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‘We’re Not Building Worker Bees.’ What Has Happened to Creative Practice in England Since the Dartmouth Conference of 1966?

ABSTRACT It is now five years since the introduction of the current National Curriculum for English in England; it is just over 50 years since the Dartmouth Conference drew together American and English educationalists. This paper reports on a hermeneutic study that presents voices from the field of English teaching in England. It asks questions of today’s statutory instruments in the light of approaches highlighted at Dartmouth, with a focus on writing. It illustrates the challenges faced by English teachers from an examination-focused system, but suggests that ultimately the tradition exemplified by Dartmouth, which promotes creative pedagogies and the potential of writing to develop students’ personal and social growth, survives. It concludes that it is important to promote creative approaches in English classrooms of today and education policy of tomorrow.