An undeclared schism: Higher and secondary learning about poetry

Abstract

This article discusses findings from two qualitative studies in which the authors explored attitudes towards poetry. One was a participant-centred research project with senior secondary English teachers at a state school in Melbourne’s western suburbs. The other was an interview-based study involving undergraduate students of education specializing in literary studies. Compared, the two studies reveal great disparity between an ongoing structural decline in secondary poetry studies and its ongoing prominence in higher education.