Stephanie Keenan

Forthcoming Conferences Winter 2024 LATE Conference: ‘What Space for English?’ on 7th December

Don’t forget: Talking About Oracy from @lateteachers.bsky.social at @ucl.ac.uk IOE July 5th!
londonenglishteachers.com/about/forthc...

@draperel.bsky.social @engmediacentre.bsky.social @englishassociation.bsky.social @natefeed.bsky.social
@headofenglish.bsky.social
@runrober.bsky.social

Here’s @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social 😊👏🏽 wonderful talking about the purpose of poetry in education - we cd have listened for hours ! And our brilliant chair @jennyrichards.bsky.social adding her thoughts to close the session, inspired by his ⭐️keynote ⭐️ #ConferenceDay 🎉💫🥳

Photo of conference in action

Photo of conference in action

Photo of Michael Rosen at our conference

An exciting conference day🙌🏼 ! Opened by our fabulous CEO Dr Rebecca Fisher, first keynote introduced by chair of our EY & Primary committee, super duper Kirstie Hewitt - & brilliantly entertaining & hugely inspiring, action packed ! story rich keynote on poetry from @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social ❤️🎉💫👏🏽

What SHAPE graduates do The British Academy has released analysis of what social sciences, humanities, and arts graduates do after graduation. Pablo Roblero and Alfie Denness introduce the findings

This week on Wonkhe: The British Academy has released analysis of what social sciences, humanities, and arts graduates do after graduation. Pablo Roblero and Alfie Denness introduce the findings

Women’s prize trophy & photo of book of story of a heart

This is a dream come true, a once in a lifetime honour. I am so utterly thrilled to have won the 2025 @womensprize.bsky.social for Non-Fiction.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who gave me such generous support in writing The Story of a Heart, especially Max & Keira’s incredible, wonderful families 🩷🫁🫀

NEW POST on AI, learning and why knowing stuff still matters. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-most-i...

This from @carlhendrick.substack.com brilliantly articulates the sum of all my fears. We will learn this, it's just a question of how much damage before we do.

UK faces 'Covid decade' due to damage done by pandemic, says report British Academy review calls for major policy changes to reverse rise in deprivation and ill health

We titled our 2021 @britishacademy.bsky.social review of the societal effects of the pandemic ‘the Covid Decade’ as we argued that the pandemic would have long term effects - particularly in exacerbating existing inequalities
www.theguardian.com/world/2021/m...

Hetan Shah, chief executive of the British Academy, said inequality was “the primary story of the pandemic”. “You still find that people from poorer backgrounds are more likely to have been impacted,” Shah said, adding that the rate of long Covid in the most deprived households is double that of the most wealthy. “One of the dreadful things about the pandemic was that, as a side-effect, there was less money to invest in public services across the piece. The worry is that some of the trends we’re seeing, unless there’s active work to stop them, will continue.”

I’m quoted on the front page of the Observer today. They are looking back at the effects of the pandemic five years on. I say that it is primarily a story of inequalities. The poorest, disabled, young people have suffered the fallout, but this is easy to overlook
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

This weekend’s read …

People of Kent! There is a whole FESTIVAL OF PHYSICS happening at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Faversham on Saturday 15th March organised by @christinaastin.bsky.social thestemhub.org.uk/news/news-ar...

Is literary theory ‘a thing’ in GCSE and A Level English Literature? (13 March 2025, 16:45 - 17:30) | The English Association We support the teaching, learning, and enjoyment of English at all levels of education, from early years to further and higher education and beyond.

Is literary theory ‘a thing’ in GCSE and A Level English Literature? (13 March 2025, 16:45 – 17:30)
Exploring the literary theoretical coordinates of GCSE and A Level English Literature to support your teaching. Free, online! Join us! Sign up ! englishassociation.ac.uk/is-literary-...

The future of exams Digitisation, artificial intelligence and the curriculum review will change the way we assess learning. But our ore values needn't change.

Artificial intelligence, digital exams and the curriculum - just some of the insights shared by our own Alex Scharaschkin, AQA Executive Director of Assessment Research and Innovation, in a @newstatesman.com interview.

www.newstatesman.com/sponsored/20...

