In preparation for an appearance on Jason Mohammad's Radio Wales phone-in last week I received an e-mail from the researcher which gave me details of the 'Welsh Gove's' proposals to make English Literature an optional subject.
I initially thought it was deliberate using 'Gove', but then realised it was an odd abbreviation.
However, 'Gove' would be entirely appropriate.
The programme turned out to be part of the School Report series that day and two Year 9 pupils from Cowbridge were in the studio doing a fine job presenting.
Somehow, I never manage to say exactly what I want on tv or radio. I do prefer the latter though : at least my baldy head can't be viewed!
In retrospect, I'd like to have chatted to those pupils and got their ideas, whereas I had an agenda and was busy sounding off.
I hope what I was trying to say was pertinent, even if I thought it rather garbled.
What the Welsh Gove are doing is nothing short of cultural vandalism, on a par with their cuts in library services, arts centres and orchestras for young people.
There is no point in voting for anti-austerity Corbyn, when the Labour Gove in Cardiff Bay are behaving like the Tories in Westminster.
Now, because of 'performance indicators' English Lit will become as peripheral as art, music and drama have already become. What that means is that schools' performances are judged on Language results, so there is no incentive for them to take Literature seriously.
The Welsh Gove make lots of promises about delivering Lit through other means, but this will be a sop, just as the present Cwricwlwm Cymreig is.
The latter specifies a requirement for schools to study Welsh Literature in English, but in reality it means a very occasional poem or story, if that!
Moreover, schools haven't the resources to bring in writers as they used to regularly and all the finance ( in terms of Literature Wales ) is channelled into promoting writers such as Roald Dahl for a whole year.
Rather than a policy designed to deprive future generations of access to poetry, plays and fiction, the administration in Cardiff Bay needs to be imaginative and forward-thinking.
I did try to argue this on the phone-in, but came over as nostalgic for the 1980s, when 100% Literature coursework gave both teachers and pupils genuine opportunities to choose what they studied.
I actually agree that English Lit should be abolished forever!
Yes, it should be replaced by Literature, with an emphasis on works by Welsh writers. The term's absurd anyway as much is American, such as Cormier's 'Heroes', Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' and , of course, Harper Lee and Angelou.
We have such a wealth of fiction and poetry in Cymru and there are enough excellent dramatists who deserve greater recognition.
Furthermore, there should be a real opportunity for pupils to research topics of their choice, with an oral test based upon this.
As I've blogged before, let's return to 100 % coursework, but with the work done in class while the preparation could be done at home. Let's give teachers a chance to use their expertise in certain areas and choose the texts they want....not from prescribed lists but anything suitable, from Gruff Rhys' 'American Interior' to Peter Finch's experimental poetry.
Non-fiction should not be ignored because, as the essays of Robert Minhinnick illustrate, they can be just as imaginative and challenging as fiction.
If Welsh Lit ( in English and translation) needs to be the hub of the course, then World Literature must also be crucial, with the likes of Brecht, Walcott and Achebe among those offered.
There's no reason why English and American need to dominate and pupils will surely relate to works which are either local or national. Imagine the poetry of Idris Davies studied in the Rhymni valley, or Alun Lewis in Aberdare.
I taught 'A' Level coursework in my last school and always chose writers who I could invite there, to discuss their work with pupils. I truly believe it illuminated their studies and made the work so much more relevant.
Also, it gave them another dimension on hearing the poems, essays or fiction read out loud.
Poetry, in particular, thrives in this context and is much better appreciated, even when the writer's delivery isn't enthralling.
I have a number of teacher friends and their reaction towards the assessment-obsessed, over-inspected, advisor-bullied present system is unanimous : they tell me that morale is at its lowest ever and schools have become 'exam factories', with pupils as products on an educational conveyor belt.
Enjoyment has been stolen from learning.
At what cost?
Education is becoming increasingly utilitarian and the arts viewed as useless.
Will we create a generation of children who only see it as an investment towards a job, or ( if they are labelled as failures) as completely pointless?
Once schools were seen as businesses, there was no way back.
To make them thriving, participatory communities requires a revolution and not piffling reforms.
If we let the Welsh Labour Gove continue with their policies , then Literature will follow orchestras and libraries onto the rubbish dump of history and 'gwlad beirdd a chantorion' will be pure nostalgia.
This poem is based on what happened after a 'Red Poets' launch at The Imp......
TAXI POETRY
Out of the launch, going home
and into the taxi alone.
Driver recognised me straight away -
glad it was 'Mike', not 'Sir' or 'Loopy'.
'I 'member this poem we done once,
'bout this Rasta stopped by-a p'lice ;
so we done poems 'bout ower own place
an I wrote 'bout-a Gurnos Estate.'
Then he recited word-for-word
(he'd left school over ten years),
his poem about a tough life and the cops
and gangs which gathered at the shops.
It had couplets a lot like rap,
I sat impressed and taken back.
'Where yew bin?' he asked eventually.
'Oh, jest launchin a magazine o poetree.'
