ABSTRACT
As a graduate of the Spoken Word Education Programme (and accompanying master’s degree in creative writing and education) this author discusses the importance of spoken word education within the contemporary curriculum, both in the UK and New Zealand.
This chapter pulls together threads from their own study and two-year placement in a challenging East London secondary school as well as more recent findings as a result of removing this work from outside of the London area and relocating it to places where spoken word education is virtually unheard of. The author documents their experiences of the transformative power of spoken word education, the struggle that poet educators face to convince the authorities that this work is necessary, and the pitfalls of the role including how treading the line between teacher and poet can bring up difficulties as well as enriching pedagogies. This chapter will also look to the future, discussing how this practice may be sustainable, with a specific emphasis on the international scene, and how practitioners and educators might continue to grow and develop their work in spoken word.
