THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY
Exploring Multicultural Poetry in British Columbia’s
and Ontario’s Secondary School Curricula
by
Subin Mathew

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF EDUCATION
KAMLOOPS, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
APRIL 2021

Thesis Examining Committee:
Dr. Manu Sharma, Thesis Supervisor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, TRU
Dr. Victoria Handford, Committee Member, Faculty of Education and Social Work, TRU
Dr. Jodi Latremouille, Committee Member, Faculty of Education and Social Work, TRU
Dr. Gloria Ramirez, Committee Member, Faculty of Education and Social Work, TRU
Dr. Hiawatha D. Smith, External Examiner, University of Wisconsin River Falls

© Subin Mathew, 2021

ABSTRACT
By adopting a critical pedagogy lens, and conducting a Textual Analysis, this thesis
examined the literatures on secondary school English Language Arts curricula of British
Columbia (BC), and English curricula of Ontario (ON). With the research question – how (if
at all) are the English Language Arts curricula of BC and the English curricula of ON that
focus on poetry, influenced by multiculturalism? – I studied the strengths and weaknesses of
both the curriculums, particularly with their focus on multiculturalism and presented the
implications of the limitations that emerged. The strengths of secondary school BC English
Language Arts curricula focused on multicultural poetry are; core competencies fostering
intercultural communication skills, big ideas nurturing empathy, collectivism, Freirean
critical consciousness and praxis, appreciation of First Peoples’ traditions, promotion of
social justice, flexibility and interdisciplinary space for teachers and students. The strengths
of secondary school ON English curricula focused on multicultural poetry are; student
autonomy, critical classroom discussions, and fostering of interpersonal and intrapersonal
skills. The study also assessed the implications of three major limitations: 1. lack of teacher
prompts and vagueness around the implementation of BC curricula, 2. Overcrowding of ON
curricula, and 3. Dearth of specific multicultural contents such as textbooks or resources for
classroom perusal. This study found that poetry within the curricula of BC and ON, is only
minimally influenced by multiculturalism. My thesis contributes to the English Language
Arts/English curricula of BC and ON, teacher education programs and to the larger discourse
of Canadian multiculturalism by providing suggestions for curriculum developers, policy
makers and teacher educators.
Keywords: Multiculturalism, poetry, secondary school, curricula

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I extend my deepest gratitude to Professor Manu Sharma
for being my constant source of knowledge and inspiration.

I thank Professor Jodi Latremouille for encouraging me
in the path of lifelong learning through Inquiry,
Professor Victoria Handford, and Professor Gloria Ramirez
for their support, encouragement, and feedback on my research.

I thank my parents, K.A. Mathew and Moly Mathew
for their endless support and love.
I am forever indebted to Sarabjit Kaur
for her love and appreciation.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract

p. ii

Overview of Chapters

p. 1

Chapter One: Introduction

p. 3

Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework

p. 16

Chapter Three: Methodology and Methods

p. 28

Chapter Four: Literature Review

p. 36

Chapter Five: Critical Examination of the British Columbia’s
and Ontario’s Poetry Curricula

p. 53

Chapter Six: Findings and Implications

p. 70

Chapter Seven: Significance, Limitations and the Way Forward

p. 86

References

p. 96

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OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS
This thesis is a conceptual study. Chapter One is an elaboration of my connection
with poetry, my positionality as a researcher, an outline of the research question, the framing
of the research, and the significance of this study.
Chapter Two is the detailed theoretical framework section. This section is divided
into two parts, the first part elaborates the concepts of critical pedagogy as theorized
originally by Paulo Freire. The second section will elaborate on the theme of social justice
and multiculturalism within critical pedagogy.
Chapter Three is the methodology section. This chapter is divided into three parts: I
introduce the reviewed curricula in the first part, followed by a description of Content
Analyses approach of the Textual Analyses methodology for data analyses. The third part is
my explanation of data source, sampling, and analysis strategies. In this chapter, I also
elaborate on the validity of my findings.
Chapter Four is the detailed literature review section. This chapter is divided into two
parts: the first part is a review of the curricular documents of BC and ON where I explore
how poetry is defined in the secondary school British Columbia English Language Arts
curricula, and the secondary school Ontario English curricula, and the second part is the
review of literatures on the multicultural aspects of poetry.
Chapter Five is a detailed analysis of the literature review. This is done based on the
concepts laid out in the theoretical framework section. The chapter is further divided into two
sections; first section is a thorough examination of the strengths of both the poetry curricula
wherein I look into the positive attributes regarding multiculturalism that the curriculums
have to offer, and the second section is a general outline of the limitations.

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Chapter Six addresses the implications of the existing gap within BC and ON
secondary school poetry curricula. This chapter delves into key limitations of the curricula,
their implications on the curricular practice and specifically connects these implications to
the greater discourse of multiculturalism through and within poetry.
Finally, Chapter Seven identifies the significance of the findings with respect to three
distinctive areas – on English Language Arts/ English curricula of BC and ON, on teacher
education programs, and on Canadian multiculturalism. This is followed by the limitations of
the study and the steps for future research.

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Chapter One
Introduction
Why poetry for this thesis?
…more of your sonnets,
your odes, your epic fests.
I do, but in smile gaze,
Heaven has it brought to my face;
All I wish is to die
in your powerful imagination;
And then my soul would be
in harmony with the creation. (Mathew, 2016)
It gives me immense joy to begin with a portion of my own poetry that I composed praising
William Wordsworth’s poems, that has inspired and continue to inspire me. Before
elaborating on the reason behind my research on poetry in curricula, I would like to reflect on
a few anecdotes from my early poetry writing days in order to establish my connection with
this art form and bring out the purpose of this conceptual thesis. I have loved poetry since
Grade eight, when I used to compose lyrical songs and sing those songs with my guitar in
school. However, it was not until my undergraduate college days that poetry composition and
recitation became an exciting and rewarding hobby to me. It was partly because I was a
student pursuing a degree in English literature, and poetry as an art form came very naturally
to me. I connected with the works of famous poets, such as Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge,
Donne, Lawrence and Shakespeare, to name a few.
Poetry is of a bright sun,
warmth on a winter street;
Poetry is of a butterfly,
beauty in a garden of flowers;
with its flickering charisma;
with its aura like stars;
The butterfly is the poet,
its beauty, its poetry. (Mathew, 2016)

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I was an average student obtaining average grade points for most of the courses while
pursuing a degree in English literature. It was during my second year, that for one of my
courses, I scored a lower grade for my assignments. The course was on Romanticism, and the
lower grade came as a huge disappointment, as I perceived and feared rejection to good
graduate schools. During the time before my final exams, I took to books, read Coleridge,
Wordsworth, Blake and other Romantic poets thoroughly. I went well prepared to write the
exam, and surprisingly, I not only scored good grades this time, I also started deeply
admiring these poets and their works, leading to my own birth as a poet. Wordsworth’s
romantic poems on nature brought me immense happiness and I started observing everything
around me with a poet’s eyes. I started to admire nature and became appreciative of all the
little things around me. I began writing with inspirations taken from my daily observations,
and not more than two years later from then, I published my first book of poems. This
incident happened in the latter half of 2014, and since then I have published two books, titled
‘Mirth of Poesy’ and ‘Drizzle and Zephyr’ respectively. The following is a stanza from Pablo
Neruda’s poem, which is also a prelude to how poetry became a passionate hobby for me.
And it was at that age ... Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me. (Neruda, 2005, p. 659)

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As joyful as those memories appear today, I admit there have been times when I have
faced difficulty in writing poems, as well as reading and comprehending poetry written by
other scholars. This struggle in understanding poetry, I believe, is partly because of the way it
was presented in the curriculum and partly because of how teachers taught this subject in the
classrooms. As a student, I noticed that the Indian English curricula, for most of its parts,
included foreign poets and their poetry instead of the poems from local poets. English
textbooks in India are often deemed to be inadequate because of the inclusion of poetry by
native English speakers, which appears to be linguistically difficult for the students and often
becomes culturally alien to them (Vinod, 2019). When students are exposed to this type of
poetry through their curricula, which holds no relevance to their own cultural setting, they
lose interest in their lessons. Both during my schooling and college days, many of my
classmates have admitted that poetry came with absolutely no excitement. Moreover, I am
aware of at least some of my friends struggling in the class to decipher even a stanza. I used
to wonder why poetry was even important within any language curricula. However, when I
started reading the works of other poets, I realised how poetry provides a fresh perspective to
my observations.
Furthermore, having been born and raised in India, a multicultural nation, I am
typically interested in multicultural poetry, which according to Tso (2011) is “a critical
abstraction in which poetry is classified by relation to a communal culture, history or
customs” (p. 221). I love poetry written by diverse members of the society, as well as poems
which are capable of promoting multiple perspectives, as I believe it can empathetically
position readers or listeners in diverse cultural contexts. Moreover, multicultural poetry for
me includes not only the poems that are composed by people hailing from diverse cultures,

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but it also constitutes various poetry presentation styles, which in many cases have different
cultural importance attached to them, such as haikus, pastoral poetry, slam poetry or
performance poetry.
Throughout my educational career, I have strongly believed that poetry, in both
writing and reciting, “frees students’ souls of the problems that may weigh them down”
(Desai & Marsh, 2005, p.80). While writing poetry helps students to make sense of their
emotions, reading or reciting connects them with the works of other poets. Michael Rosen
(2011), a poet and Children’s Laureate, says: “(poetry) expresses who we are, what we’ve
been and what we might be, and education should in part be about helping pupils do this too”
(p.21). Based on this belief, and my own experiences with poetry, I have chosen this topic to
study for my thesis.
Being an educator myself, I recognize an impactful curriculum must be a bridge
between the society and students, which in turn focusses on the development of the
individuals and the society. And it is with this belief, I intend to research poetry in
curriculum, in order to serve the students and the society alike. I strongly connect with the
Leggo’s (2018, p.73) views, that a “curriculum of poetry can transform our hearts,
imaginations, intellects and conversations”. Being a graduate student in the Master of
Education program in Canada and intending to serve a multicultural world through the
learnings from this country which has welcomed me wholeheartedly, this research is
primarily focussed on multicultural poetry within the English Language Arts/English
curriculums of two provinces of Canada – British Columbia (BC) and Ontario (ON).
Throughout my thesis, I will be referring to multicultural poetry within the English Language
Arts/English curriculums of BC and ON as ‘poetry curricula’ of the respective provinces.

