Hope for Poetry: An exploratory and poetic approach to students' creative and critical engagement with and through poetry lessons in England and The Netherlands (ages 14-17)

Abstract

Poetry in education at its best is a vehicle for exploration and meaning making through analysis, dialogue, discussion and creative and critical thought. However, in the current educational format in the upper secondary years, it is often perceived as ‘dull’ and ‘boring’ (Gregory, 2013, p. 129). This exploratory study considers the current English curriculum, specifically the National Curriculum or English at Key Stage 4, and inquires the student and teacher voices on their experiences of poetry teaching and learning in their educational contexts. To develop an understanding of the influence the curriculum has on these teachers and students, I have drawn comparisons with a country that has a less prescribed curriculum: The Netherlands. I have looked at the teachers’ and students’ conceptions of poetry teaching and learning through thematic poetic inquiry, and conducted observations to gain an in-depth exploration into the teaching and learning of poetry in the participants’ contexts. To understand the teacher and student attitudes and perspectives on poetry in the classroom, I conducted a survey for 145 student participants (58.6% English students and 41.4% Dutch students) as it was currently taught at Key Stage 4 between 2019-2022 (with a COVID-19 gap). Furthermore, 6 interviews (50% English teachers and 50% Dutch teachers) were carried out with teachers. To offer a holistic approach, 15 observations took place, 3 of which in The Netherlands with teacher participant 1, and 12 in two English schools with teacher participants 2, 3, and 4, as well as another set of observations in the same school as teacher participants 2 and 3. This allowed for concrete examples to understand what was happening in the classroom. The voices from students and teachers particularly conveyed themes of a need for relatability, variety, freedom to express, and an increase in group work, discussion and dialogue. These needs were clearly expressed by both students and teachers in this study. The survey and interview data presentation aims to convey the crucial role of 'sentiment' in the responses and is best represented in a poetic style. Poetic reporting empowers the voice of the participants who are living the system and leads away from the 'culture of silence' (Freire, 1985; Gibson, 2006, p. 315).