PEARSON EDEXCEL MAKES AN ACTIVE COMMITMENT TO DECOLONISE DRAMA

In a major step towards inclusivity and decolonising the Drama curriculum, @Pearson has added a total of four new plays to its #GCSE qualification by Bola Agbaje, In-Sook Chappell, Tanika Gupta and Roy Williams. As a result, a third of Pearson Drama set texts are now by global majority playwrights.

Pearson is also thrilled to announce a partnership with the London Theatre Consortium (LTC), Representation in Drama (RinD) led by Romana Flello (Royal Court Theatre Participation Manager and Chair of the LTC Creative Learning Group) and mezze eade (LTC & CLA Specialist Advisor). Romana and mezze will offer the Pearson Drama team their expert support and will also work with the original producing theatres of the new texts (Lyric Hammersmith, National Theatre, Pilot Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East) to create additional content for teachers, further strengthening Pearson’s commitments to addressing long-term representation in Drama.

Today’s announcements from Pearson come after close consultation with the London Theatre Consortium (LTC) and the Royal Court Theatre, who in 2020 set a national provocation to all awarding bodies offering GCSE Drama: to include at least two works by global majority playwrights in their set text lists. Pearson has exceeded this target by adding four new texts.

Following consultation with a range of external partners and drawing on the work of Beyond the Canon, the four plays, published by Methuen Drama, will be added to Pearson’s Edexcel GCSE course as part of a wider move to revise its set list in favour of representation across the board. They are: Tanika Gupta’s India-based adaptation of A Doll’s House; Roy Williams’ 21st century update of the classic tragedy Antigone; Bola Agbaje’s award winning play about race identity and youth culture Gone Too Far! and In-Sook Chappell’s North Korean-based drama The Free9.

Speaking about the updated GCSE qualification, Katy Lewis, Head of English, Drama and Languages at Pearson said:

“We are committed to working with schools and young people to drive change and create learning environments that reflect the diversity of the modern world.

“We want all learners to see themselves in the literature they study; to find belonging, understanding, and value through representation, and to see our whole society fairly reflected. Our work does not stop here. As part of our drive to improve diversification, we will also be considering adding playwrights that give us greater representation across gender, heritage, LGBTQ+ and disability.”

Romana Flello, Participation Manager at the Royal Court Theatre and Chair of the LTC Creative Learning Group, said:

“Since 2015, the Royal Court and LTC have worked closely with Pearson to embed better representation of artists from the global majority throughout the teaching and examination of Drama. It is uplifting to see them lead the way in GCSE Drama and we look forward to engaging more student, teacher and industry voices in change within Drama classrooms as we continue to work towards an inclusive Drama curriculum.”

The new texts, available for first teaching in September, are published by Methuen Drama, an imprint of Bloomsbury.

Dom O’Hanlon, Senior Commissioning Editor for Methuen Drama said:

“Methuen Drama are committed to publishing diverse voices through our various play series and are delighted to hear that these four plays are being added to the curriculum. The works of Roy Williams, Tanika Gupta, Bola Agbaje and In-Sook Chappell all offer a wide range of stories that will appeal to students at GCSE level. We have published these four plays in our Plays for Young People series, specifically updated and revised to meet student needs and we’re confident that teachers and students will enjoy exploring these fantastic texts together.”

As part of its organisational commitment to champion greater inclusion in education, Pearson has set up a Global Task Force dedicated to identifying concrete actions to ensure its products and services build a more inclusive society. It is also working with respected partners to undertake wide-scale reviews of its qualifications, lead sector-wide campaigns championing change and launch first-of-their-kind editorial guidelines to ensure racial, gender and LGBTQ+ equality in its content.

Pearson and The Black Curriculum join forces to champion black British history topics on the National Curriculum 

8th Jul 2021: A new partnership is seeking to ensure more Black British history has its rightful place in the school curriculum and teachers are getting the high-quality support and resources they need to deliver new topics with confidence.

As part of their shared commitment to ending racial inequality in the classroom, learning company Pearson and education social enterprise The Black Curriculum are working together to help increase Black British history being taught in schools.

The partnership, which will draw on The Black Curriculum’s extensive expertise in supporting schools to deliver accessible Black British history curricula, will involve the creation of guidance, resources and training to empower teachers to teach new and existing topics confidently and effectively, as well as a review of Pearson’s current history qualifications and materials. The Black Curriculum and Pearson will also continue collaborating on the new Pearson Edexcel History GCSE Migration topic, which will see inspiring Black activists like Dr Harold Moody and Claudia Jones, and significant events like Notting Hill Carnival and the Bristol Bus Boycott being taught in history classrooms across the country from this September.

Speaking about their ambitions for the partnership, Sharon Hague, Senior Vice-President for Pearson School Qualifications, said:

“We are committed to championing inclusion in education and creating learning environments and content that reflect the world and its people. Ensuring there is more Black British history in the qualifications and resources we offer is a key part of this, so, we are delighted to be partnering with The Black Curriculum as a step to help us make this a reality. 

“More culturally diverse history is more accurate history and together we will be striving to make sure teachers have the support and the materials they need to bring overlooked British people and moments in history to life in classrooms across the country. We are excited to continue this journey and work with more teachers, learners and experts on steps to help build a more racially and culturally inclusive school system.” 

Reflecting on the significance and impact of embedding more Black British history into the fabric of education, Lavinya Stennett, founder and CEO of The Black Curriculum, said:

“Black British history belongs in the National Curriculum. All our stories and contributions have made a truly positive impact on British culture and society. And that needs to be formally acknowledged. It is enormously gratifying to partner with Pearson and present these materials. In the current socio-political climate, it is critical young people understand the concepts of topics such as migration. And it’s even more important that teachers and education professionals are guided and supported in presenting these more inclusive materials from a respected source such as Pearson. The Black Curriculum believes learning about Black British history will increase the sense of belonging and identity among all students and welcome Pearson’s commitment to that”.

While the partnership is initially focusing on being more inclusive around the history taught in schools, activity will also extend to other subject areas within Pearson, helping to promote change across the wider curriculum and support the profession’s widespread desire for more inclusion and representation. In Pearson research released earlier this year, four in five UK teachers felt more could be done to celebrate diverse cultures, people and experiences in education and in another recent survey Pearson commissioned, six in 10 teachers said that they reviewed their curriculum in terms of Black and ethnic minority representation in the past year.

Ensuring teachers and educators have the understanding, skills and support to deliver Black British history will be fundamental to the partnership work between Pearson and The Black Curriculum. This follows feedback from schools that many teachers lack confidence when it comes to teaching history they may be unfamiliar with, or particularly sensitive topics. 

Sharing her school’s experience, Samantha Slater, Subject Leader of History at a school in the South East, said: “We’ve been on a journey to transform the history we teach in our academy to better reflect our students and the world around them – from exploring African Kingdoms to Indian Independence and the Biafran Civil War. So far the changes we’ve made have been loved by students, teachers and parents alike. However, a lot of the topics we explore are very emotional and we have to really think about the language and resources that we use. More training, resources and CPD for teachers to help us with what phrases and content to use, as well as to help increase our subject knowledge would be invaluable, so it’s fantastic to hear that Pearson and The Black Curriculum are working together to support this.”

Free guidance and professional development ranging from advice on teaching Black British history in schools to CPD on racial literacy in action and a guide to understanding the new Notting Hill historic environment will be made available to schools as part of the partnership over the new academic year.