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Positionality
According to Bourke (2014), positionality in research is representative of a space
wherein amalgamation of objectivism and subjectivism takes place. This means that in
research, however objective a researcher tries to become, the element of one’s own
subjectivity cannot be left behind. My positionality emanates from two aspects, first, my
urban background, and second, my experience abroad, both of which provides me privilege
as a researcher in the field of education. As a heterosexual, cisgender, racialized brown male
from India, my upbringing in an urban metropolitan city makes me proficient in the usage of
English language, connects me to diverse western and eastern cultures, and is the foundation
of my experience with international humanitarian aid bodies. Furthermore, being a graduate
in Bachelor of Arts (BA) English literature and having published two poetry books based on
observations and reflections, I wear the hat of an author. By writing about social themes and
addressing social issues through my work, I also consider myself to be socially responsible
and empathetic. This is primarily because through my poems I repeatedly emphasize the
importance of being empathetic in a multicultural world. Another privilege I have is the high
quality of education, as my academic success with the Master of Arts (MA) Educational
Planning and Administration degree, enabled me to be a humanitarian aid worker in
Afghanistan, where I was exposed to a different cultural setting. Furthermore, my higher
education abroad in Canada, and my courses in this multicultural setting, have helped me to
empathetically position myself with further different racial and linguistic identities. Thus, my
upbringing in India, one of the most diverse countries in the world, and my experiences in

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Afghanistan and Canada, have made me secular and appreciative of plurality in the society;
this positionality helps me connect freely to this research setting.
Purpose and Research Question
The purpose of this thesis is to conduct a critical conceptual study of British
Columbia's Secondary School English Language Arts curricula (BCELAC) and Ontario’s
Secondary School English curricula (ONEC) by exploring and analysing multicultural poetry
within the curricular documents through a critical pedagogy lens. The goal of this study is to
examine, if any, the lack of multicultural based poetry and the implications that follow. My
research topic is – Exploring Multicultural Poetry in British Columbia’s and Ontario’s
Secondary School Curricula. The research question for this study is:
§

How (if at all) are the high school English Language Arts curricula of British
Columbia (BC) and the English curricula of Ontario (ON) that focus on poetry,
influenced by multiculturalism?

Framing of this Research
In this section, I will explore the two most important aspects regarding the framing of
my research topic. First and foremost, I will elaborate the reasons behind the selection of
secondary school curricula from two distinctive provinces: BC English Language Arts
curriculums and ON English curriculums, in particular. And secondly, I will focus on the
elements of multicultural poetry that frames my research question.
The reason behind the selection of secondary school poetry curricula is primarily
because of Grades 9-12 students, who are in their crucial adolescence stage. EduCanada
(2020) gives a general outline of secondary schooling in Canada, and observes that in most
Canadian provinces, Grades 9 to 12 students comprise of secondary school going students.

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Furthermore, even though there is a conundrum in defining this developmental period with
respect to a definite age group, taking account of the maturation of behaviours, and identity
and relationship development factors, high school students falling in the latter half of
adolescence are in a crucial stage of building essential skills for life (Sisk & Romeo, 2020;
Somerville, 2016; Sawyer, Azzopardi, Wickremarathne & Patton, 2018). Educators are
‘frontline workers’ when it comes to dealing with the experiences of adolescents and their
growing to maturation, both inside and frequently outside the school. This is precisely where
poetry within the curricula helps. Arenas (2018) argue that poetry plays a significant role in
fostering identity and meaning to the lives of secondary school students.
Poetry becomes a tool for educators to connect with their students, and through
writing and reciting poems, they are able to create a space for students to articulate their
feelings and thoughts (Desai & Marsh, 2005; Arenas, 2018). Davis (2018) argues that slam
poetry, for instance, is an effective means for these students to apprehend their identities and
is instrumental in creating social space for them to explore the flow of their emotions. This
means that at a stage where students are constantly in the middle of understanding their
position in the society by introspecting their role amongst their peers and society at large,
poetry acts as a platform for them to regulate the array of emotions they experience. Poetry
can support their personal growth in a multicultural society and thus, secondary school
curricula becomes an important area in this research.
The purpose behind the selection of BC and ON curriculums has both academic and
personal reasons. My first point of arrival in Canada and my brief interaction with the
education system here, connects me well with the province of BC. At the time of writing this
thesis, I am a graduate student in BC and my interactions with the schoolteachers as well as

9

my university professors here has connected me more to the education system of this
province.
Ontario on the other hand is the province I have known from the experiences of my
relatives who are settled there as second-generation Canadians and who have actively
interacted with the education system of the province. Moreover, I have always admired the
works of certain modern-day poets from Ontario; Margaret Atwood, Najwa Zebian and Rupi
Kaur, to name a few. Additionally, poetry is a prescribed content area within the purview of
both BC English Language Arts Curriculums and ON English Curriculums. Poetry is noted
in the documented versions of these curriculums as an important area and pursuing poetry
within the English classrooms is regarded as a necessary criterion towards the attainment of
credits. Another significant reason behind the selection of the curricula from these two
provinces is that, ON and BC being two larger provinces from central and western Canada
respectively, are top performers in Education among the rest of the provinces and territories
of Canada (The Conference Board of Canada, 2014), and by being different geographically,
economically and in relation to immigration rates, they together serve as representatives of
Canada in many ways.
The second aspect, that of multicultural poetry, is a vital component in the framing of
this thesis. I intentionally chose multicultural poetry over any other type of poetry because it
helps in addressing social issues such as sexism and classism and develops literacy in
meeting social justice goals (McCall, 2004). Multicultural poetry also includes indigenous
poetry alongside poetry from other cultures. I must make it clear though, that with
multicultural poetry, I not only refer to the poems that are written by diverse community
members or that which hails the diversity aspect of a country, rather multicultural poetry is

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also a terminology that includes different cultural forms of poetry, such as pastoral poetry,
haikus, slam poetry or written poetry, all of which as Xerri (2012, p.68) argues, promote
“intercultural competencies”. Moreover, as multiculturalism itself is a bigger terminology
that includes varied sexual orientations, religious affiliations, gender identities, people
coming together from different nationalities and having varied abilities (Breunig, 2016)
multicultural poetry too is a term that encompasses all these cultural diversities.
Multiculturalism is also linked to critical pedagogy, which is the lens taken for this research
and will be discussed separately in the theoretical framework section. In what follows, I will
briefly explain the importance of multicultural poetry and how it connects to Canadian
multiculturalism, due to its importance in the framing of this research.
The Library of the Parliament of Canada defines multiculturalism in three distinctive
ways – in terms of its sociological reality, the ideological dimension to it, and
multiculturalism as a policy (Brosseau & Dewing, 2009).
As a sociological fact, multiculturalism refers to the presence of people from diverse
racial and ethnic backgrounds. Ideologically, multiculturalism consists of a relatively
coherent set of ideas and ideals pertaining to the celebration of Canada's cultural
diversity. At the policy level, multiculturalism refers to the management of diversity
through formal initiatives in the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal domains.
(Brosseau & Dewing, 2009, p.1)
Due to the presence of diverse backgrounds, multicultural education is crucial for a convivial
culture in Canada. Xerri (2012) states that multicultural poetry and education is important in
multicultural nations such as Canada because the very idea of multiculturalism requires the
dominant cultural groups in the society to dismiss their superiority manifestations.
Poetry itself can be found in numerous forms involving a variety of elements to offer
for its audience or readers. Hanauer (2003) states that poetry within a classroom comes with

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multileveled meanings for individuals hailing from diverse backgrounds, and there exist
instances of contact between individualized experiences. This means that as much as a poem
is an expression of its creator’s experience, it also promotes shared experiences among
members of diverse groups. This is why Hanauer (2003) states that poetry promotes unity
within diverse societies. For instance, a war poem taught in the classroom may not only bring
out elements of history, but also may be instrumental in highlighting the challenges of the
present-day society to which students from multicultural backgrounds can easily relate.
Wood & Gilbert (2005) point out that Canadian multiculturalism is not only
comprised of political and cultural pluralism, but it is also a social reality encompassing
demographically plural and diverse cultures within the society. This means that although
Canada is comprised of diverse cultures, including the diversity within Aboriginal cultures
and the cultural plurality of the colonial settlers, the diverse cultures of the immigrants from
all over the world come together with the existing cultures and newer cultures forming from
the intermingling of two or more cultures. Since multiculturalism in Canada is a sociological
reality, has an ideological dimension to it, and is an official policy, I strongly consider the
provincial curricula should incorporate multiculturalism in its poetry content area. Thus, for
the purpose of this study, multicultural poetry encompasses two main features: first it covers
the wide range of multicultural forms of expressions of poetry, and second, it is a thesis on
multiculturalism embodying the structural aspects of multiculturalism.
Statement of the Problem
It is indeed difficult to do a curriculum analysis, particularly when curriculum itself is
believed to be non-static at every point of time, as well as a blend of both taught and
untaught discourses (Eisner, 2002; Ornstein & Hunkins, 2018) leaving a researcher with the

12

mystery of dealing with what constitutes apt knowledge to be studied within curricula or to
be included during a curricular reform (Apple, 2008). Indeed, curriculum is not just a
document, rather a sum total and beyond, of everything associated with the educational
discourse, including the common discourses within a classroom, the hidden curriculum and
the less adopted or excluded standpoints otherwise known as null curriculum (Eisner, 2002).
Despite this vastness and uncertainty, I believe the importance of a curriculum analysis is to
evaluate its accomplishments and address the gaps that are present within an implemented
curriculum.
With respect to the provincial curriculums of English in BC and ON, a study into the
elements of multiculturalism in its contents is of vital importance. This is primarily because
of Canada’s policy on multiculturalism. It is a country appreciative of diversity. One could
imagine that the literary content within the provincial curriculums in Canada, a country that
officially adopted multiculturalism in 1985, as documented under the Canadian
Multiculturalism Act of 1985 (Government of Canada, 2021) would be pluralistic and would
favour contents from diverse backgrounds.
However, according to Young (2001), the inclusion of Canadian multiculturalism into
the provincial curriculums with respect to the literary contents is a gradual process which
takes a step-by-step course often neglecting and marginalizing many local artists in the
process. This also means that the content which is already included in the curricula as the
voice of a marginalised community, has taken a longer timeframe to make its place within
the pedagogy taught in the classrooms. One could also assume by this then that the
mainstream voices are no doubt always capable of silencing the vulnerable voices and not

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bringing them into light. This is why a critical pedagogy lens is the most apt lens in analysing
these curriculums.
Furthermore, Joshee et al. (2016) notes that Canadian multiculturalism in education
has shifted from what was expected to be ‘meaningful inclusion’, based on the inclusion of
identities and values of diverse people, to a very different positioning of minorities as having
some sorts of deficits, in urgent need of addressing. While the idea itself of multiculturalism
in Canada has changed to an idea of assimilation rather than acceptance as is (Gumiran,
Solano & Abiera, 2021; Aoki, 2019), I believe the need to study the presence of
multiculturalism in English curriculums become more important to delve into the aspects of
equity and other strategies pertaining to inclusive education. My vision for multiculturalism
embraces social justice as a key component in the society. In a globalised world, where
people migrate from one place to another, understanding and acknowledging dissimilarities is
the key for social justice and equity. Thus, studying the existing situation in Canada with
respect to multiculturalism in curriculums is vital because of the context we are located in.
Significance of the Study
This study delves into multicultural poetry found in the secondary school English
Language Arts curricula of BC and the English curricula of ON. The lens used for this study
is the critical pedagogical lens. My thesis studies multicultural poetry from the secondary
school curricular documents of BC and ON and explores the inclusion of multicultural
poetry, and gaps (if any) present and their respective implications. This study is significant
for English Language Arts/English curricula of BC and ON in particular, for teacher
education programs, and to Canadian multiculturalism in general.

