There’s too much structure in the way we teach writing skills in schools, according to Philip Pullman.

On Radio 4 today, the bestselling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy reminisced with his former secondary school teacher about 1950s English lessons and those first schoolboy compositional attempts.

Retired English teacher Enid Jones, whom Pullman has maintained contact with through the intervening 50 years, fondly recalled the clear literary talents displayed by the 11-year-old Pullman at Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech. She described how she had assigned the class one of her regular essay titles, ‘The View From Your Bedroom Window’, and remembered Pullman’s outstanding offering, for which she awarded 8/10 (a grade he had been very happy with, as the tough-marking Miss Jones never gave higher).

But Pullman decried the compositional dogma prevalent in modern English teaching, saying that he would probably never have finished his high-scoring essay if forced to adopt the straitening planning methods currently in vogue. He believes there is far too much structure in how we teach writing skills in schools today. A child is now obliged to plan their story intricately beforehand, outlining beginning, middle and end before even attempting a first draft, then inserting corrections and amendments prior to writing up a final version. Pullman does not tackle his writing in this way, and says that ascribing it as the only valid approach may well turn off able young writers. Miss Jones agreed that it was too restrictive.

Pullman said:

Writing is a process of discovery. It’s not just knowing things and putting them down, it’s discovering them as you write. And if you know in advance what you’re going to write, you’re not going to discover anything. So, I like to write almost into the darkness, not knowing what’s going to happen next. So, the way I wrote when I was in Enid’s class is exactly the way I write now.”

The Radio 4 programme was introduced by another writer with North Wales connections, Terry Jones. The former Python is a noted Chaucerian authority, and cites Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy as “one of the great imaginative works of the English language”.

Miss Jones agrees. She now concedes Pullman’s trilogy an exceptional 10/10.

[See also our post on Beth Nielsen-Chapman: Facing the Great White. By the way, Beth has also started a blog.]

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