Is there a way to avoid teaching rubbish in English?
I’ve had an idea! For a while now I’ve been increasingly disgusted at the way English language has been dumbed down as a GCSE subject. Really, what is the point of asking pupils to analyse leaflets for RNLI or websites about skateboarding? What’s the point of committing so much time and effort to teaching kids how to write like tabloid journalists? I can see an argument for teaching English as a set of ‘functional skills’ but the Language GCSE isn’t even that. Leaflet analysis and persuasive writing are pointless as well as crass. The exam on which thousands of teachers waste [...]