The Common English Forum’s (CEF) Manifesto for English in England (2024) stated that subject English was an ‘eco-system’ that stretched from the Early Years and KS1 to KS5 and beyond. However, it warned that ‘significant damage’ to this system, caused at least in part by the then-current national curriculum for English (DfE, 2013) and its attendant assessment and accountability frameworks, was ‘jeopardising’ the eco-system in its entirety. Given the new government’s commitment to curriculum review, the time was deemed right to explore perceptions of English within and between key stages, and to consider how different phases might learn from and build upon each other.

This event provided an opportunity for dialogue and an exploration of perspectives between experts across phases in England. The four presenters were all English specialists working in primary, secondary, and further education (FE).

The event focused on reading, reading pedagogy, and text choices. Because reading was a central element of English, such a focus allowed comparisons to be drawn between phases and was of interest to practitioners at every level.

With reading as a unifying lens, the presenters variously explored aspects of curriculum, teacher agency, Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD), student perspective, and student voice. They facilitated a looking ‘forwards and back’ between key stages. Specifically, Brownsword drew on her doctoral research to focus on primary teachers’ awareness of racial diversity in the fiction texts they taught and made recommendations for practice; Glowach and Ghelani discussed how the use of non-fiction texts about tree cover in urban settings in both KS2 and KS3 could be used to develop young people’s eco and socio-critical literacy skills; and Kemp drew on her doctoral research to problematise the reading experience for post-16 students forced to resit GCSE English Language in FE and the impact that this had on these students’ reading identities.

Combined, these three presentations addressed what the experience of ‘English’ might have looked like for a student as they progressed through the key stages; considered the importance of subject English teachers’ awareness of the phases that preceded and succeeded their specialism; promoted good practice in English reading pedagogy; and explored implications for curriculum policy, ITE, and CPD. Furthermore, since reading pedagogy was of interest to L1 educators around the world, participants from all jurisdictions were welcomed to share their own experiences and practice.