Literature Study Post-16 II

Activities with student teachers

The A level cohort

In considering their own A level experience, student teachers will begin to reflect upon issues relating to the current A level cohort, but for the issues outlined earlier, some specific research into this area is needed. This is best undertaken in taught sessions, I've found, after some initial fact-finding in placement schools. The simple methods seem to work best – a combination of talking to teachers to get a sense of their perception of changes in A level cohort over the years, observation of lessons, and conversations with students themselves.

All of these things can be done on a more or less formal basis, depending on the nature of the evidence desired and the feedback session to follow. It might be an idea (and one I'm considering) to ask student teachers to carry out some systematic questionnaires with A level students, to form part of an assignment (the third assignment on our course is currently as small scale 'action research' project, the focus of which might well be A level teaching). A questionnaire devised by student teachers to present to an A level class might include areas such as:

• nature of reading habits (amount read for pleasure, types of text, attitudes to different types of text)
• attitudes to the canon
• reasons for choosing AS/A2 level English
• expectations of the A level course
• attitudes to writing
• favoured teaching/classroom approaches to texts
• experience of literature as a GCSE subject
• future plans, i.e. how do they see the 'use' of English in their own future

The idea of asking students about their own preferred methods of learning is not a new one, and would be a useful activity in to undertake in isolation before taking a class, but a fuller investigation of the A level cohort would be a worthwhile way to explore the reality of what confronts the post-16 teacher.