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Teachers protest over author lists

19.02.07

Teachers are threatening to defy education secretary Alan Johnson over his list of recommended authors to be taught at school. The Daily Telegraph reports that teachers say Charles Dickens and George Eliot are too difficult for many pupils aged 11 to 14 and could put them off great writers for life.

According to the newspaper, the National Association for the Teaching of English called Mr Johnson a "bird brain", and The English Association also criticised Johnson, questioning if he had read the books he was forcing on pupils.

"Johnson has insisted that in the first three years of secondary education pupils read classic authors. But Ian McNeilly, the director of Nate, accused the education secretary of trying to win favour with "Middle England".

"The guy's a bird brain," he said. "Forcing children to study texts that are inappropriate puts them off the text, the author and the subject."

McNeilly also posted his views on the Telegraph website, in response to a number of readers' comments.

Daily Telegraph

education secretary classics teachers

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