That the number of young people choosing to study English Literature at A-level (post-16) in English is in decline is widely known and should be of concern for all those interested in the current and future health of the subject. Some work has been done to investigate this area, but if we are to properly understand the situation and look to identify possible solutions, more research is needed. This article describes some findings from a pilot project undertaken in three schools, where Year 12 students - both those pursuing a literature course and those who were not - and English teachers participated in interviews designed to explore factors influencing students' post-16 choices. In analysing our findings, we point towards planned future research and make some initial recommendations centring on the role of English teachers in championing and promoting their subject.

Anne Turvey played a key role in the London Association for the Teaching of English (LATE), a voluntary subject network for those involved in the teaching of English that had been founded at the Institute of Education in 1947. As Chair of the Association in the LATE 1990s and well into the 21st century, Anne helped to ensure LATE's continued existence and relevance in the midst of challenging contexts. Having worked alongside her in the LATE organising committee for many years, this is a personal reflection on the vital contribution of Anne to LATE.

In the context of a decade of change and reform in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) policy making, we assess the impact of the substantial changes caused by Covid-19 affecting ITE from the perspectives of eight university providers in England. Whilst previous research has documented the impact of the first period of lockdown in the UK, initiated in March 2020, we draw on the conceptual framework of classroom readiness to consider the continued and variable disruption caused by Covid-19 on ITE programmes in England during the period September 2020 - June 2021. Through a participatory workshop, which included identifying key questions, group discussion and written reflections with teacher educators working across eight institutions, we assess the changes to pre-service teacher education provision over this period, with a focus on postgraduate programmes. We identify that the nature and implementation of school visits and the role of technology and digital pedagogies are key areas of change during the pandemic period, whilst continuity in the value and strength of school and university partnerships remain. We consider the ways in which ideas of developing 'classroom readiness' have been informed and shaped through changes to teacher education brought about during the pandemic period. We argue that conceptualisations of classroom readiness need to be grounded in reflective professional learning in the context of collaborative professional communities so to enable pre-service teachers to become adaptable pastorally engaged subject specialists. We reflect on how learning from this period might be incorporated into future international ITE programmes and policy.

Teachers and teacher education are often presented as "problems" to be solved, with policy solutions that focus on ways to make teachers "better" and improve teacher "quality" by introducing prescriptive strategies. We investigate the ways Covid-19-related changes to university and school-based facets of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in England influence teacher quality in relation to both student teachers and early career teachers, working in secondary schools. Drawing on 34 interviews with school leaders, school mentors and ITE tutors, we critically explore the ways in which teacher quality was developed through key aspects of teachers' pedagogy and practice during the pandemic crisis when schools were closed and teaching moved online. Our findings show that the pandemic crisis has highlighted the different facets of teacher quality which arguably disrupt narrow and prescriptive understandings of what constitutes "quality" in policy terms. Although there were many instances of challenge in the development of new and student teachers, our data also shows how ITE tutors, school mentors and leaders responded creatively to the crisis. Participants highlighted the opportunities afforded by the pandemic to develop diverse and innovative pedagogies and practice, enhance students' subject knowledge, as well as overcome some of the challenges in other areas of pedagogy and practice. Furthermore, the study shows that teacher quality was not substantially reduced despite the challenges arising from the pandemic and concerns that pre-service teachers would not be ready and prepared for a career in the classroom.

Some years ago one of the repeated comments made by my PhD supervisor John Hardcastle during sessions was “You should talk to Paul Tarpey”. Tarpey was completing his doctorate at the same time and ...

The teaching of writing is at the core of the secondary English teacher's work. There have long been contrasting ideas about the most effective approaches to supporting students as writers, and in recent years in England the evidence-from Ofsted, for example-would suggest that it is common for teachers to offer structures to scaffold students' writing in response to text, in particular. Whilst they may be helpful in some ways, there is a risk that these structures-often known by acronyms such as PEE (point, evidence, evaluation)-can be overused with a consequential marginalisation of student choice, voice and personal response. After a brief overview of the development of different approaches to teaching writing in English, this article-through consideration of a questionnaire and focus group interview-explores the teaching writing as it is experienced by one group of new entrants to the profession.

Studies of comparative classroom practice in the teaching of secondary English are limited, especially when it comes to exploration of the day-to-day practice of English teachers in the secondary classroom. This book presents a case study analysis of secondary classroom practice in three countries: Canada, England and Scotland. Each country has had different degrees of state involvement within the secondary English curriculum over the last twenty years. England has had the highest degree of state involvement in that it has had several statutory national curricula and a variety of assessment regimes. Scotland has had a non- statutory curriculum and no national tests and Canada has had no national curriculum at all, with education being determined at province level, and each province varying its policies. The research adopts a case study approach involving both classroom observation and interviews with teachers. Through this, the authors explore the impact of state involvement on the reality of what happens in secondary English classrooms. The book invites readers to consider the applicability of the findings to their own contexts, to examine their own practice in the light of this and to consider the nature of the relationships between policy, personal belief and practice in the teaching of English.

For many, the most important tangible outcome of the 1966 Dartmouth Seminar was the publication of Growth through English (Dixon, 1967). Though there were other published outcomes from the seminar – an American summary of events appeared as The Uses of English (Muller, 1967) whilst other texts looked at drama and creativity in English (Barnes, 1968; Summerfield, 1968) – it is Growth through English that is considered to be the representative tome on proceedings. It is from the title to this text – ironically not Dixon's preferred choice, as he favoured something like 'Language in Operation' as more fitting – that many people's understanding of the growth model of English comes 1 .

Studies of comparative classroom practice in the teaching of secondary English are limited, especially when it comes to exploration of the day-to-day practice of English teachers in the secondary classroom. This book presents a case study analysis of secondary classroom practice in three countries: Canada, England and Scotland. Each country has had different degrees of state involvement within the secondary English curriculum over the last twenty years. England has had the highest degree of state involvement in that it has had several statutory national curricula and a variety of assessment regimes. Scotland has had a non- statutory curriculum and no national tests and Canada has had no national curriculum at all, with education being determined at province level, and each province varying its policies. The research adopts a case study approach involving both classroom observation and interviews with teachers. Through this, the authors explore the impact of state involvement on the reality of what happens in secondary English classrooms. The book invites readers to consider the applicability of the findings to their own contexts, to examine their own practice in the light of this and to consider the nature of the relationships between policy, personal belief and practice in the teaching of English.

We are a group of teachers, school leaders, teacher educators and researchers who want to promote the development of teaching as a profession in the best interests of children, young people and society as a whole. We are particularly interested in how universities can support a profession-led model of teacher development. We reject the terms of the polarised debates that are currently dominant: with regard to initial teacher education, ‘reform’ and ‘defend’ positions have become so entrenched that sustainable change for the good is ever more difficult to achieve. With reference to teaching, ‘traditional’ and ‘progressive’ have become meaningless terms flung around in the echo chambers of Twitter. In this pamphlet we promote 4 design principles that we believe are essential in transforming the professional education of teachers, both at the beginning and throughout their careers. We propose: * A long-life teaching profession; * Schools, universities and teachers at the heart of their communities; * Education as cultural and societal development as well as individual advantage; * A continuum of professional learning. We believe we need to take a long term view about the future of schools and teaching as a profession, responding to the significant societal challenges we face. We also offer 4 key design questions for teacher educators that might help them to enact the principles of Teacher Development 3.0.