Hollow Earth: new poems by new teachers

I am delighted to be able to publish Hollow Earth, a selection of new poems written by NTU Secondary English PGCE teachers following their visit to the inspiring Hollow Earth: Art, Caves and the Subterranean Imaginary exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary in January 2023.

The poems are written by a talented and enthusiastic group of new teachers who were supported by writer Peter Romney and Amanda Spruyt from the gallery. It was a pleasure for me to work with group on developing their poetry further at our writing workshop back at NTU the following week. The poet Judith Nicholls once commented “children need to know that adults too struggle with words” while National Literacy Trust research by Clark and Teravinen (2017) suggests that students who write because they enjoy it outperform students who dislike writing. Writing for pleasure is, therefore, a key thread on the NTU’s English PGCE journey. The fact that these new teachers were very willing to take risks and to try out different of ways of drafting new work bodes well for their future classroom practices and their writing lives.