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'Dissecting the bird to articulate the song': exploring the nature of teaching and learning poetry in the Irish leaving certificate classroom
Date
2011
Abstract
Motivated by the conviction that listening to pupils’ and teachers’ perspectives enables the researcher to gain a deeper understanding of teaching and learning processes, this research explores the nature and provision of poetry at Leaving Certificate level in Ireland. It draws on research conducted over a four year period from 2007-2011 with 80 practising Leaving Certificate poetry teachers and 200 Leaving Certificate pupils of poetry. Set against a backdrop of educational consumerism, this research identifies a number of areas of concern for educators including; a narrowing of the curricula, a traditionalist approach to pedagogy, widespread teacher dissonance and pupil disengagement in addition to a ubiquitous teaching to the test ideology at Leaving Certificate level. Drawing on the research findings, it is argued that poetry is vulnerable to becoming a marginalised and technicised endeavour in the Leaving Certificate classroom. Recommendations for renewed teacher agency are proposed in striving to renew a critical and creative approach to poetry pedagogy in schools.
Supervisor
Mannix McNamara, Patricia
Description
peer-reviewed
Publisher
Citation
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Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
External Link
Type
Thesis
Rights
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/