[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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