SIG Meet & Discuss: English in Education
It's an exciting but challenging time for those in the subject English community: 2026 has been designated the National Year of Reading; curriculum developments resulting from the Curriculum &...
Convenor
John Gordon, Professor
Professor of Language Arts and Learning at University of East Anglia
I am Reader in English Education at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. I am an experienced English teacher educator, and came into teaching as a secondary-phase specialist in English and Media up to A-level. I currently lead a professional Masters course in Shared Literary Reading, working and researching with teachers of reading in primary, secondary and higher education. I research literary study and literary reading in education, with a focus on oral narration, voiced literature and their relationship with interaction, learning and pedagogy. My recent projects have focussed on shared novel reading through classroom interaction, and A-level students’ involvement in arts-based research exploring regional identity through oral history techniques and filmmaking. I am the author of Researching Interpretive Talk around Literary Narrative Texts: Shared novel Reading (Routledge), A Pedagogy of Poetry (Trentham/) and Teaching English in Secondary Schools (Sage). I co-edited Preparing to Teach: Learning from Experience (Routledge), and contributed chapters to the collections Making Poetry Matter (Bloomsbury), Poetry and Childhood (Trentham), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Reading Practices and Perspectives (Bloomsbury), Preparing to Teach in Secondary Schools (OUP) and Challenges to Teacher Education in Difficult Economic Times (Routledge).
John Gordon's contributions
Eco-English: exploring the potential of secondary English to support sustainability and Climate Change Education, and prepare citizens of the future
This English in Education SIG conference responds to the DfE's 2023 strategy for sustainability and climate education which perpetuates disciplinary boundaries by locating sustainability education...
Eco-English: exploring the subject’s potential to support sustainability and Climate Change Education, and prepare citizens of the future
This English in Education SIG conference responds to the Department for Education strategy for sustainability and climate education which perpetuates disciplinary boundaries by locating...
English in Multi Academy Trusts: the changing shape of the subject and its impact on teachers
In light of the DfE’s concern for teacher workload, seen through the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders report, the government’s stated objective of making all schools academies by 2030,...
English in Multi Academy Trusts: the changing shape of the subject and its impact on teachers
In light of the DfE’s concern for teacher workload, seen through the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders report, the government’s stated objective of making all schools academies by 2030,...
Books and belonging
This webinar explores relationships between books and belonging across primary and secondary phases of education. In 2021, Penguin Books UK and equality think tank The Runnymede Trust established...
Books and belonging
This webinar explores relationships between books and belonging across primary and secondary phases of education. In 2021, Penguin Books UK and equality think tank The Runnymede Trust established...