Last week First Story submitted a response to the Government’s curriculum review. We welcome the chance to respond and wanted to share what we said.
Enrichment programmes like First Story’s Young Writers Programme are currently not in the scope of the review, yet they are crucial for so many underserved young people who do not have equal access to culture and the arts. Only 20% of pupils access enrichment activities, yet we know they boost school enjoyment and help build essential skills such as resilience, independence, team work and confidence. These qualities are valued by employers and needed in day-to-day life.
With respect to the English Curriculum, we believe that current prescriptive and mechanistic approaches heavily focused on spellings and grammar do not equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to craft written compositions effectively. Within the current GCSE syllabus, there is only one opportunity for students’ self-expression in original writing which is limited to either descriptive writing or a story opening. Assessment at GCSE is only through terminal examination, so there isn’t opportunity for young people to learn the craft of writing (including editing and re-drafting).
We want to see the curriculum widened to emphasise the need to include writing (as well as reading) for pleasure and enjoyment (as well as for purpose), with an emphasis on student voice, form and content – as a key lever to unlock all areas of the curriculum and improve later life chances.
More emphasis on oracy will develop key social and emotional skills (listening, empathy, voice and self-expression) for life and for the workplace. Spoken language is featured in the qualification but does not contribute to the final grading which leads to a lack of focus on speaking and listening skills. Thanks to funding from Mercers, First Story is piloting an oracy offer in 6 London Voice schools to evaluate the impact of writing enrichment activities on oracy skills. Longer term, we are looking to extend our creative writing enrichment programme to enhance social and emotional skills alongside developing young people’s confidence and unique voice.
It will be some time before we know how the curriculum might change, but surely writing for pleasure must be the foundation of building writing skills for future generations.
First Story Alumni Event at the London Library
