This article assesses the impact over nine years of the "Mother Tongue Other Tongue" multilingual schools' poetry competition led by Carol Ann Duffy from Manchester Metropolitan University, in which over 35,000 pupils from 77 schools have participated to date. It reviews evidence from a 2019 evaluation of the project and from a project…

In 1998 the Northern Examination and Assessment Board selected the poem 'Nothing's Changed' by the South African writer Tatamkhulu Afrika as the last of its ten "Poems from Other Cultures and Traditions." Published in the NEAB "Anthology" (1998), 'Nothing's Changed' became a favourite at GCSE for its vivid depiction of…

Examines the location and status of poetry writing within an assessment-driven curriculum. Argues for the development of an assessment model that could remove the mystique surrounding poetry and establish it on an equal footing with prose text types in the National Curriculum for English. (SG)

Examines George Herbert's sonnet "Prayer" to argue for the integration of literary and linguistic approaches to the critical appreciation of poetry at both A/AS and university levels of the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). Presents a model analysis of the sonnet and discusses why its distinctive linguistic and literary features…

Argues that how and why a particular range of texts are selected, read, and taught determines the extent to which they contribute to a pupil's development. Shows how the teaching of John Keats's "Isabella or the Pot of Basil" and paintings by William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais meet the challenges of the new Order for English.…

States that Great Britain's National Curriculum pre-20th century list of prescribed authors is overloaded with unrealistic choices. Reports on a small-scale survey of actual choices made by teachers from this list. Calls for further research. Discusses teaching treatments of actual texts and makes a case for recognizing the work of the poet John…