When it came to pay he didn't want money,
'No way.....jest gimme a copy!'
I initially thought it was deliberate using 'Gove', but then realised it was an odd abbreviation.
However, 'Gove' would be entirely appropriate.
The programme turned out to be part of the School Report series that day and two Year 9 pupils from Cowbridge were in the studio doing a fine job presenting.
Somehow, I never manage to say exactly what I want on tv or radio. I do prefer the latter though : at least my baldy head can't be viewed!
In retrospect, I'd like to have chatted to those pupils and got their ideas, whereas I had an agenda and was busy sounding off.
I hope what I was trying to say was pertinent, even if I thought it rather garbled.
What the Welsh Gove are doing is nothing short of cultural vandalism, on a par with their cuts in library services, arts centres and orchestras for young people.
There is no point in voting for anti-austerity Corbyn, when the Labour Gove in Cardiff Bay are behaving like the Tories in Westminster.
Now, because of 'performance indicators' English Lit will become as peripheral as art, music and drama have already become. What that means is that schools' performances are judged on Language results, so there is no incentive for them to take Literature seriously.
The Welsh Gove make lots of promises about delivering Lit through other means, but this will be a sop, just as the present Cwricwlwm Cymreig is.
The latter specifies a requirement for schools to study Welsh Literature in English, but in reality it means a very occasional poem or story, if that!
Moreover, schools haven't the resources to bring in writers as they used to regularly and all the finance ( in terms of Literature Wales ) is channelled into promoting writers such as Roald Dahl for a whole year.
Rather than a policy designed to deprive future generations of access to poetry, plays and fiction, the administration in Cardiff Bay needs to be imaginative and forward-thinking.
I did try to argue this on the phone-in, but came over as nostalgic for the 1980s, when 100% Literature coursework gave both teachers and pupils genuine opportunities to choose what they studied.
I actually agree that English Lit should be abolished forever!
Yes, it should be replaced by Literature, with an emphasis on works by Welsh writers. The term's absurd anyway as much is American, such as Cormier's 'Heroes', Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' and , of course, Harper Lee and Angelou.
We have such a wealth of fiction and poetry in Cymru and there are enough excellent dramatists who deserve greater recognition.
Furthermore, there should be a real opportunity for pupils to research topics of their choice, with an oral test based upon this.
As I've blogged before, let's return to 100 % coursework, but with the work done in class while the preparation could be done at home. Let's give teachers a chance to use their expertise in certain areas and choose the texts they want....not from prescribed lists but anything suitable, from Gruff Rhys' 'American Interior' to Peter Finch's experimental poetry.
Non-fiction should not be ignored because, as the essays of Robert Minhinnick illustrate, they can be just as imaginative and challenging as fiction.
If Welsh Lit ( in English and translation) needs to be the hub of the course, then World Literature must also be crucial, with the likes of Brecht, Walcott and Achebe among those offered.
There's no reason why English and American need to dominate and pupils will surely relate to works which are either local or national. Imagine the poetry of Idris Davies studied in the Rhymni valley, or Alun Lewis in Aberdare.
I taught 'A' Level coursework in my last school and always chose writers who I could invite there, to discuss their work with pupils. I truly believe it illuminated their studies and made the work so much more relevant.
Also, it gave them another dimension on hearing the poems, essays or fiction read out loud.
Poetry, in particular, thrives in this context and is much better appreciated, even when the writer's delivery isn't enthralling.
I have a number of teacher friends and their reaction towards the assessment-obsessed, over-inspected, advisor-bullied present system is unanimous : they tell me that morale is at its lowest ever and schools have become 'exam factories', with pupils as products on an educational conveyor belt.
Enjoyment has been stolen from learning.
At what cost?
Education is becoming increasingly utilitarian and the arts viewed as useless.
Will we create a generation of children who only see it as an investment towards a job, or ( if they are labelled as failures) as completely pointless?
Once schools were seen as businesses, there was no way back.
To make them thriving, participatory communities requires a revolution and not piffling reforms.
If we let the Welsh Labour Gove continue with their policies , then Literature will follow orchestras and libraries onto the rubbish dump of history and 'gwlad beirdd a chantorion' will be pure nostalgia.
This poem is based on what happened after a 'Red Poets' launch at The Imp......
TAXI POETRY
Out of the launch, going home
and into the taxi alone.
Driver recognised me straight away -
glad it was 'Mike', not 'Sir' or 'Loopy'.
'I 'member this poem we done once,
'bout this Rasta stopped by-a p'lice ;
so we done poems 'bout ower own place
an I wrote 'bout-a Gurnos Estate.'
Then he recited word-for-word
(he'd left school over ten years),
his poem about a tough life and the cops
and gangs which gathered at the shops.
It had couplets a lot like rap,
I sat impressed and taken back.
'Where yew bin?' he asked eventually.
'Oh, jest launchin a magazine o poetree.'
When it came to pay he didn't want money,
'No way.....jest gimme a copy!'
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