Higher English set texts

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Can anyone point me to a link that tells me the options for texts to study at Higher English please? I have tried the SQA site but just keep getting the Scottish Texts list. My powers of research are lacking today so I thought it would be quicker to ask on here.

‘Why don’t you email the English department at your school? I hear you ask. Well, the last time I asked for clarification about something from my son‘s English teacher, he was mortified because the teacher had a dig at him in class for having a ‘concerned mother’. So I’m forbidden from contacting her again (obviously I would if it was something important no matter what she thought about it!)

I know the Great Gatsby is on the list, possibly Macbeth, but not sure what else. Eternally grateful for any assistance given

High School English teacher here.

Pupils do a Scottish Set Text (a play, novel, 4 short stories or 6 poems). This is worth 20% and the SQA produces a list which the teacher picks from.

They then do a Critical Essay, also 20%, on a text in a different genre. Most schools choose poetry for Scottish Text, leaving novels, short stories, plays and non-fiction texts for the essay.

In my department (PT) I encourage teachers to choose texts that suit them, and importantly, their pupils.

"Shooting an Elephant" is short prose non-fiction and very straightforward which means pupils do well. It will not stretch the most able. Nor will "A Hanging" another popular choice also by Orwell. But lots of pupils do them.

We always do a meaty text. Things like, "Gatsby" or "Streetcar Named Desire" or a Shakespeare play or a modern novel like "A Handmaid's Tale". Prose non-fiction, as above, is there just in case or to support weaker pupils.

My advice would be to focus on reading anything and everything over the summer. Newspaper articles are the basis of 30% in the Close Reading assessment and if you can read, discuss and help with vocabulary that is often the most useful thing. Guardian, Scotsman, Times etc. Not tabloids.

Happy to help if I can with other questions.

Prose non-fiction, as above, is there just in case or to support weaker pupils.

That is surprising or....worrying. Is that fact or personal opinion? Ds is not a natural reader but was in the 2nd set for English NAT5 (out of 6 classes) last report was working level a 2 / A, he did well in his prelim (80% without actual portfolio/avg marks given) and then had very good feedback on his portfolio.

They are obviously not in school but he says the Teams class he is in now for Higher has most of the kids that are known to be good at English, including the boy who got the subject prize last 2 years, so he thinks he has been moved up which makes him nervous. The step up to higher English will be a big challenge for him.

Is "Shooting an Elephant", in your opinion, still a text that they can get high marks in? Wonder if they are using something less meaty because of the time lost due to lockdown...

You can still get high marks, and many do, but avoiding more complex texts means rote learning essays and does not teach a lot of skills you need Higher to teach. These skills are about retaining and using and analysing complex texts in response to difficult questions.

I want pupils to have those skills for University and for life.

I also don't like the idea of pupils being limited to short texts in order to guarantee high grades or save teacher effort.

That said, times have changed and teachers might use an easy text now and then move on later, once essay skills have been revised.

And, for some, English is a means unto an end, not a passion.

It is also important to prepare bright pupils for Advanced Higher.