The Perceived Influence of Children’s Literature on Sociocultural Understanding in UK Education

This article recognises the interplay between learners’ understanding of the world and the literature selected for, and read by, children as a result of current curriculum design within the UK. As part of the author’s doctoral study, an extensive review was conducted into the place of children’s literature in the development of socio-cultural constructs; this included an appraisal of the function of published narratives within the development of a national curriculum for English in the UK. The findings of the review detailed here identified that an ideological linkage between the study of literature and the development of sociocultural values resulted from an increased politicisation of the English curriculum, particularly post-2010. Within the social and historical debates, reading was identified as a specific mechanism for transmitting adult-centric ideas around spiritual, moral, social and cultural beliefs. Issues of power and control became emphasised within the review through the exploration of the actions of gatekeepers, including publishers, librarians, teachers and even politicians, as they attempted to define a preferred canon of literature for study. Throughout the wider literature, contemporary political discourse seemingly argued for dominance over and marginalisation of different factions of society without acknowledging the implicit and explicit bias found within. The review concluded that educators have a responsibility to teach critical literacy skills to enable young readers to negotiate the ideologies being presented to them, but, in the view of this author, this is only possible if teachers enable learners to interrogate for themselves the literature chosen as resources for the classroom.