TY - JOUR
T1 - English and the knowledge question
AU - Doecke, Brenton
AU - Mead, Philip
PY - 2018/4/3
Y1 - 2018/4/3
N2 - This essay poses the question of the role that literary knowledge plays in subject English. It thus engages with current debates, largely prompted by Michael Young’s call to ‘bring knowledge back in’, about the need to restore academic knowledge as the basis of the school curriculum. We take issue with Young’s understanding of knowledge, arguing that it privileges propositional knowledge at the expense of the interpretive activities typically associated with literary studies, and thus fails to provide a valid framework for supporting students as they read and engage with literary texts. We focus on two moments in the history of subject English, namely the Newbolt Report (1921) and John Dixon’s Growth Through English (1967), showing how they embody understandings of the nature of ‘knowledge’ and ‘experience’ as they are mediated by language that provide a significant counterpoint to Young’s arguments.
AB - This essay poses the question of the role that literary knowledge plays in subject English. It thus engages with current debates, largely prompted by Michael Young’s call to ‘bring knowledge back in’, about the need to restore academic knowledge as the basis of the school curriculum. We take issue with Young’s understanding of knowledge, arguing that it privileges propositional knowledge at the expense of the interpretive activities typically associated with literary studies, and thus fails to provide a valid framework for supporting students as they read and engage with literary texts. We focus on two moments in the history of subject English, namely the Newbolt Report (1921) and John Dixon’s Growth Through English (1967), showing how they embody understandings of the nature of ‘knowledge’ and ‘experience’ as they are mediated by language that provide a significant counterpoint to Young’s arguments.
KW - English curriculum and pedagogy
KW - growth pedagogy
KW - history of subject English
KW - Literary knowledge
KW - the Newbolt Report
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029897155&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14681366.2017.1380691
DO - 10.1080/14681366.2017.1380691
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85029897155
SN - 1468-1366
VL - 26
SP - 249
EP - 264
JO - Pedagogy, Culture and Society
JF - Pedagogy, Culture and Society
IS - 2
ER -