We were delighted to welcome English leads from Multi Academy Trusts across the country last month to discuss the future of GCSE English.
Whilst the hottest day of the year meant a quick change from in-person to online, the session was packed full of insightful conversations around the challenges and opportunities facing GCSE English in the months and years ahead.
What happens when a teenager finishes a great book? If they’re lucky, they find another. But for too many, that’s where the story ends. They hit a wall. In fact, when we surveyed more than 1,000 students aged 13–16* about their reading habits, "I can’t find a book I like" was one of the biggest barriers to reading.
It’s not a capability issue. Students are confident readers (scoring themselves an average of 3.5 out of 5). It’s a connection issue.
Earlier this year, we launched This is Lit, a new book club designed to celebrate the best of 21st-century literature during The National Year of Reading 2026. Alongside the launch, we explored what makes today's teenagers tick when it comes to books. What we found provides a different perspective on how we think about student disengagement.
By Dr JT Welsch, University of York
When Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, the awarding committee said it was ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.’ In the official press announcement, they added: ‘He can be read and should be read, and is a great poet in the English tradition.’ It’s one thing to describe song lyrics as ‘poetic’ – a vague descriptor we apply to many creative forms. It’s another thing to call someone who is primarily a songwriter a ‘poet’ while awarding them the world’s most prestigious prize for ‘literature’.
When we launched our Let’s Talk English campaign earlier this year, our purpose was clear: to create an open space for the education community to explore how GCSE English teaching, learning and assessment could evolve to better serve every student.
We didn’t start with answers or predetermined solutions; we started with questions — and an invitation for teachers, students and education leaders to share their experiences, insights and ideas about what English could become.
What do we mean when we ask why English does not feel creative any more?
Partly, maybe, that after the age of 14, pupils have few opportunities to write fiction, poetry or drama, at least for assessment. There is only one ‘recreative writing’ option at A-Level, and few students take it. The Creative Writing A-Level lasted only from 2014-2018. But then such opportunities haven’t existed for quite a few decades, and even then, they were permitted only intermittently, and reluctantly.
In the last year, the EA has been talking to teachers, academics, and leaders in the discipline about the English GCSEs. As part of our Let’s Talk English series, Dr Rebecca Fisher (CEO of the English Association) outlines the challenges with the GCSEs and recommendations for change as identified by the English subject community.
In our latest Let's Talk English blog, Professor Cathy Shrank considers the surprising careers unlocked by studying English.
As we begin the new school year, and look back on what was an extraordinary summer term, we want to share our reflections on the conversations, ideas and energy that have shaped discussions over the past few months.
What started as an invitation to come together and talk about the future of English has grown into something much bigger. This is no longer just a conversation: it’s a shared commitment to reimagine how this subject can equip every learner with the confidence, creativity and critical thinking skills to succeed in life beyond school.
We’ve brought together thousands of voices from across education — classroom teachers, curriculum leaders, students and sector experts — to explore bold questions about the future of English. From national forums to regional roadshows, a picture has begun to emerge: this is a subject that matters deeply and must adapt to meet the needs of young people in an ever-changing world.
Let’s Talk English is our invitation to rethink the purpose of English — to imagine what a richer, more inclusive and more meaningful experience of the subject could look like.
Since the campaign launched in March, we’ve run six forums with teachers and sector leads across the country. We’ve completed extensive research into the views of secondary English teachers (the results of which are coming soon), and asked representatives from across the sector to share their views on key topics. And we’re only just getting started.