§ Mr. Madelasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is yet in a position to announce the membership and terms of reference of the Committee on English.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerI have appointed Sir John Kingman FRS, Vice-Chancellor of Bristol university, to be chairman of the committee which I am setting up to make recommendations on a model of the workings of the English language to help improve teaching in schools.
The members of the committee are:
- Professor Gillian Brown
- Professor in Applied Linguistics and Dean of the School of Social Studies, University of Essex.
- Mrs. A. S. Byatt FRSL
- Writer, broadcaster and reviewer. Former Senior Lecturer in English at University College, London.
- Professor Brian Cox
- John Edward Taylor Professor of English Literature, University of Manchester.
556 - Mr. Leonard Ellis
- Senior Lecturer in Education, North Riding College.
- Former primary school headteacher.
- Mr. Patrick J. Kavanagh
- Poet, novelist and author of children's books.
- Mr. Richard Knott
- General adviser with responsibility for English and drama, Berkshire LEA.
- Mrs. Pramila Le Hunte
- Head of English Department, the North London Collegiate School.
- Professor Peter Levi FSA FRSL
- Professor of Poetry, University of Oxford and Fellow of St. Catherine's College, Oxford.
- Miss Patricia Mann
- Head of External Affairs, J. Walter Thompson Group and Editor of "Consumer Affairs".
- Mr. Robert Robinson
- Writer and broadcaster.
- Mrs. Jeanne Strickland
- Head of English Department, Camden School for Girls, London.
- Dr. Charles Suckling FRS
- Chairman, Bradbury, Suckling and Partners Ltd., Scientific Consultants.
- Mr. Keith Waterhouse
- Journalist, novelist and playwright.
- Professor Henry Widdowson
- Professor of Education and Head of Department of English for Speakers of Other Languages, University of London Institute of Education.
The secretary is Mr. Peter Gannon, Her Majesty's Inspectorate.
The committee will start work very shortly and report within about a year. Its terms of reference are to recommend:
a model of the English language, whether spoken or written, which would:the principles which should guide teachers on how far and in what ways the model should be made explicit to pupils, to make them conscious of how language is used in a range of contexts;
- (i) serve as the basis of how teachers are trained to understand how the English language works;
- (ii) inform professional discussion of all aspects of English teaching;
what, in general terms, pupils need to know about how the English language works, and in consequence what they should have been taught, and be expected to understand, on this score at age 7, 11 and 16.