A leading London private school has overhauled its English curriculum to introduce a diverse range of authors and challenge “white-centric, patriarchal and cis-gender ideologies”.
Pupils at the £25,000-a-year Alleyn’s School in Dulwich now discuss Macbeth’s toxic masculinity and read The Tempest through the lens of colonialism.
Sixth formers study “queer readings” of A-level texts such as Dracula, and the first text by a non-binary author has been included in the A-level curriculum. Half of the books read by students in years seven, eight and nine are by female authors, which “helps in some way to counteract the lack of equality in the set texts for GCSE”.
A-level students must also choose one coursework text by a writer of colour “in an effort to tackle the lack of diversity in the A-level syllabus”.
Alex Smith, head of English at Alleyn’s, said the same texts — such as Macbeth, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird — have been “wheeled out time and time again” for decades, propping up a “pale, male and stale” reading list.
