Literary knowledge debates

One of the most striking themes from our initial interviews with early career teachers was the different ways in which they approached the concept of literary knowledge in English. For some, like Veronika, literary knowledge is expansive and fundamental, a way of students making meaning in and of the world. This is echoed in the reflections from Katya and Rebecca; however, these early career teachers also trouble the very notion of literary knowledge: Is 'knowledge' the right word? Can it be measured? Does this notion resonate with their purpose as English teachers? While Scott is confident that literary knowledge exists, he is less clear about the specificity of this knowledge, and how this might differ from other ways of understanding the world. This range of views, from just four teachers in the project, resonates with the complex ways in which debates about knowledge have been taken up since the subject became a formal part of schooling in the 19th century (Atherton, 2005a, p.11). Indeed, this equivalence and variety of perspectives on questions of knowledge in English, and, specifically, the knowledge work that is done by literary study, has become an enduring trope in the scholarship about subject English, as it is taught and researched across the world.