Pearson Schools Blog

On 1 April, the DfE released updated essential core criteria for systematic synthetic phonics (SPP) programmes and have announced that they are launching a validation process closing in March 2022. 

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.