Extra various texts in English and a variety of music genres might be included in curriculum sources for colleges.
The Oak Nationwide Academy – an arm’s size physique to assist colleges ship curriculum content material – has launched lesson sources for lecturers which purpose to signify the variety of contemporary life.
The curriculum supplies for English classes function up to date black British writers Andrea Levy and Winsome Pinnock – alongside texts from the literary canon, comparable to Chaucer and Shakespeare.
Classroom sources for music cowl rap and 90s grunge alongside Mozart and Beethoven, and for historical past there are sources for decoding the British Empire.
There have been calls to decolonise and diversify the curriculum in colleges for a while.
Analysis by Penguin and the Runnymede Belief – revealed in June 2021 – discovered fewer than 1% of candidates for GCSE English Literature answered a query on a novel by an writer of color in 2019.
A separate survey – revealed in January 2022 – discovered that almost all of lecturers in England believed extra various and consultant texts on the English syllabus can be of most assist to their pupils.
Matt Hood, chief government of Oak Nationwide Academy, mentioned: “I’m delighted that our new curriculum sources have gone reside and look ahead to suggestions from colleges and lecturers.
“Our impartial analysis exhibits that seeing and discussing evidence-informed curriculum fashions is a crucial a part of creating a instructor’s curriculum experience.
“Having prime quality sources alongside them reduces instructor workload, improves happiness and improves retention.
“We’ve paid specific consideration to creating positive that the curriculum represents the perfect of what has been thought, mentioned, found, sung and danced.
“We’ve chosen subjects that, when taken collectively, give pupils a wealthy understanding of the world and permit them to take part as educated residents in fashionable society.”
Geoff Bartongeneral secretary of the Affiliation of Faculty and School Leaders (ASCL), mentioned: “We recognise the work that has gone into creating these sources and the great intentions of Oak. Nevertheless, the jury continues to be out on its usefulness.
“This can be a physique that’s backed by a substantial quantity of taxpayers’ cash and there’s a lot of concern within the sector about whether or not it’ll truly find yourself driving different suppliers out of the market and lowering range, regardless of reassurances on the contrary.
“In actuality, many faculties and trusts have developed their very own curriculum sources for his or her contexts, and it’s onerous to see precisely the place Oak suits in.
“Furthermore, Oak gained’t be sufficient to scale back the workload pressures which might be driving folks out of educating. Solely the federal government can try this by enhancing training funding, addressing instructor shortages, and lowering the punitive nature of inspections and efficiency tables.”