By Gabriel Princewill-
Exam boards in the Uk have been urged to ensure that at least a quarter of authors” of GCSE English literature specifications are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Education charity, Teach First, have called for a special fund to allow schools to buy books “specifically by ethnic minority authors”. It’s underlying objectives is to address racism in schools by acquainting pupils to literary work written by ethnic authours. How effective the laudable goal will be remains to be seen
Research conducted by the charity found that nearly all teachers (98%) believe it is ‘important’ or ‘very important’ that books written by ethnic minority authors are studied as part of the English curriculum in secondary schools inevitably seeps into the classroom.
The report claims that ”both systemic and historic racism when this marginalisation is normalised in children’s minds even in seemingly insignificant ways – it sticks, persists and repeats, generation after generation’.
”There is a significant underrepresentation of ethnic minority teachers in the classroom, and this absence is even more stark in school leadership positions”, the report states. The report adds that ”10% of classroom teachers are from ethnic minority backgrounds, yet this decreases to 6% for senior leadership positions and just 4% for headteachers. Addressing this underrepresentation must be part of the solution to developing a more inclusive education system”..
The charity’s report, Missing pages: Increasing racial diversity in the literature we teach, conducted an extensive poll of school staff via Teacher Tapp.They found 27 per cent of headteachers said students had raised concerns about a lack of ethnic diversity in the curriculum with them, while 75 per cent of English teachers were concerned about a lack of ethnic diversity in the curriculum as a whole.
The report states that ”the English literature curricula taught in most schools are not representing the multitude of perspectives and backgrounds that make up our country’s diverse population”.
A Teach First review of the English literature GCSE specifications of the
major exam boards conducted in July 2020 revealed that the biggest exam board, accounting for almost 80% of GCSE English literature entries, does not
feature a single book by a Black author. It added that there were just two
books by ethnic minority authors.
Importance
The report insists that the importance of pupils accessing literature written by authors from different backgrounds is almost undisputed among teachers. In the charity’s Teacher Tapp poll, 91% of secondary school teachers think it is important or very important that literature written by ethnic minority authors is studied as part of the English curriculum in secondary schools.
An Edexcel spokesperson said in a statement: “Although we already have more than 25 per cent of GCSE texts by authors from ethnic minority backgrounds, we remain committed to maximising diversity in curriculum and will continue to engage students and teachers through webinars, conferences and training, to help us build a more inclusive education system.”
Image:teachfirst.org