This article explores the teaching of English poetry in two Gauteng high schools, one a suburban, former Model C school and another in Soweto. Both schools are attended predominantly by Black learners for whom English is not their first language. Nine in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with educators at the two schools. The choice of poems, pedagogy and assessment emerged as important themes in making poetry relevant and educational in South African schools. Writers from similar backgrounds, with common “race” or class-based identities, helped make poetry relevant, but were no guarantee that learners would relate to these poets. Teaching poetry was described as an intimidating experience both for learners and educators, resulting in many teachers retreating to the safe space of a defined set of teaching practices focused on figures of speech, literary devices and a line-by-line analysis of the poems. While some intentions existed to teach poetry in a way that encouraged a range of interpretations and possible answers to assessment questions, the standardised matric examination shaped pedagogical practices, as educators wanted to support learners to excel. These findings are interpreted in a post/decolonial context where a range of disparate “Englishes”, identities, learners and histories exist, and neoliberal education policies and practices increasingly standardise assessment processes, with implications for the teaching and learning of poetry.

中文翻译：

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“那是学校化的！” 课程、教学法和评估如何塑造黑人高中学生学科英语诗歌的教育潜力

本文探讨了豪登省两所高中的英语诗歌教学，一所是郊区的前 C 型学校，另一所在索韦托。这两所学校的主要学生都是以英语为母语的黑人学生。与两所学校的教育工作者进行了九次深入的半结构化访谈。诗歌的选择、教学法和评估成为使诗歌在南非学校具有相关性和教育意义的重要主题。来自相似背景的作家，具有共同的“种族”或基于阶级的身份，有助于使诗歌具有相关性，但不能保证学习者会与这些诗人产生联系。诗歌教学被描述为对学习者和教育者来说都是一种令人生畏的经历，导致许多教师退回到一套明确的教学实践的安全空间，这些实践侧重于修辞手法、文学技巧和对诗歌的逐行分析。虽然存在一些以鼓励对评估问题进行一系列解释和可能答案的方式教授诗歌的意图，但标准化矩阵考试塑造了教学实践，因为教育工作者希望支持学习者出类拔萃。这些发现在后/非殖民背景下被解释，其中存在一系列不同的“英语”、身份、学习者和历史，新自由主义教育政策和实践日益标准化评估过程，对诗歌的教学和学习产生影响。虽然存在一些以鼓励对评估问题进行一系列解释和可能答案的方式教授诗歌的意图，但标准化矩阵考试塑造了教学实践，因为教育工作者希望支持学习者出类拔萃。这些发现在后/非殖民背景下被解释，其中存在一系列不同的“英语”、身份、学习者和历史，新自由主义教育政策和实践日益标准化评估过程，对诗歌的教学和学习产生影响。虽然存在一些以鼓励对评估问题进行一系列解释和可能答案的方式教授诗歌的意图，但标准化矩阵考试塑造了教学实践，因为教育工作者希望支持学习者出类拔萃。这些发现在后/非殖民背景下被解释，其中存在一系列不同的“英语”、身份、学习者和历史，新自由主义教育政策和实践日益标准化评估过程，对诗歌的教学和学习产生影响。