UK teenagers could soon be able to pass an English examination at GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) level without having to read a single novel, poem or play. Instead of studying English literature, they would study practical use of English in real-life situations, which may include the analysis of travel brochures or marketing material, the Daily Telegraph has reported.
The course being developed by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, a leading body for UK secondary education, would result in a BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) qualification for UK pupils aged between 14 and 16. BTECs, equivalent to GCSEs, are to prepare students for direct entry into employment or for progression to higher education. The BTEC qualifications would be designed to run alongside the GCSEs, not replace them.
The proposal followed the recent findings of UK 15-year-olds’ poor reading skills, which dropped from 7th in 2000 to 17th in 2007 in an international ranking according to new findings from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization of industrialized countries. The trust sees BTECs as a solution to these disappointing results as they are a totally fresh approach to English teaching. The idea of the new qualification is to build up the functional English language skills of students who may be daunted by the requirement of reading a whole book.
David Crossley, the trust’s director of achievement, said: “Every child has talent and aptitude and we need to find their strengths. This will help give students confidence to continue studying.” But Ian McNeilly, director of the UK National Association for the Teaching of English, questioned the plan. “It seems to me that promoting an English qualification that does not involve picking up books, plays or poems is losing sight of what the subject is about. If there is a case to answer that English teaching is not inspiring kids, I don’t see how creating a new qualification would improve that.”
The trust will discuss the plan with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, a public body regulating the UK public examination system and the examination board of Edexcel, UK’s largest education services company, hoping to give the English BTEC a trial in 2009.
