Bringing the English Curriculum to Life

"It is a significant creative challenge to develop, implement, and bring a successful English curriculum to life. Didau manages to offer a practical field guide to conquer that very challenge with this invaluable book. It is jam-packed full of useful insights and resources. It feels both challenging and celebratory, pragmatic and uplifting. English leaders and teachers will find countless gems in this essential book."

Alex Quigley, author of Closing the Writing Gap, Closing the Reading Gap and Closing the Vocabulary Gap.

"Making Meaning in English provided us with the purpose and reasons for teaching English. Bringing the English Curriculum to life provides a blueprint as to how we can transform the subject, through gapless instruction. ‘Success must proceed struggle’, for too many years this has been the other way around. Why shouldn’t students study modules in Year 7 like the Ancient Origins? Knowing that some may access, this book argues that we should be making such topics and texts accessible to all - that is inclusion.

There’s always talk about: Intent, Implementation and Impact but do we spend time as individuals or departments ruminating over what that actually looks like? This book provides clear definitions for each. It also continues the notion that: the English curriculum is a conversation between students and the subject.

Didau and OAT’s English Lead Practitioner Team have curated a text that gets us thinking about the breadth of the English curriculum and the depth of how topics can be explored. This is another insightful book that is a must for all those involved in the teaching of English!"

Paul Bell, English Teacher and Senior Leader

"The assembling of an English curriculum that engages, inspires and allows our students to flourish is difficult. Equally, designing a curriculum that engages the enactors of that curriculum – our teachers – can be an onerous task. ‘Bringing the English Curriculum to Life’, however, equips English Teams and their leaders with the tools to build an engaging yet challenging curriculum that connects various threads - intent, implementation, assessment and outcomes– enabling our students to experience the joys English has to offer. The voices of David Didau and his team’s collaborative efforts shine through powerfully; their guidance, expertise and sense of overarching purpose is a sure-fire way to kick start your approach to English teaching".

Gaurav Dubay, Director of English at Windsor Academy Trust

"As English teachers, it’s easy to state that we want an ambitious curriculum for our students. But mapping out a comprehensive, knowledge-rich English curriculum is another thing entirely. Does it have a clear intent? Is it logically sequenced? Is it based on a thorough interrogation of the subject’s overarching concepts? In Bringing the English curriculum to life, David Didau and colleagues manage to put forward a curriculum that answers these questions and much more.

Considering the fundamental role of challenging texts from the canon, and how these can be partnered with more diverse modern texts, Didau’s ideal curriculum adds to the stimulating debate of what we should teach in KS3 English. Yet it also offers a convincing argument about how we should be teaching key concepts. Both theoretically invigorating yet very accessible, this is a compelling book full of highly practical strategies for the busy English teacher."

Mark Roberts, Author, English Teacher, and Director of Research at Carrickfergus Grammar School

"Bringing the English Curriculum to Life is an inspirational read that addresses how a curriculum brimming with powerful knowledge can be successfully put into practice across a Trust of schools, with multiple examples of effective classroom implementation. The book emphasises curriculum entitlement by focusing on empowering all students to access the same level of challenge and academic rigour. Functioning as a handbook for implementing an ambitious and rigorous English curriculum, this is not only a must-read for those with an investment in the teaching of English but for all of us involved in curriculum thinking. Bringing the English Curriculum to Life shows how educational theory looks in practice, explaining the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ with the perfect blend of seminal evidence and practical classroom examples. No aspect of curriculum implementation is overlooked: from the importance of sequencing and retrieval to reading and vocabulary strategies; from granular writing and meaningful classroom discussion to mastery assessment. While Didau’s Making Meaning in English explains the thinking behind curriculum intent, this natural next step answers questions those readers may have about applying powerful knowledge in a purposeful, inclusive way. Now, more than ever, we need to be challenging all students, making social mobility possible and narrowing ever-increasing gaps in education: this book shows us how an English curriculum can do just that."

