English Literature: from Sixth Form to University

This article seeks to contribute to the current and on-going debate, at both national and international levels, about how students, providers of post-compulsory education and higher education institutions seek effectively to manage the transition between school or further education and higher education studies. The particular focus of this study is the discipline of English Literature within the English education system. It is intended, however, that in pursuing subject-specific issues, matters of a more generic significance will also emerge, of relevance to other disciplines and national communities. It focuses particularly on the pedagogic approaches adopted at both post-compulsory and higher education levels and considers students' perceptions of these as tools for learning. It also examines core assumptions pertaining at both levels, considering how these diverge into dichotomous paradigms and the impact of this on students' experience of transition.