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The major contributions of this research to the fields of Language Arts, Education and
Sociology are: 1. The existing curricular content pertaining to multicultural poetry and
multicultural forms of poetry will be highlighted and reviewed, 2. With respect to social
justice, how the curricular content is implemented, and how it empowers students and
teachers towards a multicultural society, will be another focus area which will be observed
from a critical pedagogy lens. Both of these contributions are important for students,
educators, as well as for the society in general, because the findings from the study will
further aid curriculum developers, policy makers and teacher educators to envision an
improved classroom discourse within the Canadian multicultural setting.

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Chapter Two
Theoretical Framework
Introduction
I study poetry in curriculums from a critical pedagogy (CP) framework. According to
McLaren (2002), in practice, diverse concepts make up critical pedagogy. Thus, a concise
definition to CP is always at the risk of failing the multiplicity of its meaning.
Critical pedagogy is theoretically grounded; realizes that there is no such thing as a
neutral education; is aware of the political nature of education; does not view
education and life itself from a reductionistic or a deterministic point of view; seeks
to comprehend the link between knowledge and power; is contextually attentive;
promotes human rights, justice, and democracy; is a process of transformation; is a
way of thinking; pays attention to gender, class, race, and ethnicity issues and its
relationship with oppression/liberation; moves both teacher and student in a
horizontal relationship as subjects; challenges the status quo; and is continuously
evolving (Kirylo, 2011, p. 217).
Critical pedagogy was originally introduced by Freire (1970), who theorised that social
injustice is prevalent in the education system and the society at large and could be addressed
when both teachers and students share responsibilities and actively partake in the process of
education. He urges the need for teachers to drift away from the traditional role of teacher
authoritarianism within the classrooms. The above-mentioned definition by Kirylo (2011)
strongly represents Freirean notions of critical pedagogy, wherein education is linked with
politics, and pedagogy in general, is expected to overcome societal oppression.
Education is a moral and political practice whose purpose is not only to introduce
students to the great reservoir of diverse intellectual ideas and traditions but also to
engage those inherited bodies of knowledge through critical dialogue, analysis, and
comprehension. (Giroux, 2009 p. 245)
Education is a process that connects students to diverse ideas while encouraging them
critically engage with those ideas and bodies of knowledge during the teaching-learning

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process. Critical pedagogues do not uphold the mere acceptance of inherited knowledge,
rather they focus on critical evaluation, dialogue and comprehension as methods to engage
with the available bodies of knowledge.
The proponents of the CP theory, such as but not limited to, Paulo Freire, Henry
Giroux and Peter McLaren, amongst many others have all resonated with the notion of
critical analysis, reflection, and action, that challenges how knowledge is transmitted in a
passive way in the education process. Freire (1970) theorizes the importance of
conscientization – a process where students are fostered with the greater ability of critical
reflection which in turn induces learning. Giroux (2002) addresses how this can be achieved
for students by encouraging teachers to become “transformative intellectuals” – who
recognise educational institutions as cultural, social and economic zones that are inextricably
attached to politics and power. Transformative intellectuals who have the ability to recognize
the multiple facets in which their educational institutions are placed, are able to reform the
traditional schooling practices and help students “overcome economic, political and social
injustices” by facilitating critical reflection in classrooms (Giroux, 2002, p. 3). This is a very
crucial element in critical pedagogy as teachers who foster the ability of critical reflection in
students, prepare them to recognize and take action towards social and political injustices.
Both teachers and students can then be called agents of social justice.
By extension of the CP dialogue, McLaren (2006) emphasizes the theme of social
justice and urges critical educators to promote cross-cultural learning in schools, and in doing
so address issues of race, class, gender, power, culture and other intersectional issues.
Critical educators (should) develop a multicultural curriculum and pedagogy that
attends to the specificity (in terms of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) of
difference (which is in keeping with ludic postmodernism) yet at the same time

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addresses the community of diverse others under the law with respect to guiding
referents of freedom and liberation (McLaren, 1995, p. 210).
However, McLaren (1995) is also cautious of the narratives that teachers include within their
pedagogues and brings forth the importance of multiple narratives from societal members,
students as well as teachers to be included in the pedagogy.
Thus, themes of social justice and multiculturalism are deeply rooted in the CP
theory. For the purposes of this thesis, I will be focussing on social justice and
multiculturalism as two key themes of critical pedagogy. In this chapter, I will first elaborate
on critical pedagogy as originally theorized by Freire (1970), and then I will briefly cover the
concepts of Giroux (1997) and McLaren (2006) which are deeply rooted in social justice and
cultural pluralism.
Genesis
Paulo Freire’s work is at the heart of all the adherents of critical pedagogy. Freire
(1970) in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed puts forth a key premise for the theorists of critical
pedagogy, that of humans being inherently unfree and oppressed in a planet rife with power
and prejudice. Within this scenario, the goal of education for Freire is not just a mere
integration of the ‘oppressed’ into the mainstream society, rather he wishes the
transformation of the structure of education itself. Freire categorizes two groups of people in
the society, ones who are dominant and others who are subjugated in any possible way. The
oppression within education, in the most relatable terms, is the denial of knowledge.
Education for the dominant groups is the indoctrination of the learners so that they can
“adapt to the world of oppression” (Freire, 1970, p.78). The understanding here is that
dominant groups in society lead education and promote it amidst non-dominant groups, in a

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way they deem it to be fit. This can be oppressive, with the paradox being, education
becoming a hindrance in the complete development of a learner. A learner is reduced into
acquiring knowledge which is refined by those who do not want these learners to come up to
an equal or even higher status than themselves.
Furthermore, Freire (1970) also puts forth the famous ‘banking concept’ within
educational practice. He states that often learners are reduced to become depositories of the
instructors, and these instructors tend to “fill them” with partial and select knowledge. As in
the banks, instructors are the depositors, and they are in full control of their wealth which
they impart to these students. Students being the accounts are oppressed under the teachers’
knowledge. This is harmful as learners do not have a say in the process of their learning and
they are deprived of their true knowledge of the reality.
To achieve this end (domination), the oppressors use the banking concept of
education in conjunction with a paternalistic social action apparatus, within which the
oppressed receive the euphemistic title of "welfare recipients”. (Freire, 1970, p.74)
The underlying problem here is that learners are directed into one direction of becoming
“welfare recipients” of the society. The fear of them knowing more and being critical of the
societal and political actions is often taken care of by the banking approach. Teachers can
feed the young minds with what is often perceived to be mandatory for the societal welfare.
Freire (1970) calls this an oppression generating system. Students are not encouraged to
become critical thinkers. In this way instructors achieve what the dominant groups would
want from these learners.
For Freire, a solution to this is in critical pedagogy. In the Pedagogy of the City,
Freire (1993) points out that education should aim at the creation of autonomy and
opportunity for everyone, and knowledge should then originate from the experience learners

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gain. Knowledge creation calls for the critical study of the reality to which students belong.
Freire (1970) puts forth the concept of critical consciousness and dialogue as key in bringing
students out of their oppressed state. Critical consciousness is a method of learning by
perceiving one’s social realities and political contradictions, and further based on this
understanding of the oppressive reality, take action for change. Critical consciousness
“should reach everyone regardless of their personal path” (Freire, 1970, p.159) and this alone
transitions to praxis or an amalgamation of reflection and action which is pointed out by
Freire as a vital aspect of the CP theory.
Critical pedagogy is built on the notion of praxis (Freire, 1970). Freire (1993)
emphasizes on the importance of the unification of what is said, as well as the reflection and
action taken on what is said. This means that for the liberation of minds through education,
action as well as the recognition of the significance of action is important. Furthermore, this
also means that critical pedagogy itself aims to be a merger of theory with practice, and not
exclusively the elitism of theory or the non-conjuncture of the practice with the theory
(Freire, 1993).
The second major component of critical pedagogy is dialogue, which resonates with
the inquiry-based Socratic dialogue. In critical pedagogy, dialogue is a critical instrument for
both teachers and students to become co-investigators of knowledge (Freire, 1970). This is
where critical pedagogy gains its popularity, and in doing so embraces the aim of education,
wherein the underlying element of critical consciousness, that which is nurtured through
dialogue, merges with action to bring about the change envisioned by the theorists.
Critical consciousness can be encouraged among learners when teachers become
participants of the learning process. Freire (1970) states,

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Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to
exist, and a new term emerges teacher-student with students-teachers. The teacher is
no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue
with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. (p. 80)
The idea here is the creation of autonomy and the rejection of authority within our
educational practises. Teachers are invited by Freire to promote freedom among students.
Dialogue can induce critical consciousness, as teachers and students equally take part in the
educational process. Authority of teachers is reduced for the common goal of freedom in
learning. Both teachers and students become active partakers of the learning process, and
both critically address various issues pertaining to the social and political reality.
Critical Pedagogy and Social Justice
Social justice is a deeply rooted theme within critical pedagogy. Giroux (2016) states,
Critical pedagogy insists that one of the fundamental tasks of educators is to make
sure that the future points the way to a more socially just world, a world in which
critique and possibility—in conjunction with the values of reason, freedom, and
equality—function to alter the grounds upon which life is lived. (p. 4)
This means that the very idea of critical reflection and action through critical pedagogy
aimed at bringing about change makes a ‘socially just world’ possible. Critical pedagogy
highlights education as a political intervention and in doing so envisions the possibility of
social transformation (Freire, 1970).
While reckoning the possibilities for social change, Giroux (1997) solicits students
and teachers to question themselves as they begin practically exploring the theory of critical
pedagogy. These questions form a communion between the theory as is, and the notion of
praxis. Giroux (1997, p.28) asks, (a) What are the areas that count as knowledge? (b) How
can knowledge be produced? (c) How can knowledge be validated? (d) to which sections of

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the society is knowledge most handy? (e) How is information circulated within classrooms?
(f) In what all manner social relationships that exist within classrooms function to produce
relationships in the larger community? (g) How do the existing models of assessment
validate the existing knowledge bodies? (h) What are the existing disagreements between
various forms of knowledge and the reality that it is derived from?
These questions are important because they rescue critical pedagogy from the dangers
of elitism in education – the question of relevance of knowledge on one hand and the
overshadow of an educator’s personal or cultural identity within the knowledge body on the
other (McLaren, 1995). From this perspective, critical pedagogy delves into the creation of
knowledge and questions existing knowledge bodies, while also analysing the connection of
existing knowledge to power related influences in the society. This means that students and
teachers through critical pedagogy are expected to reflect on the existing forms of
knowledge, which open up the way(s) into understanding of societal differences. This
introduces students to the dominant and subordinate cultures, as well as prepares them
against hegemony – the exercise of maintenance of domination by the dominant groups over
the others as a result of social practices (McLaren, 2001).
Giroux (2004) states that in critical pedagogy, teachers form a radical pedagogy that
aims at social justice by connecting knowledge, values and social relations to power and
empowering students to expand their understanding of democracy. Furthermore, Giroux
(2004) also points out that critical pedagogy is democratic in nature and raises central
questions about the society such as: “What is the relationship between social justice and the
distribution of public resources and goods? What are the conditions, knowledge and skills
that are a prerequisite for political agency and social change?” (p. 34). Giroux (2020) argues,

