Curriculum and Assessment in English 3 to 11: A Better Plan

Curriculum and Assessment in English 3 to 11: A Better Plan provides an overview of the subject in considerable breadth and depth, and offers a clear, balanced and forceful critique of the current language and literacy curriculum and its assessment arrangements for 3- to 11-year-olds in England, and of developments in the area during the past thirty years.

The book restates fundamental truths about how pupils speak, read and write English with confidence and control. It describes how English can be taught most effectively, calls for an urgent review of some aspects of the current National Curriculum and its associated tests, and – crucially – proposes viable alternatives. This invaluable resource for those working in English, language and literacy education has a wide perspective and takes a principled and informed pedagogical approach.

Based on a series of much-admired booklets released by the UKLA in 2015, this accessible guide to both theory and practice will be of interest to teachers, student teachers, teacher-educators, advisers and policy-makers in the UK and internationally.

John Richmond has a breadth of experience as a classroom English teacher and advisory teacher in London, a local-authority English adviser, an officer on the National Writing Project and the Language in the National Curriculum Project (both in the UK), and a commissioning editor in educational television in the UK and the USA.

Andrew Burn has worked as a teacher of English, media and drama in schools in Cambridgeshire. He is Professor of English, Media and Drama at the UCL Institute of Education, UK.

Peter Dougill has been an English and drama teacher in schools in the south of England, a local-authority English adviser, Chief Inspector in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and an HMI. He is Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, and an independent educational consultant in the UK.

Mike Raleigh has been an English teacher in Leicestershire and London, Deputy Warden of the ILEA English Centre, a local-authority English adviser and Deputy County Education Officer in Shropshire, and an HMI. He was Divisional Manager in Ofsted, Regional Director of the National Strategies in England, and an adviser to the Department for Education.

Peter Traves has been an English teacher in London, a local-authority English adviser, headteacher, and Director of Children’s Services in Staffordshire. He is an independent educational consultant in the UK.