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Over the past decade, English (as a curriculum subject) has been stripped of its soul and creativity. What was once a subject that celebrated imagination and voice has been reduced to a sterile exercise in technical compliance, especially in English Language where assessment objectives value ‘technical accuracy’ and – maddeningly – ‘’, which nobody seems to want to define.

Successive Conservative governments have engineered a system that prizes rigid analysis over creativity, turning classrooms into factories of formulaic essays. This phenomenon was catalysed by Govian reforms in 2015 (Freedman, 2022), where sweeping changes to curricula and assessment entrenched a rigid, exam-driven culture, sidelined creative subjects and deepened inequalities under the guise of raising standards. The result: a generation of students taught that good writing is that which meets rigid assessment criteria (Smith, 2025), and teachers who believe that creative writing is something you absorb through ‘osmosis’ of the literary canon rather than creative experimentation (Verhoeven, 2022).

It has stripped students of their confidence: as a secondary English teacher, I often am asked by students to provide ‘sentence starters’ for creative writing, or to tell them exactly how many paragraphs their stories need to be. Creative writing has been reduced to a series of success criteria checklists, and English has become joyless and transactional. The resulting damage to our language and culture is profound.

‘Creative writing has been reduced to a series of success criteria checklists, and English has become joyless and transactional. The resulting damage to our language and culture is profound.’

There is a marked difference between creative processes in English, and in other arts subjects, such as Art and Music, which and the emphasis placed on EBacc subjects – although . Where students are able to study these courses, the specifications reflect a commitment to originality and practical engagement rather than purely technical compliance to mark schemes. (2021) assesses students across three components: performance, composition and a written paper, where the first two components are coursework based. Similarly, (2024) is structured around creative exploration, and assessed through coursework and a 10-hour exam, allowing students more time to create artwork. Although these subjects offer greater emphasis on creative processes, the enjoyment and accessibility they offer are increasingly compromised by policy decisions that prioritise EBacc subjects. For many students, the opportunity to engage deeply with creative practice is becoming a privilege rather than a norm.

Coursework-based assessment allows students extended time to develop their craft in a chosen medium. In Art and Design, for instance, and supported by substantial guided learning hours. By contrast, the creative writing element of GCSE English Language affords students just 45 minutes to produce art. The relative freedom and time given in the arts enable personal, exploratory and dialogic responses, a stark contrast to the tightly constrained conditions of English. This is supported by Myhill et al. (2023), who highlight the need to treat creative writing as an art form rather than merely as a component of terminal assessment.

The current emphasis on prescriptive and technical features, shaped by the ‘dual pressures of prescription and accountability,’ has shifted attention away from creativity and artistry (Cremin, 2006, p. 416). Additionally, teachers of Art, Design and Music are recognised as subject specialists and entrusted with significant responsibility throughout the process; whereas the majority of English teachers have a background in English Literature rather than in English Language (Verhoeven, 2022), and may not identify as artists. Repositioning creative writing as a practice of craft and expression would align it more closely with other arts subjects and restore its vital role in the curriculum, and may separate its fate from that. At a time when applications to English degrees have fallen sharply – and, anecdotally, A-level English has been removed in my own context due to low uptake – this raises urgent questions: might a more authentic, art-oriented approach to creative writing help sustain students’ interest and prevent further erosion of the subject?

References

Cremin, T. (2006). Creativity, uncertainty and discomfort: Teachers as writers. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(3), 415–433.

Freedman, S. (2022). The Gove reforms a decade on: What worked, what didn’t, what next? Institute for Government.

Myhill, D., Cremin, T., & Oliver, L. (2023). Writing as a craft: Re-considering teacher subject content knowledge for teaching writing. Research Papers in Education, 38(3), 403–425.

Smith, M. (2025). What does a good one look like?: Exploring what makes high quality creative writing with GCSE English students through comparative judgement as a form of peer assessment. English in Education, 59(1), 58–72. Ìý

Verhoeven, B. (2022). The politics of GCSE English Language: Popular language ideology’s influence on England’s National Curriculum English Language qualification. English Today, 38(4), 244–253. Ìý