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How students experience the world and speak to that experience is always a function
of unconscious and conscious commitments, of politics, of access to multiple
languages and literacies—thus experience always has to take a detour through theory
as an object of self-reflection, critique, and possibility (p. 10)
The connection of ideas to the larger world, one’s experiences and self-reflection are
important concepts in Giroux’s critical pedagogy. Giroux also adds to Freire’s work on CP
by the theorisation of critical pedagogy with the addition of cultural studies, aiming the goal
of democracy and citizenry through the amalgamation of cultural studies with critical
pedagogy (Kellner, 2001). In Giroux’s words,
Culture is the site where young people and others imagine their relationship to the
world; it produces the narratives, metaphors, and images for constructing and
exercising a powerful pedagogical force over how people think of themselves and
their relationship to others (Giroux, 2000, as cited in Kellner, 2001, p. 233)
By envisioning culture with critical pedagogy, Giroux has anticipated the possibility
of providing competencies to teachers and students alike, in recognizing, analyzing and being
critical of dominant cultures that are oppressive agents. Kellner (2001) states that Giroux’s
critical pedagogy can foster resistance whilst also maintaining a democratic and egalitarian
society. This means that Giroux’s vision of critical pedagogy empowers teachers to become
cultural workforces, and students to learn important notions of resistance and resilience. In
other words, through the inclusion of cultural studies in critical pedagogy, Giroux efforts to
address the issue of cultural politics – students are able to learn the interplay of the dominant
and subordinate cultures which in turn allows to understand the importance of equity and
equality in the society. This is important for social justice, as by understanding cultural
politics through education, students and teachers are able to become cultural workforces and
work towards a society free of oppression.

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Critical Pedagogy and Multiculturalism
The focus of Giroux’s critical pedagogy is primarily on cultural reproduction through
pedagogy, which is a function deriving from the distinctions within cultural capital
(McLaren, 2002). Cultural capital holds a broad meaning encompassing any cultural
background, artifacts of cultural relevance, ways of talking, language practice, gestures and
so many other cultural carriers, which are handed over between generations (McLaren,
2002). By focusing on cultural reproduction stemming from the difference in cultural capital,
Giroux’s theorisation of critical pedagogy endeavours in fostering cultural competencies
within classrooms. These cultural competencies are an important step towards nurturing
interpersonal skills and this indeed is an important route towards fostering multiculturalism
in classrooms and through classrooms, the larger society. Furthermore, Breunig (2016) also
states that cultural competencies, when fostered within classrooms, further cultivate social
justice competencies that go beyond the borders of cultural sets and develop interpersonal
skills among students. This invite and encourages an expanded view of the socioeconomic
classes in the society, positive considerations of varied sexual orientations, religious
affiliations, gender identities, nationalities and abilities.
Giroux builds on Freirean critical pedagogy with a discussion on two objectives in
educations – macro and micro objectives (Giroux, Freire & McLaren, 1988). While micro
objectives are content bound, and related to the inclusion of specifics in classroom, macro
objectives are deeper connections that grow out of micro objectives and connect with the
larger society (McLaren, 2002). For instance, if the learning of dates and factual content is
classified as micro objectives of a particular area of study, the connection and meaning

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formation of this factual content with their reality is what Giroux upholds as macro
objectives within the educational process.
McLaren (2002) points out that macro objectives within critical pedagogy should be
centred on providing students with the ability to assess the cultural, social and political
grounds of the society. This can foster multiculturalism as students are then nurtured with the
ability to understand various cultures, know how different cultures co-exist with others, and
learn the positioning of different cultures in the society.
The goal of a common culture is born out of a modernist legacy of trying to own
knowledge, control knowledge…It is born out of the legacy of imperialism that
privileges the “high” culture of the Western Enlightenment (McLaren, 2006, p. 150)
The inclusion of cultural pedagogy in schools means the production of alternate subjectivities
in the struggles for social justice (Kellner, 2001). By learning about and critically reflecting
on different cultures in classrooms, students and teachers recognize the real-time struggles
being faced by different cultural groups, which in turn encourages awareness and action that
strives for social justice. Cultural reproduction that takes place in classrooms, as well as the
acknowledgement of cultural dissimilarities through the practice of critical pedagogy, makes
a multicultural world possible.
Along these lines of culture, the framework of critical pedagogy is rooted in the
principles of social justice and multiculturalism. Breunig (2016) states that praxis by Freire is
social justice oriented: action taken based on critical consciousness should be relevant for the
society, without limiting or controlling the freedom of others. Giroux’s macro objectives of
education through critical pedagogy, is rooted in the principle of political consciousness,
which promotes social justice and multiculturalism by fostering cultural competencies
(McLaren, 2002; Kellner, 2001). From this framework, it should not be left without saying,

25

knowledge when created with a deeper understanding of the political and social realities
promotes justice in the world, and further makes a multicultural world possible.
It can thus be said that critical pedagogy aims at creating a more just world. Even
though this theory is political, its focus lies on ending authoritarianism and fascism,
promoting autonomy and access to knowledge to everyone (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 2020)
which is an essential aspect for democracy. This way, critical pedagogy is well suited in the
modern century, particularly in the context of Canada, where democracy is the main political
structure of the nation.
One of the main philosophical critiques of critical pedagogy is that it is not possible
to always negate the original idea of authoritarianism and dogma in education. Martusewicz
(2001) points out that the process of substituting one major ideology – often the ones with
political outcomes – with another rooted in liberation of thought, is only a mere substitution
of one authoritarian principle with another. This means that often students and teachers,
while producing knowledge and meaning through the process of collective consciousness,
succumb to another dogma and replace what needs to be replaced with some newer or
different ideological perspective. This new replacement is referred to as the “regime of truth”
(Gore, 1993, as cited in Martusewicz, 2001, p. 5) which brings back the idea of
indoctrination, that was negated in the first place with the fundamental idea of critical
pedagogy.
I believe the original Freirean critical pedagogy overcomes this philosophical concern
by recommending not only the communion of theory and praxis, but also by focusing on the
element of humility in practice. Moreover, the notion of Dialogic Praxis, that Freire (1970)
puts forth, that “teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself

26

taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. (p. 80)” is
also very relevant in avoiding indoctrination and dogmatic practices in education.
For Freire, action is not the complete reversal of the political structure with a similar
dominating structure, rather critical pedagogy is founded on the notions of humility and
reconciliation. The framework outlined in this chapter from Giroux’s point of view is then, I
argue, also rooted in the structure of social justice and multiculturalism. The combined
framework from these two most important critical pedagogy theorists – Freire and Giroux
form my rebuttal to this philosophical critique. Thus, as Breunig’s (2016) notes, one cannot
be completely free of institutional restrictions while enacting critical pedagogy for social
justice and multiculturalism, however, when the theory and praxes are in communion, it is
definitely worth the effort for the world we live in.
Summary
To summarize, this chapter elaborated on the key ideas within the framework of
critical pedagogy, which is the theoretical framework I use is this study. Critical pedagogy as
originally theorised by Freire was discussed in this chapter followed by the themes of social
justice and multiculturalism. For the critical examination of the poetry curricula, I will be
focussed on the themes of social justice, democracy and citizenry, and multiculturalism from
the theoretical framework of critical pedagogy. The next section offers literature reviews for
this thesis that synthesize literature on poetry in the high school English language arts
curriculums that emerge from British Columbia and Ontario.

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Chapter Three
Methodology and Methods
Introduction
This research uses a qualitative approach for analysing the curricular documents of
BC and Ontario. Creswell (2014) defines qualitative approach in research as an inductive
style of knowledge creation, wherein a researcher explores, understands and interprets
meaning ascribed to the data. The research question guiding this study is – how (if at all) are
the high school English Language Arts curricula of British Columbia (BC) and the English
curricula of Ontario (ON) that focus on poetry, influenced by multiculturalism? This chapter
is divided into three segments; in the first part, I introduce the BC and ON curriculums,
followed by an introduction to the methodology used in this thesis, Text Analysis, the key
data analysis technique adopted in this study. The third part includes my sampling details and
research procedures, followed by a brief summary of the chapter.
Overview of the Curriculums reviewed
BC and ON curriculums both mention poetry as an integral part of the English
Language Arts (ELA). While the new BC curricula has been implemented since 2015
(Storey, 2017), the Ontario English curricula has been in effect since 2007 (Ontario Ministry
of Education, 2018). The curriculum model of BC is designed with three elements that
promote learning among students. These three elements are: Content, which is focussed on
the topics that students will comprehend by the end of their course; Competencies, that
students are expected to perform in their day-to-day lives and add on to their skillset; and Big
Ideas, that students will explore as their understanding beyond the scope of the grade level
they are in (Storey, 2017; British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015). The most

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important aspect of these three elements is in their integration with each other (see figure 1)
and with the general aim of education as prescribed within the BC education system.

Figure 1: BC curriculum model containing three interlinking concepts: Big Ideas, Curricular
Competency and Content. (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015)
This general model of the BC curriculums for every student in kindergarten to Grade
12 is based on three elements: first, identifying core competencies which contain social,
emotional, intellectual and individual-focused proficiencies in the form of quality education

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for empowering students, so that they can further contribute to an educated, critical thinking,
co-operative and productive society; second, the curriculums aim at cultivating higher-order
thinking embodying the societal aspirations in the century we live in; and third, the BC
curriculums aim at promoting literacy and numeracy with a focus on critical analysis of dayto-day events as well as promoting problem solving skills within multiple environments
(British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015). Furthermore, BCELAC is premised on
constructivism (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018), which is focused on the
construction of knowledge by active involvement of students in the process of learning.
The Ontario English curriculums are founded on the principle of the importance of
learning language for becoming self-motivated and rational citizens. The curriculums
recognize that students hail from a variety of backgrounds and bring a “unique set of
perspectives, strengths, and needs” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a, p. 5) to the
classroom. Ontario’s English curriculum is premised on diversity and the realisation that
rewarding careers for the students alone should not be the outcome of education, rather the
focus should be on helping students to become citizens of a global society appreciating
diversity and pursuing critical learning (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a).
Textual Analysis: Content Analyses Approach
In McKee’s (2001, p.3) words, “textual analysis is a methodology: a way of gathering
and analysing information in academic research”. Textual analysis is the data analysis
strategy of this study which adheres to the definition by Bauer, Bicquelet & Suerdem (2014);
“Text analysis aims to explain the life-world within which the text is embedded; to
open up the perspective of the author that is delineated by their social and cultural
context and to draw attention to the structural aspect of everyday practices and
meaning patterns.” (p. xxii)

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In this study, I analyse the curricula from a Critical Pedagogy lens. I conduct “an educated
guess” to formulate the highest possible interpretations (McKee, 2001, p. 3) that I can derive
from the analyses of the curricula. Textual Analysis in general is conducted based on four
approaches, of which ‘Content Analysis approach’ (Frey, Botan & Kreps, 2000) is adopted in
this research wherein I identify, delineate and analyze, multicultural poetry within the
curricula. According to White & Marsh (2006, p. 27), “the two domains, within the content
analyses approach – the texts and the context, are logically independent, and the researcher
draws conclusions from one independent domain (the texts) to the other (the context)”. In
this study, my texts are the secondary school English curricula of BC and ON, and my
context is the Critical Pedagogy lens.
Data Source and Sampling
This study examined the curricular documents of BC’s English language Arts
curricula and ON’s English curricula for Grades 9 to 12, accessible in the respective
provincial Ministry of Education websites for BC and ON. These two provincial curriculum
documents constitute my unit of analyses. My sampling portions – poetry curricula within
English Language Arts/English curricula of BC and ON was selected based on document
searches for key terminologies, which I will elaborate in the following paragraphs.
This study focused on multicultural poetry, and the sampling portions were selected
by searching for keywords – poem(s), poetry, text, genres, voices, recite/recitation, form,
verse, poet, poetic devices, creative writing, multicultural poetry, and literary
elements/devices from the BC and ON English Language Arts/ English curricula for Grades
9 to 12. My initial attempt to look into poetry curricula was done by searching for words: 1.
Poem(s), and 2. Poetry, within the BC and ON English Language Arts/ English curricula.

