Secondary English for Generation Alpha (National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE))

Secondary English for Generation Alpha seeks to promote a humane, responsive and creative pedagogy for English that will develop and enrich understanding and enjoyment of language in all its forms (speaking, listening, reading and writing) and help students develop into successful members of their home and wider communities.

Generation Alpha (children born between 2010 and 2025) are growing up amid unprecedented challenges – local, national and global – that threaten social justice. The authors of this book see subject English as one means of supporting Generation Alpha to meet these challenges and provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge to fit them for a changing world. Responding to tendencies to standardise and centralise curriculum, pedagogy and teacher education, the book explores the ways in which subject English can draw on local contexts and expertise in schools, universities and communities to address local needs and interests, demonstrating how what we learn locally can be relevant beyond.

The chapters in this volume represent work being done, individually and collectively, in settings across England, by teacher educators in universities and other centres, alongside their partnership schools. By describing their own practice in English classrooms, the authors hope to empower others – in England, but also beyond – simultaneously producing both a broad and an in-depth exploration of the subject. Secondary English for Generation Alpha emerges from the world of initial teacher education, yet takes ideas from current research and makes them relevant to teachers and those interested in English teaching in schools in any context.

Dr Lorna Smith is Associate Professor of Education at the University of Bristol.