Thanks, Tim, and Max. I'd thought the Daily Mail was a "Shock-Scream-Don't
Wait to Investigate" publication----quite an embarrassment in the journalism
world. Hence, thanks, Tim, for setting a context for our evaluation of its
credibility.
Judy
On 9 April 2010 12:44, Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Max,
> I can't remember it being discussed much in the UK media - probably nobody
> cares - I certainly can't see Daily Mail readers caring beyond the expected
> initial 'How awful, culture's gone down the drain, and aren't our teachers
> crap' etc.
>
> There are so many different issues going on behind this that I don't know
> where to start. But notice the contradiction in the article -
>
> compare this
> "A report by Ofsted has warned that classic poems are disappearing from
> schools
>
>>
>> in favour of nonsense verse and rhymes that are easy for children to
>> imitate.
>> It said 'too few' poems were 'genuinely challenging' and only a small
>> minority
>> use poems such as Daffodils by William Wordsworth or Robert Browning's The
>> Pied
>> Piper of Hamelin."
>>
>
> with this
> "The former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen, has warned that poetry is
> being
>
>>
>> squeezed out of primary schools by the demands of testing and Ofsted
>> inspections.... etc"
>>
>
> They can't both be right? Can they? Each is essentially talking about the
> other. Here we have two completely different notions of the importance of
> poetry, and each of these notions has both an ideology behind it and a
> structural network to propagate itself. The structural network of Ofsted is
> in the ascendance, but once it was Rosen's notion that was the prevailing
> ideology. And teachers are in the middle of this. I am simplifying, but
> don't blame the teachers because this is not down to them.
>
> Tim A.
>
>
>
> On 8 Apr 2010, at 21:49, Max Richards wrote:
>
> [I spose this was discussed better in other UK media...? how's it going
>> now?]
>>
>> More than half of primary teachers 'are unable to name three poets'
>> By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
>> Last updated at 8:36 AM on 9th October 2009
>>
>> More than half of primary school teachers cannot name more than two poets,
>> a
>> study has shown.
>> Research found 58 per cent could name either one, two or none at all.
>> The study, by academics at the Open University, Cambridge and Reading,
>> warned
>> that teachers' 'very limited' knowledge of poetry is damaging children's
>> reading
>> skills.
>>
>> Dead poets society: An alarming study has found that half of primary
>> school
>> teachers 'are unable to name three poets'
>> They found 22 per cent of 1,200 teachers quizzed could name no poets at
>> all.
>> Just 10 per cent were able to mention six - the number they were asked to
>> name
>> by researchers.
>> The findings emerged after a separate study revealed how comics and
>> magazines
>> have overtaken story books and poems as children's favourite reading
>> matter.
>>
>> More...
>> Scottish pupils fall behind English counterparts... despite costing £1,400
>> more
>> per student
>>
>> Both reports will deepen concern over 'dumbing down' following a damning
>> world
>> league table which exposed falling reading standards among England's
>> ten-year-
>> olds.
>> In just five years, our schools fell from third to 19th in a table of
>> reading
>> achievement.
>> Research commissioned by the UK Literacy Association showed many teachers
>> when
>> asked to name poets, found it not an 'easy task'.
>> Most mentioned authors whose verse 'might be seen as light-hearted or
>> humorous',
>> such as Spike Milligan.
>> Judith Palmer, director of the Poetry Society, told the BBC: 'There are
>> obviously an awful lot of young people writing and reading poetry, with
>> teachers
>> encouraging them.
>> 'However, there are also a lot of teachers who do not know and understand
>> poetry
>> and can't then communicate it.'
>>
>> The research found that not many primary school teachers could name
>> William
>> Wordsworth as a poet
>> Research commissioned by the UK Literacy Association found that while
>> teachers
>> enjoy reading for pleasure, they have a 'relatively restricted
>> repertoire'.
>> They were found to rely on a 'limited range of authors when it comes to
>> classroom practice and are not therefore in a strong position to recommend
>> texts
>> to young readers'.
>> A report by Ofsted has warned that classic poems are disappearing from
>> schools
>> in favour of nonsense verse and rhymes that are easy for children to
>> imitate.
>> It said 'too few' poems were 'genuinely challenging' and only a small
>> minority
>> use poems such as Daffodils by William Wordsworth or Robert Browning's The
>> Pied
>> Piper of Hamelin.
>> The former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen, has warned that poetry is
>> being
>> squeezed out of primary schools by the demands of testing and Ofsted
>> inspections.
>> He demanded a curriculum for poetry because it was currently being
>> 'frozen' in
>> the 'ice' of Government literacy policies.
>> Teachers covered it superficially by using poetry collections which ticked
>> the
>> required boxes in the National Literacy Strategy, he said.
>> And staff were under pressure to follow the 'implied requirements of SATs
>> and
>> the demands of Ofsted'.
>> But poetry needed to be 'on the walls, in assemblies, in corners and in
>> the
>> books'.
>> The row emerged as a BBC poll, which attracted 18,000 votes, named TS
>> Eliot as
>> the nation's favourite poet.
>> The American-born writer inspired the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Cats,
>> and is
>> also famous for penning The Waste Land and The Love Song of J Alfred
>> Prufrock.
>>
>>
>> Read more:
>> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219130/More-half-primary-
>> teachers-unable-poets.html#ixzz0kXogruKi
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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