31

This was done because the meaning associated with these two terms, represent them as the
fundamental terminologies indicating a genre within the English Language Arts. ‘Poetry’ is
an art form in literature uniting content and form to create ‘poem (s)’ with the usage of
certain elements of language (Tizhoosh, Sahba & Dara, 2008). The initial search with these
two fundamental words, further helped me to discover certain other terminologies within the
curricula, that contained ‘poem(s)’ and ‘poetry’, and other associated terms.
In the BC English Language Arts curricula, ‘Poem(s)’ is specifically contained under
the word ‘Text(s)’, which also includes a plethora of other literary genres such as speeches,
plays, stories, novels, visual and digital texts. Examining the terminology ‘Text(s)’ within the
trio – Competencies, Big Ideas and Contents, was my initial attempt to delve into the poetry
curricula within BC’s English Language Arts curricula. Within Grades 10 to 12 of the BC
English Language Arts curricula, ‘poem(s)’ and ‘poetry’ was also found under the
description given for two unique terms; 1. Text Forms, and 2. Genres. Based on my
experience as a poet, I then searched for specific terminologies pertaining to poetry, 1.
“Poetic Devices” and 2. “Literary Elements”, within the BC curricula, as I consider them to
be fundamental to poetry. This search yielded into fewer results as compared to search with
the terms ‘poem(s)’ and ‘poetry(s)’.
In the ON curricula, the results for the search for ‘poem(s)’ and ‘poetry’ yielded into
three relevant terms related to poetry – 1. Genres, 2. Literary/Oral texts, and 3. Verse. These
terms were found in the glossary of the curricular documents. Within the ON English
curricula for Grades 9 to 12, ‘poem(s)’ and ‘poetry’ are frequently included in teacher
prompts and examples. The words, 1. ‘Poet’, 2. ‘Poetic Elements/images’, 3. ‘Creative
Writing’, and 4. ‘Recitation’, are also contained within a few teacher prompts and examples,

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which I discovered as I proceeded with my initial search. My sampling portion on poetry
curricula within the ON English curricula for Grades 9-12 is based on exploring these key
terminologies within the curricular content – ‘poem(s)’, ‘poetry’, ‘genres’, ‘literary/oral
texts’, ‘verse’, ‘poet’, ‘poetic elements/images’, ‘creative writing’, and ‘recitation’.
After delving into the specific portions of the curricula which contains terminologies
pertaining to poetry within the English Language Arts/ English curricula of BC and ON for
Grades 9 to 12, my next step was to delve into multicultural poetry. This included searching
for the mention of poetry related key terminologies within First Peoples/Aboriginal texts, and
searching for terms, 1. ‘Multicultural’, 2. ‘Multiculturalism’, 3 ‘Cultural’ 4. ‘First
Peoples/Aboriginal/Indigenous’, and 5. ‘Diverse/Diversity’, within the curricula, to look for
how poetry is included in fostering multicultural competencies. The above-mentioned key
terminologies were also examined interchangeably within both BC and ON English
Language Arts/English Curricula. This led me to formulate a wordlist for my search, which
further aided me to distinguish my sampling portion from within the larger English Language
Arts/English Curricula of BC and ON.
Process of Analysis and Strategies
My sample was compiled over a three-week period in the month of June 2020 from
the websites: www.curriculum.gov.bc.ca and www.edu.gov.on.ca. In addition to these sites,
data for literature review was compiled from Google Scholar, Jstor.Org, Sage.Org, Google
Books, Poetry books from Indigo books, and poetry from Google search engine. I stored the
curricular documents, articles for literature review, and poetry contents in PDF format, in my
personal laptop, which I used for both offline and online analysis. Even though I made sure
to extensively delve into the curricula and the literatures for my thesis, I connect with

33

Creswell (2014, p.308) in stating that since data from literatures are “dense and rich, not all
the information can be used in a qualitative study”.
There are four key steps of content analyses utilized in this study: 1. Unitizing the
content based on relevant terminologies 2. Sampling the text based on the relevance for this
research, 3. Studying the text in context to relevant theory, and 4. Answering the research
question based on the analyses comprising of a “thoughtful arrangement of a wealth of
detailed observations” of the text and the context (Krippendorff, 2004, p. 83; White & Marsh,
2006, p. 39). I implement this “specialized procedure” of content analyses, wherein, followed
by the initial two steps of unitizing the content based on relevant terminologies, and
sampling, the next step was to study the text in relation to the “analytical construct” (White
& Marsh, 2006, p. 27). Analytical constructs in Textual Analyses are inference points, that
empowers a researcher to examine their texts for answering their research questions (White
& Marsh, 2006). In my study, this is done based on two key techniques – 1. delving into the
theory on critical pedagogy, and 2. examining knowledge bodies based on previous
researches (Krippendorff, 2004). Based on the theoretical framework of critical pedagogy
and examining previous researches on multicultural poetry in education, I recognized three
important areas that constitute my analytical construct – 1. Social Justice, 2. Democracy and
Citizenry, and 3. Multiculturalism. Based on these three important areas of critical pedagogy,
I studied the secondary school poetry curricula of BC and ON.
For the final step of content analyses procedure – answering the research question
(Krippendorff, 2004), I critically examined the curricula to derive the strengths and gaps with
respect to multicultural poetry. This was done based on an extensive study of the available
literatures on how multicultural poetry benefit learners, while also looking deeper into the

34

competencies mentioned in the curricula. I critically examined the curricula, delved into the
competencies that promoted multiculturalism, formulated certain hypothetical examples on
how poetry can be adopted in the classrooms to promote multiculturalism, and, evaluated
how the gaps within the curricula with respect to multicultural poetry impacts students and
teachers. Following this process, I recorded my findings, answered my research question –
how (if at all) are the English Language Arts curricula of British Columbia (BC) and the
English curricula of Ontario (ON) that focus on poetry, influenced by multiculturalism? –
and stated the significance of this study and formulate areas for future research.
Validity of the Findings
To ensure the validity of this qualitative research, certain key strategies are adopted
based on Creswell’s (2014, p.316-318) recommendations –
To ensure the overall validity of the findings,
1. I have used “rich, thick descriptions” for communicating my findings by offering
perspectives grounded on the critical pedagogical framework.
2. I have adopted “peer debriefing” and “external auditor” reviewing strategy to assess
my thesis in order to look into multiple viewpoints and obtain an objective
assessment.

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Chapter Four
Literature Review
Introduction
The literature reviewed will be divided into two main themes. The first literature
review will be an analysis of the curriculum documents of British Columbia (BC) and
Ontario (ON) where I will explore how poetry is defined in the high school British Columbia
English Language Arts curricula (BCELAC), as well as the secondary school Ontario
English curricula (ONEC). The second literature review will examine literature on the
multicultural aspects of poetry. Since the curricular documents itself are segregated in the
website, that is, BC English Language Arts K-9 is included in a separate webpage and BC
English Language Arts curriculums for Grades 10-12 is included with respected to various
sub-courses in yet another webpage, I will review Grade 9 curriculum separately from
Grades 10-12 curricula. Similarly, for ON, Grades 9 and 10 English curricula are included
together in a same document, as is the case for Grades 11 and 12 English curricula, and thus
my criteria for reviewing will be based on the same pattern as it is available in the website.
Poetry in British Columbia English Language Arts curriculum for Grade 9
Poetry appears in Grade 9 of the English Language Arts curriculum in BC within the
scope of texts, primarily oral texts. Oral texts include plays, oral stories, speeches and poetry,
which are included in the curriculum as significant tools for developing communication
(Storey, 2017) and language learning among students (British Columbia Ministry of
Education, 2018a). The key concepts or Big Ideas behind the adoption of poetry in Grade 9
BCELAC is fourfold: first, poetry promotes understanding of the self and the relation of the
self with others and the world in general; second, poetry like other texts have social, cultural

36

and historical elements deeply rooted in them, thus making students connect deeper with
their reality; third, everyone understands poetry differently based on the set of perspectives
and worldviews they carry, making it a topic to be looked at from multiple lenses; and fourth,
questioning of the themes and critical understanding of poetry contributes to becoming
engaged citizens as well as educated social beings (British Columbia Ministry of Education,
2016a; 2016b). On these lines, the big ideas help strengthen a learner’s identity, and invite
them to explore the world they live in, as well as critically reflect on personal and social
realities.
Even though the big ideas for Grade 9 BCELAC is for most of the part similar to that
of the big ideas mentioned for Grades 10, 11 and 12, the curricular competencies and content
adopted in the classrooms vary considerably. Before exploring these two elements, it is
important to take note of the role of teachers in the classroom as to understand the content
implementation aspect of the curricula. Storey (2017) points out that the inclusion of texts in
the classroom is deemed to be a process based on teacher’s choice. On these lines, the
curriculum document also notes the importance of including critical texts for students, while
also focussing on texts based on students’ choice in order to achieve in-depth learning
(British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018). This means that teachers and students are at
the centre of the curricular content. What is prescribed in the curriculum, is just a sort of
‘menu’ to select from; a reference point for teachers who are then expected to select content
that invites the development of competencies. The curriculum itself is “vague” (Storey, 2017,
p.44) and teachers have to identify the content that needs to be introduced into their
classrooms, as well as how to teach it. The content in Grades 9 and 10 is not a definitive
structured content, such as a particular novel or a certain poet’s poems, rather, it is a

