Student perceptions of a non-fiction writing unit: a reflective analysis

This piece–a short-term collaboration between a secondary English teacher (Elgie), her Year 9 (ages 13–14) English class, and a former secondary English teacher and current academic (Belas)–offers a reflective analysis of a Key Stage (KS) 3–4 transition unit focussed on non-fiction writing. The unit has a record of success. Elgie wanted to know whether her perceptions of the students’ responses to the unit aligned with the students’; and, if they did, whether that was because, as she hypothesised, the students were given wide choice over their writing. Students were asked to complete a short survey, through which they were guided question-by-question. Indications are that students had mixed-to-positive (tending to the latter) views of the unit, and that choice did indeed play a part. Elgie and Belas reflect on the students’ responses and the implications of these for a future redesign of the unit. They then offer some more general theoretical reflections on the nature of non-fiction and its affordances in the English classroom, which, though linked to the particular case, are of broader interest and relevance.