‘Don’t campaign to get rid of dead white authors’

SHAKESPEARE will disappear from the UK curriculum amid growing decolonisation efforts, according to Britain’s strictest teacher.

Katharine Birbalsingh (right), the controversial headteacher at Michaela community school in north London, has warned that efforts to diversify the curriculum could mean writers like Shakespeare will vanish. She argued that Shakespeare had already been “lost” across the US. “We are following America in this way,” she said.

Speaking to the Guardian, Birbalsingh highlighted the pressure schools are under to change what they are teaching. Recently, reading lists for GCSE and A-level English literature and drama have been broadened to include more black and minority ethnic writers, while campaigners have also called for full inclusion of black history in the curriculum. However, Birbalsingh stressed the importance of keeping authors like Shakespeare on reading lists and in school subjects.

“I think that dead white men have something to offer us. Shakespeare has been influencing literature for over 400 years. It’s right to teach Shakespeare. The ideas in Shakespeare are universal,” she said.

The English curriculum still requires Shakespeare to be studied. For this summer’s AQA English literature exams, students will have studied either Macbeth, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar or The Merchant of Venice. “The point is the time will come where I don’t think that will happen anymore,” said Birbalsingh.

She emphasised that she wasn’t against having any black or ethnic minority authors on the curriculum – pupils taking A-level English at Michaela community school study Andrea Levy’s novel Small Island about the Windrush generation.

However, she stressed, “I disagree with this idea that you can only identify and appreciate an author who is of your skin colour. You should be able to appreciate anyone really, and what matters is how good they are.

“I’m not saying only teach dead white men. I’m just saying don’t campaign to get rid of them,” she argued.

Michaela community school was founded by Birbalsingh eight years ago and has quickly gained a reputation as the nation’s strictest school. She first came to prominence when she gave a speech at the 2010 Conservative party conference on how Britain’s education system was “broken”. This caused uproar among fellow teachers and cost her her job.

As well as becoming famous for its strict “no excuses” behaviour policy, Michaela school has experienced a lot of success. It was judged “outstanding” by Ofsted in 2019, and over half of all GCSE grades were level 7 or above.

The school and Birbalsingh were recently the subject of an ITV documentary entitled Britain’s Strictest Headmistress, which was the first time cameras had been allowed into the school. While her rules are controversial, Birbalsingh believes that the way she runs Michaela school are the way to go when it comes to teaching.

“I feel as a society, we’re making bad decisions for ourselves, for our children. And many people cannot speak out about it because they will lose their jobs or they will lose their friends,” Birbalsingh said.