Why Teach Creative Writing? Examining the Challenges of Its Pedagogies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the deeper purposes behind the teaching of creative writing. To extend an analogy created by William Blake in his poem ‘The Tyger’, its furnaces are examined and its ‘deadly terrors’ clasped. It re-interprets the different views of teaching English, as drawn up in the United Kingdom’s Cox Report. It argues that these views can be used to help pedagogues consider why they are teaching creative writing, design lessons and reflect upon practice. Significantly, it offers a contemporary reworking of the views. In brief, it suggests that different creative writing teachers aim to:

• Facilitate their students’ personal growth and healing

• Encourage the exploration of unknown topics ? Help their students sell their writing

• Connect them with significant texts and well-established creative writing processes and practices

• Foster critique about the world through their writing ? Cultivate profound learning

KEYWORDS:

• Creative writing
• teaching
• the Cox Report
• why teach creative writing
• creative writing and healing
• creative writing and activism
• creative writing and cultural heritage
• creative writing and the marketplace

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francis Gilbert

Francis Gilbert is a Lecturer in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is Head of MA Education Programmes and the MA in Creative Writing and Education as well as being course leader for PGCE English. He has taught creative writing for many years and has published novels, memoirs, social polemics and educational guides. Before becoming an academic, he worked for a quarter of a century in various English state schools teaching English, Drama and Media Studies to 11-18-year olds. He has appeared many times on radio and TV, including Newsnight, the Today Programme, Woman’s Hour and Channel 4 News. His most recent publications include the audiobooks of his novel Who Do You Love (Blue Door Press 2017) and educational commentary Analysis and Study Guide: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (FGI Publishing 2014) and ‘Different ways of descending into the crypt: methodologies and methods for researching creative writing’ co-authored with Dr. Vicky Macleroy for New Writing (July 2020).