Working from the belief that no text exists in isolation but is the product of the time in which it was produced, our English Literature A-Level qualification encourages students to explore the relationships that exist between texts and the contexts within which they are written, received and understood. Studying texts within a shared context enables students to investigate and connect them, drawing out patterns of similarity and difference using a variety of reading strategies and perspectives. This qualification seeks to cultivate the learner?s independence when exploring meaning, encouraging students to debate and challenge the interpretations of other readers as they develop their own informed personal responses. Students are required to read widely across a range of texts and connect them across time and topic. Working with texts over time involves looking at ways in which authors shape meanings within their texts. It also involves thinking about a wide range of relevant contexts, some of them to do with the production of the text at the time of its writing, some (where possible) to do with how the text has been received over time. Also consider how texts can be interpreted by readers now. Due to meanings not being fixed, interpretations are not fixed, and multiple interpretations are possible. Whilst the course invites a variety of written response types, these will all encourage critical debate. In each task, students will be required to argue and to show personal responses and critical preferences, supported by the terminology relevant to the topics and contexts with which they are engaging. In doing so, they will be able to show 'creativity'. Taken as a whole, therefore, English Literature A not only equips students with the knowledge and skills needed for both exams and non-examination assessment, but also opens up a rich, challenging and coherent approach to English Literature that provides an excellent basis for studying the subject at university.