Recasting the Subject: Curriculum, equity, and the educated ideal in secondary English classrooms

Abstract

This thesis argues against the current curriculum push for choice and flexibility around content selection in New Zealand secondary English classrooms. The thesis critically explores how contemporary curriculum trends produce particular versions of subject English and considers the effects of these versions against social equity outcomes and the development of broader education ideals. The focus on choice and flexibility is important because their prominence and appeal shape secondary English in ways that may further reproduce social class inequalities. This focus is also pertinent in the context of a national curriculum that asserts an ambitious social vision about the kind of citizen our schools should produce but says little about the curriculum content that fosters this kind of citizen. While literature has focused on questions of knowledge in relation to subject English, this is an emerging area of scholarship in subject English. Grounded in critical theory and using social constructionism to inform the choice of an interpretive qualitative research approach, this research engaged secondary English teachers in semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed and interpreted using thematic and discourse analysis. Using multiple theoretical lenses across the articles that constitute the findings chapters, the research found that secondary English is an entanglement of multiple contexts that shape secondary English classrooms in a range of complex and nuanced ways. The data is also employed in the Epilogue in a short story that gives narrative form to the complexities encountered in the various analyses. The thesis’ overarching conclusion is that choice and flexibility, rather than opening up possibilities, have limiting effects in relation to social equity. This study contributes to subject English scholarship and to ongoing discussion about the relationship between curriculum and broader societal and education ideals. By showing how contemporary curricula are grounded in neoliberal imperatives, the thesis reveals that teaching for equity and for democratic participation is not straightforward.