GCSE English Literature - Core

Why do we teach this course?

English literature is taught alongside the English Language GCSE and is essential for teaching students’ analytical skills and giving them the tools to comment constructively on the effectiveness of a text from a multitude of perspectives. The course allows students to read literature that is considered worthy of study and to understand the themes and constructs of texts in order to understand the messages a writer is delivering to an audience.

The course allows students to develop reading skills by engaging with a range of texts, some pre-1900 and some post 1900. The pre-1900 classical texts are read to give students an experience of what is considered high level literature and an insight into how writers have shaped society into the world we know today. It teaches students to question the world around them and at BMAT STEM we also encourage the love of literature as a way of engaging with the world and developing the students’ ability to reference historical events and develop opinions about the world they want to live in as they progress on their learning journeys.

Why I should study English Literature

English Literature teaches students to develop multiple perspectives of a text and to analyse using theoretical ideas and personal responses. It is essential for developing analytical skills that are used across the STEM curriculum and allows students to engage and debate themes and issues that are presented in literary texts in order to form opinions about the world around them and the society they live in.

The course also allows students to develop an understanding of Shakespearean texts, the writing of Charles Dickens and more modern texts and poetry such as An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley and a range of poetry that teaches us about the emotional aspects of developing and growing into a world of individual choices and challenges.