Secondary English: No Place for Creativity? the Teachers' Answer to the Current Debate

Hare, Rachael, Crawshaw, Graihagh, NATE Classroom

The current debate

Lucy Hewitt's 'Teachit staffroom roundup' last June, condensed English teachers' responses to Leonara Klein's assertion that there is 'no place for creativity within the secondary English classroom'. Some teachers were outraged but some admitted, albeit a little hesitantly, that the current climate made this so.

A love for English; that's the simple reason most of us chose to study it and go on to teach it. How else to teach but creatively? Certainly training to work in the classroom is a hugely creative experience. Hands-on seminars for us included a multitude of exciting ideas all designed to help with 'getting writing going'--allowing students to get writing and to get creative. This was the stuff. This was why we entered the profession as English teachers.

The reality, what with curriculum commitments, government initiatives and the relentless nationwide drive for results, is ever-so-slightly less creative for many of us. Revision sessions, after-school tutoring and the exams themselves leave teachers less and less room to instil a sheer passion for reading and writing, or enjoy experimentation with personal, creative writing. Who knows, with the death of SATS perhaps will come the re-birth of creative writing for writing's sake for Year 9.

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Committed to avoiding such feelings, as the Subject Leader of English at Holland Park School in London, I found it possible to ensure …

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Publication information: Article title: Secondary English: No Place for Creativity? the Teachers' Answer to the Current Debate. Contributors: Hare, Rachael - Author, Crawshaw, Graihagh - Author. Magazine title: NATE Classroom. Issue: 10 Publication date: Spring 2010. Page number: 29+. © 2008 National Association for the Teaching of English. COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale Group.

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