Emailing the Exam Board (AQA)

This week, I decided to email AQA in order to explore literature in the education system, and why certain texts were chosen to study within schools, asking why they decided to take out the 'Poems from Other Cultures' topic out of the curriculum and the focus they have on Western literature.

AQA responded with ideas on how they create specifications for English Literature, along with the details on what is studied currently, however did not address the main point of why it was taken off of the curriculum.

I plan to further investigate this to ensure that I have a fair and balanced argument when writing my final dissertation within my EPQ.

Positionality

Positionality refers to a potential bias or interest in a topic - in my case being cultures in the education system. Throughout my project, I may encounter this through difficulties such as detaching myself from a topic that I feel strongly about or challenging my own pre-existing views on the topic of bias in the education system. I expect to find many different viewpoints when researching my topic - both for and against literature in the current education system - so will plan to explore other arguments, ensuring that I back up my points with evidence and avoid emotive language to make it as objective as possible.

After I have finished my project, I plan to return to this post and evaluate how I have carried out research effectively and the potential bias that this may have created.

'Poems from Other Cultures'

When looking at bias within the education system, you must consider previous literature specifications, such as the anthology 'Poems from Other Cultures' within the AQA exam board. Through conducting my research on Western literature being so dominant in the education system, I decided to see if the exam board had a topic based on texts or poems from many cultures to give students a view into how other people live and their upbringings.

Research on 'Poems from Other Cultures'

In order to research this fairly, however, I plan to email AQA and get some information from them based on this topic, as to why they stopped teaching this within the specification and who decides what texts are put in the canon to be taught within schools.

Michael Gove and the Education System

There have been some changes within the literature specification throughout the years, to focus more on British culture, seen more recently in the government dropping texts such as 'Of Mice and Men' and 'To Kill A Mockingbird' to focus on classic British authors such as Austen and Dickens.


Changes within the Education System


These changes by Michael Gove reinforce my view on the education system within the UK becoming more focused on solely Western material, and, more specifically, British authors, restricting how children may learn about other cultures and not allowing them to consume literature by authors from countries different from the United Kingdom.

First Meeting with Mentor

During the first meeting with my mentor for my EPQ, we went over the basic ideas of my topic and discussed any further additions or changes that needed to be made.

Within this meeting, besides further discussing the topic in detail and the types of things that I could write surrounding it, my mentor advised me to narrow down my topic from other countries within the West, such as the USA, and focus solely on the UK to allow a thorough and perceptive argument on my topic.

As well as this, my mentor and I:
- went over my PPR and looked at how it could be improved
- looked at my blog posts so far and how these related to the topic
- talked about the primary research that I planned to conduct and the types of questions I could ask
- looked at ideas for secondary data to allow me to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the topic chosen.

After deciding to narrow my focus on the UK only, I plan to use the ideas given to me by my mentor to widen my knowledge on the topic and see both sides of the argument to create a more just and unbiased view.