A level English Literature was criticised last week in a report by Ofqual. According to widespread media reporting, noticeably on the BBC and in The Independent (the latter being quite misleading in my view), A level English Literature has suffered from declining standards. Examination questions, argued Ofqual, have become too predictable, almost formulaic, and there…
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Education - for teachers, Media
Time Up for the Times Ed?
The Times Educational Supplement Relaunched as a magazine this week, the once essential read for teachers has a fresh new look but can a makeover save the day? Time was when the aspiring teacher was instructed to read the TES each week. Before I started teacher training, I bought it religiously for a year, following slavishly…
Contemporary Fiction, English Literature, Film
Can the film be better than the book?
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro – film and novel Seeing the film before reading the book is one of the gravest of sins in the English teacher’s manual, and of that I am guilty when I come to this haunting and subtle novel. The film is one of the best Merchant-Ivory films of…
Non-Fiction, Scottish Literature
Highland Warrior
Calum’s Road by Roger Hutchinson Two summers ago, a wet day on holiday in Scotland led me to stumble upon this deeply moving and widely lauded account of one man’s struggle. It had been the most awful day of weather, of the sort which only those who holiday regularly North of the Border can understand,…