How Does a Gcse English Literature Student Come to Understand a Classic Novel Such as Frankenstein, and What Teaching Strategies for Framing and Critically Analysing the Text Can Be Truly Useful to the Student?
How does a GCSE English Literature student come to understand a classic novel such as Frankenstein, and what teaching strategies for framing and critically analysing the text can be truly useful to the student?
Large scale educational reform in the last decade or so has become a common and accepted part of life. However, too many failures have been highlighted and “amply demonstrated” by low performance outcomes (Moss, 2009). Literature as a subject in the classroom has long been a top priority alongside writing, and this is possibly why the current Labour government has now changed it aims for all young people to remain in education until the age of eighteen by 2015 (in accordance with the newly introduced DCSF 14-19 reform act); with the main objectives of personal development to be incorporated into both English and maths. These objectives, reputedly demanded by a high percentage of employers, include “personal learning and thinking skills” (PLTS) of independent enquiry reflective learning, and creative thinking, amongst others. The famous and innovative international study on literacy (“PIRLS” Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) has brought to the forefront of government attention in relation to education, the importance of a literate nation; and with England falling behind Russia and Canada for international benchmarks of reading achievement (PIRLS 2006) it makes sense that the government would like to see English students progress to high standards of literate ability, and to keep them in education with a focus on English and mathematics seems a logical step to developing a highly literate future workforce. Higher targets of attainment can be diluted, however, by aspirations of the government, especially if targets are unobtainable. Research has shown that “if policy-makers use targets to motivate… they also use targets to act as public guarantees..”.(Moss, 2009). The 14-19 reform act to improve (in one area) the standards of literacy will
Large scale educational reform in the last decade or so has become a common and accepted part of life. However, too many failures have been highlighted and “amply demonstrated” by low performance outcomes (Moss, 2009). Literature as a subject in the classroom has long been a top priority alongside writing, and this is possibly why the current Labour government has now changed it aims for all young people to remain in education until the age of eighteen by 2015 (in accordance with the newly introduced DCSF 14-19 reform act); with the main objectives of personal development to be incorporated into both English and maths. These objectives, reputedly demanded by a high percentage of employers, include “personal learning and thinking skills” (PLTS) of independent enquiry reflective learning, and creative thinking, amongst others. The famous and innovative international study on literacy (“PIRLS” Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) has brought to the forefront of government attention in relation to education, the importance of a literate nation; and with England falling behind Russia and Canada for international benchmarks of reading achievement (PIRLS 2006) it makes sense that the government would like to see English students progress to high standards of literate ability, and to keep them in education with a focus on English and mathematics seems a logical step to developing a highly literate future workforce. Higher targets of attainment can be diluted, however, by aspirations of the government, especially if targets are unobtainable. Research has shown that “if policy-makers use targets to motivate… they also use targets to act as public guarantees..”.(Moss, 2009). The 14-19 reform act to improve (in one area) the standards of literacy will
Bibliography: AQA (2010) English Literature Specification B LITB3 Texts and Genres. P17 Version 1.3 Hitchcok, S.T Keenan, S. (2008). Embracing Submission? Moherhood, marriage and mourning in Katherine Thomas’s seventeenth-century “commonplace book” Research papers in Education, V24 (2) 155-174 National Curriculum (2007) PIRLS (2006) IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study Exhibit P69 Shelly, M Sunden, J. (2008). What if Frankenstein(‘s monster) was a girl?. Bits of life- Feminism at the intersections of media, bio science and technology