The New Newbolt Report

This book offers a pivotal re-evaluation of English teaching one century on from The Newbolt Report of 1921, responding to this seminal work and exploring its impact on issues and contemporary aims of English teaching today. Bringing together a range of experts in English higher education, the book provides a twenty-first century inflection on the enduring issues highlighted by Newbolt's original report. It examines topics including the demands of assessment, the narrowing of the literary curriculum, the impact of education reform, targets related to social mobility, class and widening participation, as well as broader questions about the function of literature and the arts in education. Chapters also consider issues surrounding the promotion of community cohesion, diversity and how technological advances might reshape literary education. This unique re-evaluation of the achievements and findings of the Newbolt Commission will be essential reading for those researching English education and the history of education.

Andrew Green is a Senior Lecturer in English Education at Brunel University London, UK.

Series editor's introduction. Preface. List of contributors. Part I: Contexts for Newbolt. 1. Contexts for Newbolt: Introduction. 2. The Newbolt Report and its contexts. 3. Colleagues in collaboration: The story behind Newbolt's Committee. 4. A tale of two committees: Newbolt illuminated through the Cox models. 5. Speaking silently: Voice poverty and The Newbolt Report. 6. The 'spirit' of Newbolt: Education, war and technology. Part II: Newbolt, language and literature. 7. Newbolt, language and literature: Introduction. 8. 'Evil habits of speech' and 'correct grammar': A genealogy of language ideologies in Newbolt and contemporary education policy. 9. While waiting for the poet: Speech and conversation in The Newbolt Report. 10. The Newbolt Report: The art of the progressive. 11. Primum mobile: The genesis of The Newbolt Report. 12. Transporting English(ness): The influence of The Newbolt Report on the subject of English in secondary schools in Australia. Part III: Newbolt and education. 13. Newbolt and education: Introduction. 14. The Newbolt Report: Discussing empire, race and racism in the classroom. 15. Diversity and The Newbolt Report. 16. 'The right sort of reading': Three post-Newbolt anthologies as libraries in parvo and pedagogic prompt-books. 17. A century of teaching creative writing in schools. 18. The purpose of education and the persistence of a silenced debate: Reflections on the teaching of English. 19. The significance of emotion in English literature teaching: From Newbolt to today. Afterword: The New Newbolt: A vision from the past or a vision for the future?