37

collection of certain compulsory elements and features that students should take away from
the text. For instance, if the content in Grade 9 mentions intonation as an important aspect of
poetry learning, teachers select materials from a wide array of poems to choose for imparting
lessons on intonation styles. Furthermore, even though poetry falls under the purview of oral
texts, the curricula has a provision for combining other forms of texts such as digital, visual
or written texts with poetry in classrooms (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016a;
British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016b). This means when a teacher wishes to teach
intonation in poetry, a video as visual means in addition to the oral content is highly
recommended by the curriculum.
In Grade 9, the content for poetry within the ELA curriculum is divided into three
major categories: first, poetic elements such as literary devices, background of the poem,
characterisation and other similar poetic features are expected to be introduced within the
classrooms; second, strategies such as visualizing while reading, usage of phonics,
intonation, expression of opinions, and metacognitive strategies like reflection and
questioning are considered an integral aspect of poetry learning; and third, language features
such as volume, pace, usage of gestures while reciting, understanding of old English,
inclusive language and fluency are certain features that students are expected to take away
while learning poetry (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016a).
The curricular competencies that poetry promotes in Grade 9 curriculum is not
exclusively mentioned from what other texts uphold. The curriculum expects students to
access information from diverse text sources, including poetry; comprehend, synthesize texts
and delve into inquiry based learning; become critical thinkers; learn the elements of
diversity and messages in diverse range of genres; apply varied perspectives to the poetic

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content; understand and become able to explain meaning formation through the variety of
language used; appreciate oral traditions of the First Peoples; develop an awareness towards
the values and beliefs of the First Peoples; improve clarity; improve grammar; and develop
the ability to create poetry by themselves (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016a).
These competencies together with the prescribed content and big ideas, enrich the ELA
curriculum for Grade 9.
Poetry in British Columbia English Language Arts curricula for Grades 10, 11 and 12
In Grades 10, 11 and 12, ELA curriculums are divided into two major categories –
general English 10-12 and English First Peoples (EFP)10-12 – and students have to choose
courses from either category (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018). Within the
scope of English for Grades 10-12, five different courses, namely, Composition 10-12,
Creative Writing 10-12, Spoken Language 10-12, New Media 10-12, and Literary Studies
10-12 are available for the students. In Grade 12, however, all the above-mentioned five
courses are electives, with an additional compulsory course offering, namely, English Studies
12 or English First Peoples 12 (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018a; 2018b;
2018c). Within the purview of EFP 10, the course offerings are Literary Studies 10, New
Media 10, Spoken Language 10 and Writing 10, which are all based on the principle of
Reconciliation and the usage of authentic texts of the First Peoples in the classroom (British
Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018a). EFP 11 has 3 course offerings with a blend of
Literary Studies with the trio, New Media 11, Spoken Language 11, and Writing 11, and
these three courses are focussed on global, Canadian and BC First Peoples texts including
poetry as an essential area of focus (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018b). The
common themes stated within these courses are for the purpose of Reconciliation and

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acknowledgement of the oral traditions of the First Peoples. In Grade 12, EFP 12 or English
Studies 12 is a compulsory course with EFP 12 focusing by and large on interdisciplinary
study of literatures of the First Peoples (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018c). The
curriculums do explicitly state that a student can choose between EFP 10-12, or general ELA
10-12 courses, and both are mentioned as academically equivalent (British Columbia
Ministry of Education, 2016a).

In Grade 10, poetry is mentioned specifically in Literary Studies 10, Spoken
Language 10, Creative Writing 10, EFP Spoken Language 10, and EFP Writing 10, with the
documents for each of these courses emphasizing poetry to be an integral part of these
courses (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018a).
In Grade 11, poetry has its mention in EFP Literary Studies + Writing 11, EFP
Literary Studies + Spoken Language 11, EFP Literary Studies + New Media 11, Spoken
Language 11, Creative Writing 11, and Literary Studies 11, with the documents for these
courses mentioning poetry as an essential area of study (British Columbia Ministry of
Education, 2018b).
In Grade 12, even though poetry is not mentioned specifically in the content
prescribed for English Studies 12 which is a core compulsory course, it is prescribed for EFP
12 which is an alternate compulsory course. For the rest of the electives in Grade 12, Spoken
Language 12, Literary Studies 12 and Creative Writing 12 find the mention of poetry in their
respective focus areas (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018c).
Within all the other curricular documents for Grades 10 to 12, where poetry or poem
is a specified content, poetry is passively mentioned under the scope of texts, which further

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refers to the teachers’ discretion in choosing poetry from a wide array of texts to cover a
topic in the classroom.
In Spoken Language curricula for Grades 10 to12, spoken word poetry, slam poetry
and poetry recitation are important focus areas for developing performance skills among
students, and these are premised on the idea that voice is an evocative and powerful tool in
communication (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018a; 2018b; 2018c).
Creative Writing curricula for Grades 10-12 propose poetry and song lyrics writing as
two important areas for course completion with four important big ideas:
1) language shapes one’s ideas and influencing others,
2) creative writers passionately observe the world around them,
3) creative writers persevere while taking risks. (British Columbia Ministry of
Education, 2018a; 2018b; 2018c).
Literary Studies curricula for Grades 10-12 are focused on studying literatures of
different themes, from different era or area, and the study of literatures in general. Poetry is
studied from different eras such as Renaissance or Romanticism and from Canadian, global
or First Peoples literatures in this course (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018a;
2018b, 2018c).
The most important aspect of these three curriculums for Grades 10-12 – Spoken
Language 10-12, Creative writing 10-12, Literary Studies 10-12 – is that the focus of these
courses is largely on First Peoples literatures and other Canadian texts. The courses in EFP
10-12 are similar in nature, with a sheer distinction of their focussed nature on themes from
First Peoples literatures as well as their interdisciplinary link.

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With respect to the curricula on New Media for Grades 10-12, the focus is primarily
on digital literacy, and poetry gets an indirect mention in the lessons pertaining to digital
communication, which promotes skills related to writing for media, social media and web in
general (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018a; 2018b; 2018c). This means, poetry
in New Media 10-12 is a content on expressing oneself in various media platforms.
To summarize this section, poetry in BCELAC Grades 10-12 is clearly mentioned
under the scope of oral texts and is based on the classroom discourse as to when and where it
can be used towards the curricular competencies. In some particular courses, which are,
Spoken Language 10-12, Creative writing 10-12, Literary Studies 10-12 and almost all the
EFP 10-12 courses, poetry is mentioned in BCELAC as a specialised area of study fostering
certain skills for the learners.
General outline of Ontario English Curriculums for Grade 9-12
The Ontario English curriculums for Grade 9-12 identified both mandatory and
‘open’ courses. For Grade 9 and Grade 10, students select from courses that are academic or
applied. An optional Literacy Skills course is available in many schools. The mandatory
courses focus on theory and the application of the theory respectively, and the open course
focus on the enhancement of literacy skills (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a).
Academic courses connect to the essential concepts within an area of study and applied
courses while focussing on essential theory also encourages hands-on application of the
theory. In Grades 11 and 12, four types of courses are available for the students; courses that
prepare students for their post-secondary destination of choice: university, college, or
workplace. Optional courses are also available in many schools including: Canadian
Literature, Literacy Skills, Presentation and Speaking Skills for Grade 11 and The Writers

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Craft and Studies in Literature for Grade 12, and other essential courses that are electives
(Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007b). Students have to complete one compulsory course
from either university precursory course, college preparatory or workplace preparation
courses.
Poetry in Ontario English Curriculums for Grades 9 and 10
In ONEC for Grades 9 and 10, both academic and applied English course is
structured to prepare students for the later grades as well as for their daily discourses, with a
focus on reading skills, oral communication skills, writing ability, and media literacy aptitude
(Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a). Poetry finds its dedicated mention in examples and
prompts for teachers to be used in the classroom, within the documents for both academic
and applied courses.
Within the scope of oral communication in ONEC for Grades 9 and 10, three skills
are emphasized; listening in order to understand, speaking skills for better communication,
and reflecting on the strengths, weaknesses and other strategies of listening and speaking
(Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a). Even though both Grades 9 and 10 specify similar
skills and expectations, Grade 10 involves more complex and challenging tasks requiring
complex and challenging texts and methods within the classroom. Poetry is included in the
examples, that relate to the specific expectations from the curricular practice for both Grade 9
and 10. These expectations are multifold. Poetry plays a crucial role in developing listening
skills amongst students, and this is carried out by getting students to understand the purpose
of listening, include various listening strategies such as reading from a cultural lens or from a
historical lens, inclusion of comprehension strategies such as notetaking or summarizing for
better listening, determination of the understanding levels by sharing thoughts, interpreting

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complex texts, critical analysis, and understanding the presentation of the texts such as
intonation or a poet’s styles and techniques (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a, p. 42-43,
84-87).
Within the purview of oral communication, poetry is lauded to enhance the speaking
skills of the students by allowing them to learn through audio-visual aids; understand verbal
cues such as pitch or tone and non-verbal cues such as eye contact; increase coherence and
clarity by learning to communicate with appropriate words; and increase interpersonal
speaking strategies (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a).
Reading and Literature Studies is another component of ONEC for Grade 9 and 10.
Poetry is used within this course as a vital component to understand the meaning of a text
while reading, understand form and styles adopted in the texts, fluency and developing
vocabulary, and reflection of skills developed in the classroom (Ontario Ministry of
Education, 2007a). This is done by adopting measures such as comparative analysis of
poetry, making inferences, evaluation of poem and its background, reading familiar and
unfamiliar words and using suitable decoding strategies.
Poetry is also a crucial element in the respective areas pertaining to writing and media
studies in ONEC for Grade 9 and 10. Poetry writing with the inclusion of literary devices
such as extended metaphors is promoted by the curriculums for students to develop and
organize their content; use their knowledge of various poetic devices; and learn creating,
editing, proofreading for the conception of a refined content (Ontario Ministry of Education,
2007a). Although the mention of poetry within the scope of media studies is minimal, it is
still deemed to be an essential aspect for media literacy skills. Certain examples within media
studies that include poetry calls instructors to connect students with websites to either create

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an anthology of poetry, or to understand taglines or quotes in television or newspaper
advertisements (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a). This connects students with poetry in
a digital age where they can interact with diverse poems while also learning essential media
related skills.
To summarize, poetry is mentioned as a significant tool within Grade 9 and Grade 10
of ONEC for teachers to foster oral, reading, writing, and media literacy skills among
students. Poetry helps in enhancing verbal cues such as pitch and tone, and non-verbal cues
such as gestures and eye-contact, poetry brings in clarity for spoken language and increases
vocabulary, poetry also enables students to have an understanding of literary devices which is
used in creative writing.
Poetry in Ontario English Curriculums for Grades 11 and 12
In Grades 11 and 12, poetry is mentioned in all the three preparation-based courses
for university, college, and workplace respectively, as well as it is an essential component of
mostly all the electives that are available for the students. In both Grades 11 and 12, for the
courses dedicated for university preparation, college preparation and workplace preparation,
poetry is included to enhance the learners’ oral communication, writing skills, reading skills
and media literacy aptitude (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007b). Even though the terms
poem and poetry are mentioned under examples and prompts for the teachers under the
expectation list, its regular mention is instrumental in its importance for the preparation of
students for their future careers. Furthermore, in optional courses such as The Writer’s Craft
and Studies in Literature for Grade 12, poetry finds its utmost importance in areas pertaining
to creative writing skills, reflective writing, analysis and study of literatures from various

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eras, analysis and study of First Peoples literatures and literary criticism (Ontario Ministry of
Education, 2007b).
To summarize this section, poetry in Grades 11-12 with respect to the expectations of
the curricula, is as similar an inclusion as it is in Grades 9-10, with teachers being at the
centre of the curriculums to include poetry in classrooms so as to address various curricular
competencies. Poetry, as observed in these literatures is an essential component for Grades 912 ONEC, which fosters spoken skills, writing ability, reading skills and media literacy.
Multiculturalism in Poetry
Canada is certainly a multicultural nation. Wood & Gilbert (2005) points out that
Canadian multiculturalism as a public policy was derived from the notion of deeming the
cultural experiences, beliefs, traditions and practices of every diverse cultures important.
Canadian multiculturalism dates back to the time when Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the then Prime
Minister of Canada in 1970s envisioned a future of peaceful coexistence of a culturally
pluralistic society (Wood & Gilbert, 2005), and multiculturalism as an official policy was
then adopted for Canada in the year 1985, famously known as the Canadian Multiculturalism
Act of 1985 (Government of Canada, 2021). Presently, multiculturalism in Canada is not a
policy alone, but it is also a sociological and ideological reality of the nation, which means
Canada lawfully recognizes its diversity with respect to the presence of people in the society
who belong to various racial, cultural, and ethnic communities, and accepts and celebrates
the varied ideas and principles that people adhere to (Brosseau & Dewing, 2009). Within
such a context, multicultural poetry brings out issues pertaining to cultural diversity, as well
as throws light on racial and gender injustices, while also becoming a potential tool for
addressing these issues (McCall, 2004).

