The exam boards have played their hands and they’re relying on jokers rather than aces. GCSE English literature is a race to the bottom: with the overwhelming concern seemingly being how to retain schools’ business by offering the most predictable, easiest texts.
The biggest shock for me has been the suspicious consensus on what constitutes the canon. Every single board is specifying Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, while Jeckyll and Hyde and A Christmas Carol are available on 3 out of the 4′s lists. It’s not that any of the texts are bad – they’re not; I’ve read and enjoyed all of them – but this cowardly uniformity robs pupils of experiencing the broad sweep of literature in English. But more concerning is the unquestioned dominance of Meera Syal’s Anita and Me. This pleasant, but slight text is now clearly considered a seminal work of 20th century fiction. Says who? The exam boards. Why? We have no idea.
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The Echo Chamber 