Diverse literature in schools in Wales and the wider UK
By Dr Sarah Olive, Communication and Culture, Aston University
(cont…)
Our research shows that teachers in Wales are motivated to diversify their literary curriculum, not least by the Black Lives Matter protests (2020), the new Curriculum for Wales (2022) and its mandate to teach BAME histories and experiences. However, many identified difficulty in discovering ‘appropriate’ books as the greatest barrier to diversification, along with lack of time and money. ‘Appropriate’ here relates mostly to pupils’ reading ability and age-appropriateness, though it can be used to gate-keep children’s reading in myriad ways, for manifold reasons.
Responding to these requests for support to discover diverse texts, the Diverse Literature in Schools project created free, online, bilingual resources for teachers of Welsh, English, and drama. ‘Diverse texts’ is a shorthand we took up that describes texts with some of the following features: authors and characters with diverse characteristics and identities, exploring themes related to diversity. Although it’s a common phrase, what counts as a ‘diverse text’ is contested. Rather than trying to define and recommend individual texts as diverse ourselves, perhaps inappropriately, our professionally-designed resources pull together freely-available booklists and databases from authoritative organisations that have already done this part of the work. Instead of duplicating and competing with these existing booklists and databases, we offer concise guidance on, and links to, them. Our resources focus on ethnic diversity, but class, disability, faith, gender and sexuality feature too. Video demonstrations are available in both languages, offering professional development for teachers, librarians, exam boards, policy-makers and booksellers. Our resources are shared with schools across Wales through Hwb, the Welsh Government’s centralised, online platform for education. Beyond Wales, they are shared through BAMEed Network, English Association, National Association for Teachers of English, OCR exam board, Show Racism the Red Card, and Teachit.
All users surveyed about our resources were glad they engaged with them and would share them with colleagues. Respondents told us the resources strengthened their resolve to diversify the curriculum, motivated them to try new texts and approaches in their work, and gave them new professional knowledge to do so. We are eager to hear about the experiences educators, librarians and other stakeholders have had with our resources via a short form. There’s a chance to win one of several £20 voucher by doing so, as well as to contribute to the continual improvement and reach of the resources. We have ploughed previous feedback into our 2026 revised editions and will share inspiring ‘case studies’ by those who’ve used our resources to encourage yet more education professionals to do so.
Subject English poses problems in terms of varieties and diversities. It also creates resources to articulate, explore and overcome them.
Watch my 2 minute Padlet tour video and feel free to share.
Acknowledgements: Collaborators on various aspects of the Diverse Literature in Schools projects include Mary Davies (Aston), Lowri Jones and Gwawr Maelor (Bangor) and Richard Watkins (Wrexham). Teachers and other stakeholders – with whom we’ve collected data, feedback, or otherwise interacted – have powerfully shaped the project. Aston University ESRC IAA funding and a Leverhulme small grant award funded much of our work. I am grateful for all these contributions.
