Overloaded GCSE English curriculum killing teenagers’ love of reading
Key Points
- MPs say the GCSE English Literature curriculum is overloaded and putting teenagers off reading
- Falling A Level English numbers are linked to the GCSE experience
- Only 1.5% of students studied a text by a writer of colour at GCSE in 2023
- The committee wants content cut and a broader, more diverse range of set texts
- The government must respond to the report within two months
MPs have warned that the GCSE English Literature curriculum is so overloaded it is actively putting teenagers off books.
The Education Committee published its Reading for Pleasure report on Friday (17 July) after an eight-month inquiry. The cross-party group of MPs, chaired by Helen Hayes, concluded that the current curriculum leaves no room for enjoyment and that children are abandoning reading as a result.
The report found that falling numbers of pupils now take A Level English Literature and go on to study the subject at university, and links this decline directly to their experience at GCSE. MPs said the government must rebalance the education system so that reading is no longer driven primarily by assessment, and instead focuses on engagement, identity and enjoyment.
The committee also called the government’s recent Curriculum and Assessment Review a missed opportunity to create more space for pupils to develop a genuine love of literature.
Only 1.5% studied a writer of colour
In 2023, just 1.5% of students studied a text by a writer of colour at GCSE, a figure the committee described as unacceptable and one the Curriculum and Assessment Review failed to address.
MPs argued that if reading is to give children both mirrors of their own lives and windows into the lives of others, the texts they study must reflect that.
The report heard evidence from authors including Onyinye Iwu, who told the committee that many children from ethnic minority backgrounds grow up feeling that literature is not about them or their communities.
What MPs want to change
The committee said the Department for Education should consider removing content from GCSE English Literature to give teachers more time and flexibility, and it should revise the curriculum so that pupils finish key stage four having developed a love of and interest in books.
MPs also want the definition of set texts expanded from literature of the British Isles to a broader definition of literature in English, and the requirement for a 19th century novel stretched to cover a longer period.
Exam boards should give schools more freedom to choose texts that resonate with pupils in their local area, the report said.
The government must respond to the committee’s report within two months.
