Gronland, Gemma;
(2025)
Between the lines: the English teacher and values.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Secondary English (SE) teachers often navigate the challenge of addressing controversial topics through classroom texts, which may reveal in students behaviours considered extreme. However, the definition of extremism is ambiguous. The Prevent policy defines extremism as opposition to fundamental British values (DfE, 2014), but what teachers are meant to prevent remains unclear (Quartermaine, 2017). Furthermore, SE teachers may not always view students as ‘vulnerable to radicalisation’ but instead see behaviours as reflective of ‘hateful’ extremism—speech and actions that foster a culture of hate towards an out-group. Reading a text is inherently value-laden (Eaglestone, 2021), and teachers' choices in the SE curriculum may be influenced by their understanding of how it can address such extremism, beyond the scope of Prevent. This study asks: In what ways do SE teachers in four London schools develop their understandings of values in the SE classroom? The research also explores two sub-questions: How do teachers perceive addressing extremism through the curriculum, and how do they reflect on their practice in this regard? Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers, employing a social constructivist methodology, wherein the interview dynamic (Kvale, 1996) facilitated the co-construction of knowledge between researcher and participants. Findings reveal how teachers shaped their perceptions and reflections regarding values and SE. These are presented in three key chapters: The English Teacher and Values, Structure, and Agency. The first chapter explores how teachers construct perceptions of values in the SE curriculum, particularly in relation to extremism in their school contexts. The second chapter examines the constraints teachers face in aligning personal values with curriculum practice, while the third focuses on teachers' reflections on the agency they possess to align their curriculum with their values.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Between the lines: the English teacher and values |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2025. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10216146 |
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