Introduction

It has become a commonplace to introduce books concerned with the teaching of English with a reference to the ‘significant, even radical changes’ in the teaching of the subject and to outline the ‘conflicting ideologies’ which confront the English teacher. Such books then proceed to chronicle the changes and document the ideologies eloquently while leaving the practitioner stranded in a limbo where aims are undisputed but achievement is left in doubt. At times the generalizations are both bewildering and demoralizing: As we begin the 1980s, things are very different. The Great Debate gave a renewed respectability to those who feared the new ‘political’ English and its pedagogy. A new Government, falling rolls and teacher surplus have combined to cause a loss of nerve. The English teachers, who five years ago felt so clear about their direction in the classroom, the school and even in society, have lost their way. They may be hanging on grimly to their hard-won freedom to determine their curriculum and classroom practice, but their hold is fragile, not least because it is no longer informed by a political perspective. (Andrew Bethell, Divide and Rule: Radical English Loses its Nerve )