All Change at A Level: Looking Forward to the New English Curriculum?
5 October 2013
This conference responds to the very latest on A Level reform and addresses some urgent questions for teaching at sixth-form and degree level. Bringing together speakers from secondary and higher education sectors, the day will offer a range of perspectives and the opportunity to debate the implications of the changes that lie ahead.
Keynote Speakers
Dr Carol Atherton teaches English at Bourne Grammar School in Lincolnshire. She is the author of Defining Literary Criticism: Scholarship, Authority and the Possession of Literary Knowledge, 1880-2002 (2005). Most recently, she has co-authored Teaching English Literature 16-19: An Essential Guide (2013).
Professor Peter Barry (Aberystwyth University) has a special interest in the theory and practice of teaching English literature and literary theory. He is the author of the enormously popular Beginning Theory, now in its third edition, and Reading Poetry (2013).
Steve Watts is Admissions Tutor and Lecturer in English at Homerton College, Cambridge, and Chair of the University of Cambridge Admissions Forum
Conference Programme
9.30 Registration and coffee
10.00 Welcome and introduction: Dr Jenny Stevens
10.15 The Land of Lost Content? A teacher’s view of the return to linear A Levels:
Dr Carol Atherton
11.00 Coffee
11.30 A Level reform: a view from HE: Steve Watts
12.15 Break-out sessions: Delegates can attend one of three sessions,
each addressing a crucial area of A Level today. Sessions will be co-chaired
by the day’s key speakers along with:
Professor John McGavin (University of Southampton)
Dr Pam Bickley (English Association)
1.00 Lunch
2.00 ‘What we talk about when we talk about poetry’: Professor Peter Barry
2.45 Plenary led by Adrian Barlow, President of the English Association
3.30 End of conference
Break-out and plenary sessions will offer opportunities to hear from representatives of the Awarding Organizations and from academics who have been involved in the A Level reform consultation process.
The conference is organized under the auspices of the English Association’s University Admissions and Transition Special Interest Group, set up in 2008 with a view to promoting dialogue between colleagues teaching English at sixth-form and degree level. The Group is chaired by Dr Jenny Stevens, who combines teaching with education consultancy work. She recently led the English panel for Ofqual’s International Comparison in Senior Secondary Assessment and is currently lead reviewer for the regulator’s review of A Level English Literature standards over time.
