncovering the hidden body of
knowledge
• A: He’s not telling Gerald he’s going to have a
knighthood he’s boasting.
• B: He’s not telling Gerald he’s going to have a
knighthood; he’s 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-

12. Daisy Christodoulou
http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

13. 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-

14. 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

15. Sequencing
• Our memories privilege stories
• Learning is easier when it‟s in context
• What is the story of English?
– Classical
– Early
– Renaissance
– Victorian
– Modern

16. What is „progress‟?
• Performance vs learning
• Introducing „desirable difficulties‟
• Spacing & interleaving

17. 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

18. Storage strength
The (New) Theory of Disuse
Childhood
address
Old friend‟s
address
What you
learn in this
session
New friend‟s
address
Retrieval strength

19. 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

20. A challenge
Everyone likes rapid progress
But…
The route to sustained progress is
counter intuitive

21. Desirable difficulties
• Spacing & interleaving
• Generation not reading
• Testing not revising

22. Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885

23. Topic
2
Topic
3
Topic
4
Topic 5
Topic 6
Topic 3
Topic 1
Topic 4
Topic 2
Topic
1
Topic 2
Topic 4
Topic 3
Topic 5
Topic 1
Topic 6
Topic 1
Topic 3
Topic 4
Topic 6
Topic 2
Topic 5
Blocking & interleaving
Topic
5
Topic
6

24. 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

26. Generation
Generating information is more
memorable than just reading it
Apple
Pear
Or_____
Ra______

27. Retrieval induced forgetting
Items we‟ve not practised
retrieving are more likely to be
forgotten in the short term
But, forgetting increases chances
of retaining information that is
represented

28. 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

29. Tests don’t have to be dull

30. 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

31. KS3 programme of study

32. Sequenced version

33. Alex Quigley‟s POS

34. 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.

35. English Language
• There are no set texts
• Reading is broken down into: critical reading and
comprehension; summary and synthesis; evaluation of a
writer‟s 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.

36. 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.

37. 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 writer‟s
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 doesn‟t look as if creative responses are a possibility.
• 5% of the marks are allocated to spelling, punctuation and
grammar.

38. 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.

39. 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.

40. Proposed KS4 curriculum

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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

44. „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

45. 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

46. There‟s nothing good or bad
but thinking makes it so.
David Didau
@LearningSpy
learningspy.co.uk
ddidau@gmail.com