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In this Whiteland
Chinese coolies, black slaves, Indian indentures
Immigration, head tax, virginity tests
Apart-hate
Sudden attacks in the dark
In the dawn with cops and dogs
White cops play with her mouth – resuscitates
London Pretoria Toronto
Apart-hate (Bannerji, 1986, as cited in Alvarez, 2007, p. 19)
This stanza by Himani Bannerji, a Bengali-Canadian poet, is an example of her experiences
in the Canadian society, which is rich in its metaphor of racism and discrimination.
Multicultural poetry explores both acceptable and unacceptable aspects of a diverse society
and thus is important in a multicultural space as it becomes depictional of a variety of aspects
related to pluralism (Rahbek, 2019). It should be noted here that multicultural poetry fosters
the recognition of cross-cultural experiences in a society.
I am writing to tell you
that yes, indeed,
we have noticed
you have a new big pink eraser
we are well aware
you are trying to use it.
erasing Indians is a good idea
of course
the bleeding-heart liberals
and communists
can stop feeling bad
for the stealing
and raping
and murdering
and we can all move on
we can be reconciled
except, I am graffiti. (Simpson, 2015)
The poem by Simpson (2015) is depictional of her Aboriginal identity and the discrimination
that many Aboriginal people like her had to face and still continue to face. Poetry by

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Aboriginal people invite the readers to see the hardships they have gone through under the
white supremacy. Simpson (2015) writes that it is not easy to move on from all the trauma
that Aboriginal people went through, and reconciliation doesn’t erase things from the past.
Such poems which are the voices of a particular section of the society are important as
depictional pieces of the larger society.
They often ask:
Will you teach your
children your language?
As if it is a weapon I carry.
Of course I will, ensure they are
more fluent than I was. Hope that
they can read and write it too.
Only teaching them english would
be like only giving them white to
paint everything they see. Like only
giving them one way to express
themselves. (Dhaliwal, 2017)
Multicultural poetry is at the heart of a multicultural society, as it brings forth both
convivial and hostile aspects during cross-cultural contacts, which mirrors the societal
discourses in order to help its members better appreciate the ideals of multiculturalism.
Multicultural poetry as well as other forms of multicultural literatures foster intercultural
communicators in our society (Hanauer, 2003; Knopf, 2005, Sholehhudin, Waluyo, Suyitno
& Wardhani, 2020). Multicultural poetry endeavours to provide two main benefits for the
society at-large: for an individual, it offers multi-leveled access to their emotional sphere
(Hanauer, 2003) and for the community, it develops multi-leveled competence among its
people (Francis, 2017). Multi-leveled access to one’s emotions signifies the contact between
the abstract and the specific at the same time (Hanauer, 2003). This means that an individual
is then able to embrace the uniqueness of poetry and associate with its meaning, beauty and

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the emotional response, in order to better appreciate their reality. This reality is deemed by
Hanauer (2003) as an amalgamation of personal and fictional experience, wherein the latter
may contain elements that nurture one’s personal life.
“…poetry is a literary text that presents the experiences, thoughts and feelings of the
writer through a self-referential use of language that creates for the reader and writer
a new understanding of the experience, thought, or feeling related to in the text”
(Hanauer, 2003, p.76).
When understood this in the context of multicultural poetry, a reader is aided with
their access to the experiences contained in the text, which connects them to a new culture or
their own culture and encourages them to respect and acknowledge diversity. With respect to
a writer, multicultural poetry enables them to explore their experiences and share it with the
world to make sense of their cultural identity.
Another aspect of multicultural poetry that Xerri (2012) states is that it enriches better
language learning. The author points out that multicultural poetry helps in the establishment
of a welcoming tradition, which endeavors to remove biases and create a community that
becomes tolerant and appreciative of diverse languages and cultures. This enables better
language learning as learners can better appreciate diverse languages and understand that
their own language is meaningful and welcomed in the society they live in (Xerri, 2012).
Multiculturalism is also rooted in the style of poetry presentation. The presentation
aspect of a poem can differ according to how the presenter chooses to deliver their or others’
poetry. This is important because multiculturalism itself embodies the notion of diversity in
practice (Wood & Gilbert, 2005). For instance, I may be comfortable expressing myself with
a written piece of poetry while somebody else would be okay with the idea of recitation or
spoken word poetry in order to express themselves better. In spoken word poetry itself, for

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instance, slam poetry is often referred to as “interactive classroom… [that] animates the
people listening to and watching it” (Smith & Kraynak, 2009, p.3). Boudreau (2009) states
that slam poetry for children is not just reciting after memorizing a poem, rather it empowers
them and through its performance structure, allows them to express their cultural norms and
experiences. Poetry presentation is a vital component in multicultural poetry as it not only
ensures that the content is multicultural, but through different presentation techniques, it
establishes respect for one’s identity and brings about an attitude of acceptance by the people
towards various cultures. The following are lines taken from two slam poems that were
presented during the Toronto Poetry Slam in 2015.
You’re welcomed to love boys or girls, but when you change the “or” to “and”
nobody believes you. (Lanigan, 2015, as cited in Cornejo, 2017)
You don’t realize how often people put a gender on you until you realize that gender
isn’t you. And every single “girl” and “young lady” and “Miss” wears away at your
subconscious. (Kassirer, 2015 as cited in Cornejo, 2017)
These lines are powerful expression of one’s beliefs. These slam poets have addressed gender
norms through these lines. Cornejo (2017) notes that through powerful theatrical gestures,
fiery words and bold statements, these poets have tried to break-free from the conventional
gender norms of the society. These bold poetic stanzas with their presentation technique
together combine to empower the poet and others – the listeners or readers, and they’re then
able to express their cultural norms, experiences, beliefs and perspectives. Desai & Marsh
(2005) point out that spoken word poetry and performance poetry is like a mirror, which
enables a person to understand their faults, learn resiliency, look inside the scars and
elaborate on their hopes. The authors also point out that spoken word and performance poetry
are important critical teaching devices which enables students to see the community with

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multiple lenses. For instance, topics that are a taboo such as topics related to sex education or
societal issues such as racism, when performed through poetry within classrooms can induce
critical thinking among students, and this can also be used by teachers to induce critical
learning.
Slam poetry, spoken word poetry and performance poetry are just a few different
kinds of multicultural poetic expressions. Moreover, other forms of poetic expressions, such
as poetry writing, or a simple classroom recitation can also be deemed as multicultural.
Atwell (2014) states that students become representative of their truer selves when they
express about themselves, state their opinion and bring forth their unique ideas in their
writing. Xerri (2012) elaborates on these lines by stating that a certain category of poetry
writing styles can be considered multicultural if they happen to include elements that
appreciate or embrace one’s own culture and invoke cultural empathy among others.
Summary
To summarize this chapter, it can be said that multicultural poetry is any poetry that
creates a representational space of societal pluralism, in terms of its diverse cultures or
languages among the readers and writers. Multicultural forms of poetic expression can
involve wide range of poetic performances, such as slam poetry or spoken word
performance, or can be as simple as plain poetry recitation or creative poetry writing which
involves the elements of cultural empathy, and in doing so, bring forth both convivial and
hostile aspects of cross-cultural interactions. This chapter explored poetry in the high school
BC English Language Arts curriculums well as in high school ON English curriculums. The
second section of this chapter explored multiculturalism and different multicultural forms of

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poetic expression. Based on this, as well as the theoretical framework previous stated, in the
next chapter, I will be analysing poetry with critical lens in the fourth chapter.

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Chapter Five
Critical Examination of the British Columbia’s and Ontario’s Poetry Curricula
Introduction
The analysis of the reviewed literature will be done through a critical pedagogy lens.
This chapter will be broadly divided into two main segments. The first section will be an
examination of the strengths of the secondary school poetry curriculums of British Columbia
(BC) and Ontario (ON) and the second section will concomitantly explore their limitations,
followed by a conclusion. I will be referring to multicultural poetry within the English
Language Arts/English curriculums of BC and ON as ‘poetry curricula’ of the respective
provinces.
Strengths of BC Secondary School English Language Arts curricula focused on Poetry
The core competency of fostering communication skills through poetry (British
Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018a; Storey, 2017) is one of the most important strengths
of the BC secondary school English Language Arts (ELA) curricula focussed on poetry. This
is because of two main reasons. One, communication is one of the essential life skills in the
world we live in. And two, the enhancement of language learning through poetry, which
allows students to see, express and better comprehend their worlds, further enables them to
become intercultural communicators, which is a vital tool for harmony within a multicultural
environment (Mittal, 2016; Goldberg, 2016). I will analyse both these aspects thoroughly in
this section. As for the first aspect, it is important to look into how specifically poetry plays a
role in the enhancement of communication skills. By communication skills, I do not mean
just a human to human oral interaction, but I also wish to underline the role of
communication as a higher-order skill where expression of feelings and emotions are also a

