Reshape GCSE English Language to Reflect the True Nature of the Subject

Two years ago, as an English undergraduate, I started this petition because I believed GCSE English Language wasn't truly reflecting the subject it claimed to teach.

Since then, I've completed my English degree, qualified as a secondary English teacher and taught GCSE English Language in the classroom. I've planned lessons, assessed pupils' work and experienced the specification from both sides of the desk.

Those experiences haven't changed my view, they've strengthened it.

GCSE English Language is one of the most important qualifications that young people in England study. It develops reading, writing and communication skills that will stay with them for life. Those aims are valuable and should remain at the heart of the qualification.

However, the subject should also introduce students to the fascinating discipline it is named after: the study of language itself.

At A Level and university, English Language explores how language works, how it changes over time, how it shapes identity, culture and society, how children acquire it, how technology influences it, and why people communicate differently in different contexts. It is an exciting, diverse and intellectually rich subject.

Very little of this is reflected in the current GCSE.

Instead, the qualification focuses heavily on analysing unseen texts and demonstrating examination techniques. While these are worthwhile skills, they do not give students a genuine understanding of language as a subject of study.

This petition is not a call to make GCSE English Language easier. Nor is it a criticism of the dedicated teachers who deliver the current specification every day.

It is a call to make the qualification more authentic.

The recent Curriculum and Assessment Review has already recognised the need for GCSE English Language to have a clearer identity, with greater emphasis on the nature and expression of language and a broader range of text types. I welcome that direction and believe there is an opportunity to go further.

I am calling on the Government, the Department for Education, Ofqual and the exam boards to work with teachers, academics and linguists to redesign GCSE English Language so that it better reflects the discipline it represents.

This could include:

• introducing accessible concepts from linguistics
• exploring language diversity, change and variation
• developing students' understanding of spoken, digital and multimodal communication
• strengthening critical language awareness alongside reading and writing
• ensuring that the qualification prepares young people not only for examinations, but for life as thoughtful communicators and informed citizens.

I believe English Language is one of the most fascinating subjects we have.

Our national qualification should inspire students to discover that, not simply prepare them to answer exam questions.

If you believe GCSE English Language should better reflect the true study of language, please sign and share this petition.