In late 2020, a flurry of electrifying poems swept in to be judged for Pearson’s poetry competition on the subject of ‘Belonging’. Inspired by Imtiaz Dharker’s whirlwind exploration of confused identity, In Wales, Wanting To Be Italian (PDF, 211KB), and influenced by pieces from Pearson’s GCSE collection Belonging, British students from Years 9, 10 and 11 submitted a broad selection of brilliant verse.
In our recent Plotting Ahead roundtable series, we recognised a need for change. The figures, trends and patterns that have emerged with regards to diversity and inclusion in English (and indeed, education as a whole) have culminated in a collective desire to drive forward improvements.
We also recognised that change cannot happen in isolation. Outside of schools, there is a vast community of allies that are required to work together to enable and enact change. Parents/carers, schools, teacher trainers, publishers, librarians, the DfE, Ofqual and many more, need to work together from both within their organisations and communities, and without, to implement structural and sustained change.
The third in our series of blogs on Black British writing, part of Black History Month.
The second in our series of blogs on black British writing, part of Black History Month.
As part of Black History Month, we will be highlighting a few of the key literary moments and authors who have long contributed to the British Literary heritage.
Well, it’s finally happened – you’re back in school - with full classes (with or without masks) - and now it’s the moment of truth: what have your pupils been doing since March? Of course, you hope that they avidly followed your online lessons and dutifully completed all tasks set with the devoted attention of a furloughed parent… but the reality might be quite different. There will be many pupils who were not in need of additional support prior to school closure but who will now need a boost to get back on track. You might be tempted to think that the Number 1 priority is to test pupils to find out the extent of the damage of missing school, but it would be more beneficial to your pupils to give them enough time to tune back in to learning mode first.
Pearson has announced a second wave of locations, including India and the UK, where people can now take PTE as a Secure English Language Test (SELT) for UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) purposes.
In response to students’ concerns about the lack of inclusion of women and BAME writers at GCSE level, Katy Lewis, Head of English, Drama and Languages at Pearson, discusses the move to add a more diverse set of texts to the English GCSE Literature syllabus.
When you first ‘hear’ a narrator in a book, what are your initial thoughts? When the author introduces you to a new character, what assumptions do you make? The gender is normally pretty clear, and age is always up there – how attractive they are often features highly too!
