The Woman of Colour: race and gender in the literature we teach

This paper reports on a short project undertaken with student English teachers during their one year Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) teaching course that considered the potential inclusion of the novella The Woman of Colour into their teaching. The research considers how the student teachers received the text and the value, issues and questions that they felt it might bring to their teaching. It reflects on short lesson segments created by the participants to include the text in their teaching of KS3 or KS4 classes. The inclusion of literary works by women and by Black writers, and the power, agency and autonomy of the female, non-white protagonists portrayed, was contextualised within wider societal education and values.