Teaching poems by authors of colour at key stage 3: categorising what is taught

This paper draws on a survey conducted in 2020–21 in which 163 secondary English teachers in England named a total of 68 individual poems by poets of colour from the global majority which they taught in Key Stage 3 (students aged 11–14). Using the concepts of framing and mental schemas, we categorised these poems by considering which was the most likely frame or theme under which they would be taught. The largest category was Identity (15 poems), followed by War and Conflict (12 poems) and Racism (11 poems). War and Conflict, together with Love and Relationships (7 poems) are categories which reflect GCSE groups of poems. We suggest that poems by global majority poets which are incorporated into the curriculum are likely to be largely framed as being about race or related issues. The exception is the “strong” framing of the GCSE clusters. We argue that this is a shortfall in the ways in which the curriculum is being diversified. We note the long shadow of “Poetry from Other Cultures” and suggest that we need both more poems from global majority authors and more variety in the themes which they explore.