Teach-Primary-18.3

Poetry is often overlooked in the curriculum. Charlotte Hacking asks why this is, and what we can do to change it I n January 2023, the CLPE and Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) came together in a new partnership to learn about poetry in primary schools. This began with a survey aimed at primary teachers to gain a picture of poetry practice and provision. 80 per cent of teachers told us that they thought poetry was a significant part of a literacy curriculum. As positive as this sounds, it still means that one in five schools didn’t see poetry as a significant part of their English curriculum. Teachers reported that children really enjoy hearing, writing and performing poetry. However, they also told us that poetry is read aloud less than once a week in 93 per cent of schools. In nearly 20 per cent of the schools, children never have the opportunity to hear a poem read aloud. The survey results also showed that schools have limited poetry book stock. In 79 per cent of classrooms, book corners contained fewer than 10 poetry books, and in 44 per cent of classrooms, the figure was five or less. This is drastically low if we want to create an environment where children can see a range of poetry that gives them a broad perspective of what poetry is, what it can be and by whom it’s written. It also limits poetry as a free choice for independent reading or reading for pleasure. Previous research ( Teachers as Readers , Cremin, et al., 2007; Poetry in Schools , Ofsted, 2007) showed that too limited a range of poets was known by primary phase teachers. The responses from our survey showed that this has not really moved on in the 16 years since these two reports were published. Aside from Valerie Bloom, Julia Donaldson and Joseph Coelho, who has come to prominence in his role as Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2022–2024, the names of the top nine poets listed by respondents matched those in the Teachers as Readers survey from 2006–2007. We also learned that there are many perceived barriers to the regular teaching of poetry. The most commonly cited were: • Lack of time, confidence, knowledge and/or training. • Lack of access to poets, poems and poetry texts. • Finding it difficult to identify the grammar and writing expectations in poetry activities. • The SLT and/or other teachers not valuing the importance of poetry. • Poetry not being prominent enough in the national curriculum or assessment tests (SATs). • National or school curriculum being weighted to fiction and non-fiction. • A need to prioritise assessment preparation. The project Following the survey, we embarked on The Big Amazing Poetry Project. This was a training programme for 30 schools that completed the survey. It specifically addressed some of the issues brought to light and demonstrated the value of poetry in the primary curriculum. The project was developed and led in partnership with two leading children’s poets – Valerie Bloom and Matt Goodfellow. The schools involved received a free poetry library from Macmillan to support them in creating create physical and joyful spaces to share poetry. On each day, we introduced poets, poems, and teaching approaches and ideas that teachers could easily take back and replicate in their classrooms. We also provided texts and resources to facilitate them in using and applying what they had learned during their training. One of the most instantaneous and effective ideas was simply exposing children to poetry regularly. Teachers were introduced to a wide range of poetry using an approach called poetry papering. This involves pinning up poems by different poets around the learning space, exposing the teachers as well as children to poems and poets they had not met before. This approach gives more choice and voice in WHAT WORKS “There are many perceived barriers to the regular teaching of poetry” Poetry in primary: 34 | www.teachwire.net