Zahawi Denounces ‘Cultural Vandalism’ After Exam Board Replaces Poems by Larkin and Owen

Undated photo showing the UK's vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi arrive at BBC Broadcasting House in central London. (Yui Mok/PA)

British Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi on Thursday accused an exam board of “cultural vandalism” after it replaced works by poets including Philip Larkin and Wilfred Owen from its GCSE curriculum.

Zahawi said he will raise the issue with the exam board. Downing Street also said the education minister has the support of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Oxford Cambridge and RSA (OCR) examinations, a leading UK exam board, announced on Wednesday that it had updated its GCSE English Literature poetry anthology to add “diverse voices to poetry.”

Poems from 15 poets are added to the anthology, 14 of whom are “poets of colour,” including six black women and one of “South Asian heritage,” the OCR boasted, adding, “Our new poets also include disabled and LGBTQ+ voices.”

The new selection of poets is also more contemporary, with a number of the living members in their 30s and one 28-year-old.

The board said the group ranges “from living poets of British-Somali, British-Guyanese, and Ukrainian heritage, to one of the first Black women in 19th century America to publish a novel.” It also pointed out that the Ukrainian-American poet, Ilya Kaminsky, is deaf. Jill Duffy, OCR’s chief executive, said, “This is an inspiring set of poems that demonstrates our ongoing commitment to greater diversity in the English literature that students engage with.”

According to a more detailed blog published on the board’s website on Tuesday, works by 14 British, Irish, and American poets were removed to make room, including “A Poison Tree” by Willam Blake, “A Broken Appointment,” and “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy, “An Arundel Tomb” by Philip Larkin, “When I have fears that I may cease to be” by John Keats, and “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen.

Some poems by Blake, Hardy, and Keats remain along with works by Emily Brontë Sylvia Plath, Jackie Kay, and Carol Ann Duffy, but Larkin and Owen no longer feature in the anthology.

Removing Larkin and Owen Is ‘Cultural Vandalism’

Commenting on a report by The Times on the change, Zahawi called Larkin and Owen “two of our finest poets.”

“Removing their work from the curriculum is cultural vandalism,” the education secretary wrote on Twitter.

“Their work must be passed on to future generations—as it was to me. I will be speaking to the exam board to make this clear,” he said.

The Iraqi-born minister added that Larkin’s poems had taught him “so much” about his new home in his teenage years when he was “improving [his] grasp of the English language.”

“We must not deny future students the chance to make a similarly powerful connection with a great British author, or miss out on the joy of knowing his work,” he wrote.

Asked if the prime minister would support Zahawi on the issue, a spokesman for No 10 Downing Street replied, “Yes … we want to see children continuing to receive a broad range of education in these areas.”

The OCR said its revised anthology is expected to be taught in schools from September and be in exams in June 2024.

It also said it also plans to introduce “more diverse texts” to its A Level English Language and Literature and GCSE and A Level Media Studies in September 2023.