ABSTRACT
The relative freedom schools had meant that creative and innovative English departments were at liberty to devise curriculums and classroom activities that would enable students, within their studies of language and literature, to engage explicitly with issues of class, race and gender. The work at Vauxhall Manor was certainly inspired by the Bullock Report, so it would be unfair to say that A Language for Life had no concrete impact. The development of GCSE and the appearance of 100 per cent coursework assessment were in harmony with so many English teachers' vision of the subject that it should be child centred and offer all young people the chance to succeed. Even as the National Writing and National Oracy Projects were in full swing, the power such initiatives gave to individuals and groups of teachers was about to be steadily wrested away.
