Author says pace of change in GCSE English literature texts is too slow and tide is turning against inclusion
The Booker prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo has called for renewed efforts to diversify the school curriculum in England, warning that young people are growing up in a society where “doors are closing” and the tide is turning against inclusion.
There has been progress in the diversity of texts on offer in the GCSE English literature curriculum, but uptake in schools is still low with just 1.9% of GCSE pupils in England studying books by authors of colour, up from 0.7% five years ago, according to a report.
Compiled by the campaign group Lit in Colour, the report says progress is too slow and that at the current pace of change it will be 2046 before 10% of students answer a question about a text by an author of colour in their English literature GCSE.
And it will take until 2115 before 38% of pupils study a writer of colour in GCSE English literature, a figure that is significant because according to the Department for Education’s (DfE) most recent figures, 38% of pupils in English schools are from a minority ethnic background.