Meet #AQATeamEnglish – experts shaping the future of English assessment. Made up of former teachers, examiners, and assessment writers, they’re here to support you and build a community where every voice matters.

Find out more. 👇
bit.ly/4i3Iwic

Love this!

Jo and Wayne from AQA Subject support stand in front of a screen

Steph is in the foreground smiling with Wayne and Jo waving in front of the AQA screen

A table with AQA resources on in the foreground with a room full of tables for the meeting and a screen in the background

The room ready for a presentation with a laptop in the foreground showing the screen.

A day full of love … for English! 💕
It was a joy to be part of rich, optimistic discussions today at our AQA English Roundtable.
A huge amount of knowledge & passion in the room about English past, present & future fed into productive conversations about our discipline. 💕

⏰ 12th & 27th March
📚 Teaching Modern Literature
💬 With live Q&A

Two chances to catch another fab Curriculum Connect session from Jo and our Subject Support Team. 👇👇👇

www.aqa.org.uk/professional...

⏰ 5th March & 2nd April - Teacher-led ‘Worlds & Lives’ Curriculum Connect with live Q&A
👇👇👇

www.aqa.org.uk/professional...

The English team at AQA is excited to share the launch of some small but meaningful changes to GCSE English Language for the Summer 2026.
To find out more, visit us at aqa.org.uk/english-lang...

Record number of families in England fined over term-time holidays Bridget Phillipson issues warning as parents seem more relaxed about unauthorised holidays since Covid

Local authorities in England can fine parents whose kids do not turn up to school

2018/19: 288,000 penalty notices issued

2023/24: 443,000 penalty notices issued

This year the penalty is £80. That's about £35m of fines or ~£4 for every pupil in England.

Source www.theguardian.com/education/20...

‘Everyone thought it would cause gridlock’: the highway that Seoul turned into a stream Cheonggyecheon stream in the South Korean capital has become an attraction – and helps with flood management, fighting air pollution and cooling the city

Cheonggyecheon is proof that removing highways can make cities better. 20 years ago, Seoul replaced concrete with a stream, and the results are remarkable: cooler temperatures, cleaner air, and 12 million visitors annually.

My latest for the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Change in Paris air quality between 2007 and 2023 using visuals

Air pollution has dropped significantly in #Paris in the last 15 years. Mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social’s leadership has traded car space for green space, safe bike space, kid space.. and traded pollution for people.

Good trade.

One of the things that keeps me going back to Twitter is that I get fairly regular DMs on there asking me for advice about reading.

Just to be clear: I am more than happy for people to DM on here for the same reason.

Please repost this if you think this info might be useful to someone.

For 16% of teachers, 2025 marks a big change—they say it’s ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ they’ll leave their school this year. 🚪✋

Classroom teachers in the most affluent schools are the least likely to want to jump ship, with 40% ‘very unlikely’ to leave.

Today’s read

🗓️ #LitdriveCPD25 🗓️

We are thrilled to share that Amy Staniforth will be speaking at our National Conference #LitdriveCPD25 in March next year!
🐝

Get tickets for your and your department today: https://buff.ly/3XNnlI7

#LitdriveCPD #TeamEnglish

Call for Papers — English: Shared Futures 2025

CfP!

It's the beginning of a new year, and your thoughts turn naturally to the future of English Studies...

Join us in July for the third English: Shared Futures conference, hosted in beautiful York.

www.englishsharedfutures.org/cfp

@univeng.bsky.social
@englishassociation.bsky.social

There aren’t many tickets left for our History conference this year - and they’re selling fast!

Get them now - we’ll see you there!

www.eventbrite.com/e/ark-soane-...

I’ll check it out!

Evidence-informed teaching has to be built around each teacher’s personality and desire for autonomy; let’s celebrate that. A theme I find myself exploring a lot is the need for teachers to feel that they can be themselves in their own classrooms, expressing their personality and enjoying teaching, doing things they fee…

Evidence-informed teaching has to be built around each teacher's personality and desire for autonomy; let's celebrate that. @walkthrus.bsky.social teacherhead.com/2024/01/07/e...