Diversifying English: practical strategies to make English more inclusive

Join expert practitioners for a day of CPD dedicated to diversity in English, with a focus on the English Literature A Level
About this Event

Join expert practitioners for a day of CPD dedicated to diversity in English. We will explore how to overcome barriers to building diverse cohorts in English Literature A Level, taking a look at diversity and inclusion in English from Key Stage 3 through to degree-level study. The day will include practical strategies, case studies of good practice, and overviews of resources to help you diversify English in your setting. Your ticket includes refreshments on arrival and all elements of the programme including a practical workshop with experts from the Shakespeare’s Globe Education Team.

We will explore questions such as:

• Our classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse, with 38.7% of pupils from a minority ethnic background,* but anecdotal evidence shows that our A Level cohorts are strikingly homogenous. How can we ensure the broadest possible range of students take up English at A Level?
• With new Programmes of Study for English due to come into effect in 2 - 3 years, how will we implement the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendation that ‘students are able to see themselves in the curriculum’?**
• How can we take on new more diverse texts, at a time when teachers are so time poor? And how can we ensure that those new texts go beyond narratives of conflict and deprivation to include joy and happiness?

This CPD day is aimed at English teachers and subject leads in schools, colleges, and multi-academy trusts.

Programme
10:00 Registration and refreshments
10:30 Quick-fire keynotes and Q&A

• Professor Katherine Baxter will outline the current context for diversifying English in Higher Education and how that reflects and responds to what we are seeing across Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. Katherine is Professor of English Literature at Northumbria University and chair of the English Association’s Higher Education Committee. She co-leads Decolonising the Discipline, a joint initiative between the English Association, University English, the Institute of English Studies and the Postcolonial Studies Association, which aims to foster and support collaborative action for decolonial approaches across English Literature, Language and Creative Writing.
• Beth Plant will introduce us to the Black Humanities Project, a student-led grassroots initiative that aims to inspire young people from minority ethnic backgrounds to consider a future in arts and humanities. Along with this, it sets out to expose, explore and empower black humanities and champion more ethnic diversity within arts and humanities curriculums. Over the past 5 years, the project has worked in collaboration with UEA Outreach to design and deliver activities for local year 8 and 9 students and create a bank of resources for teachers to use within their own classrooms. The project is now being supported by the UEA Students’ Union and the Ethnicity and Equity Ambassadors who continue to champion more ethnic diversity and to work towards closing the degree awarding gap between for black-heritage students. Beth works as a Student Voice Coordinator for the University of East Anglia's Students' Union. She focusses on access to education, empowering student voice and has a backgroud in theatre and performance. She additionally runs a small theatre in education business in Norwich that works to provide accessible drama workshops to children and young people. As the new facilitator for the Black Humanities Project, she will support the project to focus on impacting higher education experience and work towards closing the degree awarding gap.

• Professor Lydia Valentine, Shakespeare’s Globe [more information to follow]

11:15 Session 1: parallel sessions

Participants will be split into two groups; both sessions will run twice, so all participants will attend both sessions.

Practical workshop with Chris Nayak: Teaching Anti-Racist Shakespeare

A full description of this session will follow shortly.

Spotlight on Penguin Lit in Colour with Dr Lesley Nelson-Addy

Dr Lesley Nelson-Addy is an Education Consultant and former Education Manager at the Runnymede Trust. She co-authored the 2021 Lit in Colour report and continues to shape the strategic and creative direction of the programme. Lesley has over a decade of experience across English teaching, curriculum development and educational research. Her doctorate in Education, awarded by the University of Oxford, was funded by the ESRC and Oxford-Marriott-Wolfson scholarships. She is co-chair of the National Association for the Teaching of English’s Reviewing Literature working group and was elected Vice Chair and Trustee of NATE in January 2026.
One of the core aims of the Lit in Colour programme is to support schools across England to make the teaching and learning of English Literature more inclusive through the study of texts by authors of colour. The Lit in Colour report, published in 2021, highlighted that fewer than 1% of GCSE students in England studied a book by an author of colour. Since then, the Lit in Colour team has worked with a range of education and publishing stakeholders to support schools in creating meaningful curriculum change. Join this session for a deep dive into our research, resources, and practical approaches to including more texts by authors of colour within the English Literature curriculum.

13:30 Lunch

To keep costs down, please bring your own lunch

14:15 Session 2: Case studies

This session will be chaired by Dr Sarah Olive is a Research Lead in the department of Communication and Culture, Aston University. She is Director of Aston’s Research Centre for the Humanities (ReaCH). She is a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Education, Bangor University (Wales) and the Lead Editor of the journal Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, published by University of Toronto Press. As the project lead for Diverse Literature in Schools, she creates free, online resources for diversifying texts taught in schools, in Welsh and English.

Shehlha Zafir - Curriculum Director for English

Shehlha will talk about teaching The God of Small Things to develop a global perspective and challenge the Eurocentric Literature curriculum that is studied by more than 80% of our children.

As Curriculum Director for English, Shehlha provides Meridian Trust school leaders with subject expertise, advice and support to drive improvement in the quality of teaching and learning within English: "Previous to this role I was Head of Faculty for English and Film with 27 years of teaching experience which also helped me gain the Fellow of Chartered College of Teachers status. I am also a member of BERA and I am very much research led and evidenced based in my approach to Teaching and Learning and curriculum. This also helped me achieve SLE for Curriculum Development. I have taught in both mixed comprehensive and single sex schools and for the last 20 years I have taught in and promoted mixed ability teaching. As well as teaching English Lang and Lit at GCSE I have also taught Drama, Media and Film Studies. I am an experienced A-Level teacher and have taught English Lit, English Lang, English Lang & Lit, Drama, Media Studies and Film Studies. I am also an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in all its form and I am the co-lead for BAMEed East Midlands."

Dr Andy Adam – Outreach Project Officer, University of East Anglia

Andy is the Outreach Project Officer at the University of East Anglia. He has spent the majority of his career within arts and education as a teacher, facilitator, and project manager. Being from a performing arts background, he’s always keen to explore and embed creative approaches to facilitation and outreach activities. Andy led the strategic outreach activities for ethnically diverse and global majority students between 2022-2026. During this time he was co-led the Black Humanities Project Team along with a PhD student and a team of undergraduate students.

• Lit in Colour teacher [more information to follow]

15:30 Next steps, chaired by Shehlha Zafir
16:00 Close

*https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2025-26#section-ethnicity

**https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690b96bbc22e4ed8b051854d/Curriculum_and_Assessment_Review_final_report_-_Building_a_world-class_curriculum_for_all.pdf p 77

Please note that the programme and speakers are subject to change.

Location

Shakespeare’s Globe is located on the bank of the River Thames, London (UK), in the Bankside Cultural Quarter. The address is 21 New Globe Walk, SE1 9DT. There are excellent footpaths along the river from Waterloo and from Southwark Bridge. The Millennium Footbridge is 50 metres from the theatre. Local train stations are: Blackfriars (10 minute walk, South Bank exit, lifts to street level from platform); London Bridge (15 minute walk); Cannon Street (20 minute walk) and Waterloo (25 minute walk). Local bus routes include: 45, 63, 100 (to Blackfriars Bridge); 11, 15, 17, 26 (to Mansion House); 76 (to St Paul’s Cathedral); 344 (from Liverpool Street Station, towards Clapham, on Southwark Bridge Road) and 381, 344 (towards Liverpool Street Station, on Southwark Street).

Prices

The fee includes all sessions and refreshments on arrival.

£150 full price; £75 for EA members (requires EA membership number to book)