Limitations of the case

The advantages of using the Well Versed project as a case study had to be weighed against the limitations that such a study presents. In reflecting critically on the choice of case study, I identified three potential limitations, each of which raised separate questions. The first and perhaps most significant of these is that the Well Versed project was

concerned specifically with the writing of poetry, rather than creative writing in general. This could be seen as a limiting factor since teachers’ experience of creative writing practice would focus on a particular area, rather than a wide variety of types of creative writing. This raises the question: can a case study that is concerned with the writing of poetry draw conclusions that are relevant to a wider view of creative writing? A response to this question is discussed below, following brief consideration of other questions raised by the limitations of the case study.

The second potential limitation that I considered was that the teachers involved in Well Versed may not represent a wide range of their professional peers. It is reasonable to assume that teachers who enrol on a Post Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing and who are prepared to work with a writer in their school to develop their own practice may have relatively positive attitudes towards creative writing. Their involvement in Well Versed may indicate a pre-existing interest in the subject, possibly enjoyment of creative writing and/or poetry, and perhaps some experience in this area. This raises a second question: can the learning gained through the study of such participants be meaningful when considering a broader range of teachers?

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The third potential limitation to consider was the fact that the participant group formed a cohort who were participating in an academic course of study. The course required them to submit both creative and critical writing which could form valuable data in the case study. However, it is possible that the responses that they make could be influenced by their desire to pass the course, and therefore could be seen as less valid as research data. Again, a question is raised: can the responses of the participants be trusted as valid data given the academic context that frames their experience?

I have reflected on each of these three potential limitations. In relation to the focus on poetry, I feel that this is not a serious limiting factor in designing an effective case study that responds to the research question. Poetry raises concerns and questions in relation to creative writing in the classroom (which are considered briefly here but in more detail in Chapters Five and Six), and the focus of the case study provides an opportunity to explore these issues through participants’ lived experience. As has been previously noted (1.2 above) poetry has been identified as ‘perhaps the most challenging from of writing’ that is encountered by learners in schools (Wilson, 2007: p.441); as the ‘hardest from of writing’ to teach (Grainger, 2005: p.80); and as the literary genre that is most problematic to define (Kroll, 2008: p.18). Poetry has received less attention than other literary forms in both the primary and the secondary curriculum, which has been attributed to both a focus on national testing and weaknesses in teachers’ knowledge about and experience of poetry (Ofsted, 2007: p.3; Cremin et al., 2008b: pp.456-457). This perhaps places the study as having particular relevance, since it addresses an area of identified need within teacher pedagogy and has the potential to contribute to developing knowledge about teachers’ responses to poetry in the classroom. Furthermore, as poetry is perceived by teachers to be the most difficult form to teach, it could be argued that research into this

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area will help to address some of the more difficult questions that may apply to other forms of creative writing practice.

The second potential limitation is participants’ predisposition to creative writing practice as demonstrated through their involvement in Well Versed. This would be a relevant concern if the main aim of the research were to examine how participants’ attitudes to creative writing affect their pedagogy. However, although attitudinal issues inevitably arise in qualitative research of this kind, the (probable) predisposition of participants to creative writing practice does not threaten the potential of the case study to address the research questions in this thesis. The research is concerned with considering how the experience and practice of creative writing influences teachers’ pedagogy in the classroom, and Well Versed provides an opportunity to study this phenomenon.

The third potential limitation – that participation in an academic course of study could have an effect on the data – is perhaps a more complex area. It may be the case, for example, that teachers’ reflective writing on their pedagogy, submitted as a course requirement, is designed to ensure that a good pass mark is achieved, rather than to reflect real and felt reflections on pedagogy. I believe that this is a valid concern. I have addressed this issue by designing the research so that research questions are examined from a number of angles; triangulation of data through interviews, focus groups and observations of practice is key to this, and the data set is described in detail later in this chapter.

The Well Versed project thus provides a ‘one-off chance’ to illuminate understanding about poetry writing within pedagogical practice through ‘depth of study’ (Denscombe, 2007: p.42). Although Well Versed can be seen as a unique project, the events that take

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place - creative writing practice and subsequent pedagogical development - are replicable. To this extent, the knowledge that is generated from the case study is generalisable on an analytical level.