Helen Howell, Author and Assistant Head Teacher

"In this comprehensive book filled with well explained approaches, David Didau sets out a compelling and detailed vision of how to optimise curriculum sequencing, pedagogy and assessment in English. Building upon his previous book ‘Making Meaning in English’, this text is essential reading for all English teachers."

Tom Needham, Author of Explicit English Teaching

"The experience of reading David Didau on teaching and the curriculum can be a bit strange; there’s a kind of easy and gentle déjà vu; then you begin to doubt yourself: did I think that already, or is it just such an obviously good idea? However, whether you always thought this way, or are right now being slowly enlightened with each turn of the page, you do find yourself arriving somewhere new: a deeper appreciation of what we do in every lesson, every day – that is, teaching English.

It’s only when you find yourself disagreeing with Didau that you can get a better sense of what he’s about – because he is changing your mind, the way you have always thought about teaching, and you find yourself wondering, re-evaluating and imagining: what if I did it this way instead? And surely that is why we read any book: not to deepen our convictions, but to begin thinking in a new way. And if that is not why we read books about education and curriculum, I think it really should be.

Didau’s ‘Bringing the English Curriculum to Life’ does just that: it nudges, it cajoles, it chips away, it changes the furrow we so steadily and earnestly plough every day. It might even breathe new life into us jaded and cynical English teachers, freeing us from what we thought we should be doing, fearing we weren’t doing, and forever looking over our shoulders; when really, what we should have been doing all along is little more than loving our subject and sharing the joy we take in it.

Will this book have a profound impact on my teaching? On our curriculum? The answer is yes to both. There are few books in education that have the potential to have such far reaching changes to the manner in which a subject is taught."

Peter Ahern

"It’s impossible for me to capture here everything that I think about this book, so broad and rich is its scope. It’s a joy. What David Didau and his team have created is remarkable. Not only are we treated to the gorgeous curriculum they’ve curated, we’re taken by the hand and guided through five core pedagogical principles - approaches to teaching English that are easy to implement and have an identifiable impact on pupils’ ability to learn. And these ‘basics’ as Didau and his team call them, are the ways in which we can ensure our kids can master speaking, listening, reading and writing. But more than that, they can lead to the ability to make meaning from language and literature, so it sings in our classrooms and echoes forward into our children’s lives. It’s also one of the best – if not the best – books I’ve read about assessment in English. Not only do I want to teach this curriculum with the principles it recommends, I also want to be taught it. It’s exciting and exhilarating and everything that’s beautiful about English, the best of subjects."

Claire Stoneman, Principal and English teacher, AET Academies

"When we are working on the curriculum, we are holding in tension the big picture for a subject, with the nitty gritty of making it work in the classroom. Too often, there’s a gap between the lofty ambitions and the quality of what lands on pupils’ desks. In ‘Bringing the English curriculum to life’ David Didau and colleagues show how they go about tackling this and they offer it to the rest of us in a spirit of humility and an invitation to engage. There is so much here, from the teaching of fluency, to getting proper talk in place to the clever ‘Couch to 5K writing’, that all educators, whatever their phase or specialism will find masses of takeaways and the odd wake up call. Absolutely marvellous!"

Mary Myatt

"While the last few years in education have seen something of an explosion in cognitive science and curriculum-related research, we have had very few models that help teachers to see what the theory could look like in practice, and this is especially true of English. David and his team at OAT start with the contention that every child can achieve their potential through a knowledge-rich, concept-led curriculum which is deep in meaning and broad in scope. We are presented with a thorough walk-through of the whole OAT curriculum, but the book is packed with easily digestible take-away ideas. It is a joyful curriculum, but a realistic one - the authors share not just their successes, but the lessons learnt. Bringing the English Curriculum to Life is a genuine gift to the English teaching community."

Sam Gibbs, Co-Author of The Trouble With English and How to Address It: A Practical Guide To Designing and Delivering a Concept-Led Curriculum