Journeys: PRIMARY Student Teachers' attitudes to poetry and poetry teaching

1. Poetry Matters ESRC Seminar Series Greenwich, May 2011 Fiona Collins and Alison Kelly Journeys:PRIMARY Student Teachers' attitudes to poetry and poetry teaching

2. Our Journey • 2006-2011 Poetry project (ongoing): Poem a Day • 2008-2009 Pilot of evaluation of project (PGCE primary) • 2010 Poetry Society collaboration • 2010 – 2011 Baseline study with year BA Primary undergraduate students • 2011- 2012 Poetry Society Project

3. Developments in the teaching of poetry in English primary schools • 1975 Bullock Report • 1989 National Curriculum • 1997 National Literacy Strategy • 2006 Primary National Strategy

4. Andrew Motion ‘At the moment, our teacher training programmes are producing people who are simply not equipped to teach it [poetry]. Worse than that, I’d say we are producing a lot of teachers who remember being anxious around the reading and writing of poetry when they were children themselves, and who are therefore very likely to end up communicating that anxiety, rather than anything else.’ North of England Education Conference, Jan 2010

5. RESEARCH LANDSCAPE • Secondary teachers Benton, 1984, 1999 • Secondary student teachers Dymoke, 2007 • Primary teachers Cremin et al (2008/9) Teachers as Readers, Phases 1 and 2 Ofsted, Poetry in Schools: A Survey of Practice 2006/7 Medwell, (1998) Effective Teachers of Literacy • Primary student teachers: Ray, 1999

6. Poem a Day 2006 - Aims of the Project • To deepen and extend students’ subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge • To foster enjoyment of and a positive attitude towards poetry and poetry teaching • To help students to tune into poetic language

7. Baseline research QUESTIONS • What knowledge about poetry and poetry teaching do student teachers bring? • What is the impact of university based modules and School Experience on student knowledge of poetry and poetry teaching at the end of their first yearof training? • How do class teachers conceive their role in supporting students’ teaching of poetry?

8. Methodology BA Primary Education Year 1 students • Questionnaire 1 (Autumn 2010 , n: 49) • Questionnaire 2 (Spring 2011, n:20) • Case studies: 4 students 4 teachers

9. Student Journeys: Questionnaire 1 Overall positive experience • Six students reported on consistently positive experience of poetry during their childhood(i.e. from home to primary school to secondary school). • Of the six, four are now English subject specialists or had taken A level English Literature.

10. No. 18SS • Home: I remember having Zephaniah books at home. I was fond of Agard and Rosen poems which I would borrow from school and take home to read. • Primary school: We would study poems as part of English. Poetry books were always available to read and borrow. I remember ‘The Poison Tree’ which I immediately loved and it is still my favourite poem. Some teachers were enthusiastic about poetry and it was something we were encouraged to read and read aloud. • Secondary school: We had to study lots of poems over the years..make up our own poetry anthology...good way to explore poetry...heavily encouraged to read poetry. Favourite poets were Blake and Duffy.

11. The role of primary teachers • 31% of the responses were positive about primary teachers : My Year 1 teacher often read poetry My Year 5 teacher was particularly encouraging My teachers were enthusiastic about poetry • The majority of responses (69%) either didn’t remember or gave lukewarm responses: My teacher would read a poem now and then … and that was it. • There were no overtly negative responses about primary teachers.

12. The role of secondary teachers • Positive responses (16%) My English teacher for years 7-11 was a guiding light in my world. I really enjoyed GCSE English literature where I studied Heaney and Clarke. My teacher was very inspiring and this experience led me to take A level English literature. Enjoyed reading and dissecting poetry, finding the hidden meaning ...Had a great teacher at GCSE who made it more like looking in on someone’s mind and reading their thoughts.

13. Negative responses (14%) Unfortunately my memories of secondary school English were not very fond ones. I can only remember being taught poetry for GCSE as none of my English teachers were particularly passionate about poetry. Wilfred Owen was very enjoyable but my teacher was horrendous. My teacher deterred me from poetry. I didn’t enjoy it, teachers made it boring.

14. Case studies • Katie – Reception • Claire – Year 1 • Helen – Year 4 • Ted – Year 5

15. Katie At first I was a bit hesitant but now I have actually taught them myself I feel so much more confident and I know how much the children enjoy them, they’ll happily participate once they’ve understood the poem and if you introduce an interactive element they’ll enjoy it so much more. It builds on their confidence. Their social skills were changed while I was there. I saw shy children suddenly bloom with confidence by the end, by just asking them to participate in poetry.

16. Claire I do love poetry but I don’t read enough of it. Memories Please Mrs Butler - I can remember my teacher reading it and I particularly remember those collection of poems and I read one to my best friend who I have been friends with since I was four and we remember different parts of it. For me is evokes so many memories of my childhood growing up and the particular poems I was read by my teacher and my mum.

17. Helen I have no confidence in what I would call the more traditional, heavy type poetry… I actively avoided poems in the book (100 best poems) that were a bit darker, a bit more involved… You’ve given me the doorway in which to pick a poem that you can relate to and hopefully that will give you the basis for delving into what I’d call the classics… to start off at the lighter end has built my confidence

18. Ted • Class teacher: not an avid fan; I enjoy teaching it if I understand it: haikus have got rules • Ted: My teacher wasn’t into poetry… as a person she’s quite logical, very scientific, so if she feels she doesn’t understand it, that might dissuade her from using it.

19. Questionnaire 2 (Interim findings) • Of the 20 completed, 6 students observed teaching. 14 did not. • Range of comments about their own poetry teaching: confident, I enjoy it, much more confident as I was able to teach four lessons, much more enthusiastic. comfortable enough but I would like to do a lot more now, fairly confident when teaching simple rhyme anxious, slightly unconfident.

20. Issues • National priorities : resistance? • How do we define ‘subject knowledge’?

21. Issues: STUDENT TEACHER IDENTITY • Significance of learning journeys • Communities of practice: implications for student teacher learning • Fragility around evolving professional identity

22. 2011 -2012 Poetry Society Project • Working with the poet, Roger Stevens • Workshops • Student anthologies and journals • INSET with teachers

23. Bibliography Benton, P. (1984) ‘Teaching Poetry: the Rhetoric and the Reality’, Oxford Review of Education, 10, no.3, 319-327 Benton, P. (1999) ‘Unweaving the Rainbow’’, Oxford Review of Education, 25, no. 4 , 520-531 Cremin, T., M. Mottram, E. Bearne & P. Goodwin (2008) ‘Exploring teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature’, Cambridge Journal of Education, 38, no.4, 449-464 Day, C., A. Kington, G. Stobart & P. Sammons (2006) ‘The personal and professional selves of teachers: stable and unstable identities’, British Educational Research Journal, 32, no.4, 601-616 Erstad, O., O. Gijje, J. Sefton-Green & K. Vasbo (2009) ‘Exploring Learning Lives: community, identity, literacy and meaning, Literacy, 43, no.2: 100-6 Lave, J. & E. Wenger (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Medwell, J., D. Wray, I. Poulson & R. Fox (2002) Effective Teachers of Literacy: Summary of Findings, London: TTA Ofsted (2007) Poetry in Schools: A Survey or Practice 2006/7 , London: Ofsted Ray, R. (1999) ‘The diversity of poetry: how trainee teachers’ perceptions affect their attitude to poetry teaching’, The Curriculum Journal, 10, no.3: 403-18