Elaboración del Mapa

One of the purposes of the face-to-face interviews was to gather information on whether the educators had received any training by the DoE on poetry teaching. In response to the question ―Do you receive any teacher training or workshops on

poetry?‖ Educator Apple from school Zi said the following:

I only get an invitation for workshop at the beginning of the year which is an orientation workshop on language during the first term. It only lasted three and a half hours as teachers are not allowed to stay away from the learners and it was from twelve to 2:30 pm. There is not much time that we have for language as well and not to mention poetry there is none.

Educator Banana from School Khu stated:

We get invited for language one a term which makes out to be four times a year but in that four times a year the only workshop that four times a year the only time the language specialist visit us on the first workshop and then after that the next three workshops are train a trainer. There are teachers who receive training on the circuit behalf and they then those teachers who have received training cascades the information to all the teachers. The language advisors cannot be in all the schools as there is a lot of schools to be visited and the language advisors are just few.

Educator Cherrie from School Hib commented as follows:

The training that we receive is supposed to be one workshop per quarter but sometimes we do not get that as there are cancellations of scheduled workshops and the other workshops are conducted by teachers themselves as a cluster. In cluster workshops there is a poor attendance. I find that the way we are invited for those workshops is not one of the best as we only receive the invitation in the week. Late invitations place me personally at a compromising situation because I plan in-advance for my learners and we also have school based meetings weekly. It becomes hard for me to attend those workshops.

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The educators therefore had similar responses to the question of professional development in relation to poetry teaching. All said that they had not received any specific training in poetry teaching.

However, the educators are allowed and are required by the DoE to get together with neighbouring schools in the area to discuss issues affecting their teaching. These issues can be stated formally to the chairperson of the cluster, whose main task is to liaise with the Education Specialist in that subject and bring feedback back to the cluster. This study established that there are no cluster workshops that are designed specifically for poetry teaching. Educators receive training in other language areas, but not in poetry on its own. During the interviews, the researcher probed this question, and asked whether educators come together as clusters to try to tackle the issues and concerns that they have with poetry. Educator Apple and Educator Banana gave similar answers, while Educator Cherrie stated that her school tries to deal with such content matters internally.

Educator Apple from School Zi responded as follows:

We do not have cluster meetings with other teachers from other schools the reason being the schools are situated far apart. The other teachers are staying in a little place that is far away and, so they club together and use one car, so it becomes hard for the teachers to attend cluster meetings. Another issue that we have is that if we meet with the clusters teachers who are less than five as ladies it is very unsafe once the learners are gone. The schools are very remote and deserted when there are no children.

Educator Banana from School Khu responded:

We do not meet very often we do try to meet at the beginning of the year but after that we try and communicate but unfortunately it does not happen that we meet as we are supposed to.

Educator Banana did mention, however, that they used to meet in their school cluster and discuss matters concerning teaching, and would invite an educator who had been trained by the language advisors to come and address their cluster meetings. Educator Banana mentioned that at least in those meetings they would examine an assessment

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language paper, and poetry would sometimes be part of that. However, the last time she could remember poetry being discussed in this way was a five-line poem discussed three years ago, so there was not much emphasis on poetry. All the educators stated that they receive training in language, but not in poetry. This puts new educators in a difficult situation, as they must use their own knowledge about poetry teaching. Educator Cherrie from School Hib responded:

In my school we have our own grade meetings where we tackle issues on each and subjects. Though we discuss poetry, but we do not go into so much detail. I do not know why. I think as from now I will be asking my colleagues that we should also try and help ourselves with regards to issues that we face. Poetry and reading are the main issues that we have in my school as the children do not want to read. I think this conversation and interview that we are having now is an eye opener for me as well. I am finding out a lot of things that help with teaching poetry.