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Cover of Poetry in Primary Schools 2023
RESEARCH
Created: 15th March, 2023

Poetry in Primary Schools 2023

This report details the findings of a survey carried out with primary school teachers in January 2023 to find out more about their experience of teaching poetry, including their attitudes to it, how much they know about poets and anthologies and how it is incorporated into a teaching day. This is the first major research solely focused on poetry in primary schools published since Poetry in Schools (Ofsted, 2007).  

The findings of Poetry in Primary Schools 2023 will be used as part of The Big Amazing Poetry Project, a joint project with Macmillan Children’s Books which will help to inform poetry teaching and learning in primary schools. The project will help teacher to embed poetry fully into classrooms and also in children’s choices when reading for pleasure.   

The key findings of the report are:  

  • 80% of teachers feel poetry is a significant part of a literacy curriculum 

  • 88% say that children enjoy engaging with poetry 

  • 89% reported that children enjoyed listening to it being read or performed 

  • 72% reported that they enjoyed performing it themselves 

  • 61% of teachers have never had development training on poetry 

  • 79% of classroom book corners have fewer than ten poetry books in their book selection .

SUPPORTING MATERIALS