53

crucial component (Threlfall, 2013). Poetry in particular is an essential element here because
poems do not simply communicate an idea, but they also communicate experiences, and the
thoughts and feelings associated with those experiences. Through poetry, students learn how
to communicate their own feelings and emotions while also understanding others’ expression
of feelings and emotion. Poetry helps students to access varied emotions attached to varied
experiences (Hanauer, 2003). Additionally, poetry also includes stronger usage of language
and various literary devices that convey a meaning, which in turn enhances communication
skills by allowing students to use stronger vocabulary in their day to day lives, as well as use
and interpret various literary and linguistic devices in their communication. Poetry’s usage of
rhyme, rhythm, various poetic devices and rich vocabulary allows students to become fluent
with their language usage while reading, speaking, listening or writing (Mittal, 2016).
Moreover, I also wish to emphasize here that communication includes many non-verbal
aspects such as gestures, body movements, facial expressions and intonation. Performance
poetry or slam poetry sessions, which are rich in poetic expressions through body gestures
and intonations, foster these non-verbal communication skills among students, which further
helps them to communicate effectively in their daily discourses.
Likewise, with respect to the second aspect, students becoming intercultural
communicators can communicate with various cultural groups while minimizing barriers,
and this is vital for harmony among diverse groups. With intercultural communication, I refer
to the key skills necessary to communicate effectively, without discrimination, and with
profound respect and empathy, to the members hailing from cultures that are not of one’s
own. The expression of one’s feelings and emotions through poetry and the subsequent
understanding of others’ expression of feelings and emotions, is pivotal in intercultural

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communication. When teachers introduce poems that are written by poets hailing from
different cultures, it not only allows students to comprehend varied emotions and
experiences, but also further helps them to understand varied cultures and cultural
differences. For example –
“Considerate she was, varying the emphasis-"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" Revelation came.
"You mean--like plain or milk chocolate?"
Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,
I chose. "West African sepia"--and as afterthought,
"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece. "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding
"DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."
"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?" "Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see
The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
Are a peroxide blond.…” (Soyinka, 2015)
The above stanza from the poem by the Nigerian poet Wole Soyinka, is a telephonic
conversation between a black man and a white woman themed on racism. Poems like these,
with the usage of certain literary devices, allow students to understand the prevalence of
racism and other social boons in the contemporary times. Students consider seeing from
multiple perspectives here – of that of the white woman, the black man, and an outsider.
Students learn how certain poetic devices, satire in the above-mentioned example, helps
them to understand their society. This understanding of the marginalized communities,
through the usage of poetry in classrooms, can provide students with the ability to hear the
oppressive voices, understand and reflect on the context of the oppressed. This allows them
to foster their intercultural communication skills by becoming empathetic towards various
cultures. Thus, poetry curriculum’s role in fostering communication skills is a very important

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strength of the BC curriculums because as much as communication is crucial for our daily
lives, intercultural communication too is really important within multicultural environments.
In order to achieve this end, the curricula have several rich features that allow the fostering of
communication skills among students. The many parts in poetry, rhythm, rhyme, literary
devices, pitch and stronger vocabulary, and the many ways of presentation including reading,
reciting, writing, performing, and intonating, paves way for students to comprehend their
world, understand the feelings of others and express their own emotions (Mittal, 2016). Thus,
by studying poetry, adopting various poetry performance styles, and by critically analysing
poems in the classroom, students learn to communicate better and communicate
harmoniously with diverse sections of the society, and this is an important strength of the BC
curricula.
Secondly, Big ideas are a strength of the BC poetry curricula. This is because,
through poetry, big ideas aim at four significant aspects of life: stimulating empathy,
connecting students with their society, culture and history, enabling students to critically
analyse their reality with multiple perspectives, and allowing them to become engaged
citizens as well as educated social beings (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016a;
2016b). These four areas can collectively be recognized as three key concepts – empathy,
collectivism and Freirean critical consciousness and praxis – that allow students to get
prepared for their daily life, as well as for their future discourses. Poetry’s distinguished role
at aiming on these three key concepts, make the big ideas a strength of the BC curricula.
Poetry, unlike prose covers excessive information within a few metrical stanzas; a poem as
small as four lines may easily cover a large theme that may entail a few paragraphs for its
explanation. This vast subjectivity that lies within a poem, invites a reader or a listener to

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connect with the thoughts and feelings that a poet expresses. These thoughts and feelings of
the poet further paves way for the listeners or readers to empathize with the greater issue or
event that is discussed within the poem. Johnson (2019) states that through poetry, students
actively engage and empathise with the experiences and events that are mentioned within the
poem. Empathy as a core value allows students to recognize the perspectives of people from
other sections of the society – including marginalized and vulnerable communities. This
aspect of viewing multiple perspectives through poetry also allows students to “have a better
understanding of others, a greater appreciation of diversity, and an awareness of how to live
in a globalized world” (Clarke & Whitney, 2009, p. 534). Knowing about others, is also vital
for self-reflection, as students who see multiple perspectives, evaluate and learn more about
their own history, culture and societal practices. It is at this juncture that I wish to link the
value of collectivism that is mentioned in the big ideas. With collectivism, I also intend to go
beyond the scope of one’s affiliation to their own society, culture and history. Students who
understand the perspective of others, learn about others’ history and culture, while also
reflecting on their own society, culture and history, transcend to the level of universal
collectivism. With universal collectivism, I imply the linkage of individuals towards a global
collective. Individuals prioritizing multicultural goals over their own groups’ goals is
essential in a multicultural environment. This is essential for harmony among diverse groups.
Collectivism is a treasure because it creates harmony by fostering dutifulness among
individuals for the collective and promotes egalitarianism (Hamedani, Purvis, Glazer & Dien,
2012). Furthermore, it is also through empathy and collectivism, that the curriculums can aid
in creating engaged and educated social beings. Both empathy as well as the connection of
students with their society, culture and history can allow students to see the oppressive reality

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of their world and allow them to reflect on the power structures. This reflection empowers
students for social change (Clarke & Whitney, 2009). Additionally, within the BC poetry
curricula, Freirean critical consciousness and praxis is reflected through the big ideas as it
aims at enabling students to become engaged citizens as well as educated social beings.
Engaged citizenry transforms political and cultural activities of the society. When schools
and curriculums focus on enabling students to become engaged citizens, they endeavour
towards a socially just and politically democratic state (Giroux & McLaren, 1986). Thus, big
ideas are definitely a strength of the BC poetry curricula due to the above-mentioned
concepts that prepare students for their future and daily life discourses, while also
empowering them to become engaged and informed citizens.
Thirdly, the curricular competencies that poetry promotes in the Grades 9-12
curricula with respect to appreciating the oral traditions of the First Peoples and developing
an awareness towards the values and beliefs of the First Peoples is a very important strength
of the BC poetry curricula. For a multicultural nation like Canada with a history of
colonialization by European settlers and the subsequent ill treatment of the original
inhabitants of this land, I recognize that a stronger decolonization procedure is vital for the
future of its citizens. This process must accompany reconciliation which can be pursued in
many ways, but one important way is when First Peoples literatures and traditions are
acknowledged and used within the curriculums as recommended within the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) report. The importance of the curricula that
focusses on First Peoples literatures, traditions, history and beliefs, is not only for the benefit
of the Indigenous students but also for the non-Indigenous students. When non-indigenous
students learn more about First Peoples literatures, traditions, history and beliefs, the process

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of reconciliation becomes more meaningful. Moreover, BC curricula’s recognition of the
First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) and its subsequent usage within the classrooms
have been beneficial for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students (Chrona, 2014). When
non-indigenous students learn about the history of the colonial settlement, and understand the
negative events of the past, they can connect more with the land and its oppressive history.
For example, the following poem by Rita Joe is about her experience in a residential school
and it elaborates on the experiences of the First Nations people who were colonised by the
European settlers.
I lost my talk
The talk you took away.
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my word.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me. (Joe, 2015)
This poem as well as similar other poems when introduced in the classroom promotes
critical learning, by providing students, both indigenous and non-indigenous students, with
the opportunity to reflect, question and learn about the events happened in the past. This
reflection is important for the process of reconciliation. Chrona (2014) also states that the
formulation of FPPL itself is an evidence to BC curricula’s formal recognition of First

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Peoples knowledge. It also adheres to “developing culturally appropriate curricula” laid
down in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) report. This
consideration of inclusion of FPPL is a strength of BC curricula as it implies a greater
understanding of First Peoples knowledge and traditions by the educators and nonIndigenous students in the classroom.
Moreover, there also lies a possibility of a socially just world because of the
curricular competencies that promote First Peoples literatures, beliefs, traditions and history,
and allow students to learn from diverse text sources in their classrooms. The inclusion of
First Peoples literatures within the curricula definitely aims at “improving education
attainment levels and success rates” of the First Peoples and (Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada, 2015, p.2). The curricular expectations, that of accessing
information from diverse text sources, comprehending and synthesizing texts of the First
Peoples as well as that of other multicultural groups is definitely a strength of the BC poetry
curricula. This is because, usage of diverse texts fosters critical thinking as students start
evaluating and analyzing the practices and norms in which they are situated – students are
able to view a situation from multiple perspectives. Additionally, for students, understanding
multiple perspectives paves way towards the recognition of power and positioning within the
society and they reflect on how various social groups are represented within texts as well as
in their real lives, in turn promoting social justice (Clarke & Whitney, 2009). Social justiceoriented curriculums also prepare students to recognize and take action towards social and
political injustices (Giroux, 2002). Thus, the curricular expectation in terms of connecting
students with First Peoples texts as well as with other multicultural texts is a very strong
aspect of the curriculums that helps embrace the richness of diversity.

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Lastly, BC secondary school poetry curricula’s strength lies in its flexibility and its
interdisciplinary nature. While flexibility of the curriculum can be studied as both a strength
and a limitation of the BC curriculum, I describe it as a strength here, while also elaborating
on the limitation of this aspect in the next segment of this chapter. Flexibility of the BC
curriculum is its strength because of three main reasons: first, flexibility allows teachers to
initiate critical discussions in their classrooms, second, flexibility means more student
autonomy by them becoming the regulators of the content they learn, and third, flexibility
means personalized learning for different individuals in the classrooms. With the flexibility
that teachers have, they can introduce critical discussions in their classrooms. Even though
the BC curricula lack resource packages and teachers prompts, with the integration of core
competencies, big ideas and contents, teachers are empowered to meet the expectation of this
flexible curricula, utilizing creativity and innovation in the classrooms. Kaminskiene and
DeUrraza (2020) note from a student’s perspective, that flexible curriculums mean more
success in learning as then the learning pace or content is not determined by the schools or
teachers, allowing students to be the regulators of their learning. This means more student
autonomy in the teaching-learning process. From a critical pedagogy framework, flexibility
of the curriculums can then be deemed as an essential aspect of education, because of how
students get to be the regulators of their learning process. I consider flexibility as a strength
for the BC curriculums because it gives teachers the ability to cater individual students
differently. Teachers, with their immense freedom to look beyond any prescribed contents,
can introduce personalized learning in their classrooms (Kaminskiene & DeUrraza, 2020).
Thus, these three aspects: teachers’ initiation of critical discussions in their classrooms,

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student autonomy, and personalized learning for individuals, makes flexibility a key strength
of BC curriculums.
BC poetry curricula’s strength also lies in its interdisciplinary nature. This is because,
interdisciplinary space allows both teachers and students to simultaneously indulge with
multiple knowledge bodies, paving way for critical learning. Poetry’s role in interdisciplinary
learning is significant. As I previously mentioned, poetry is subjective in nature. This
subjectivity is important in looking beyond facts and seeing the events mentioned by the poet
from multiple dimensions. For instance, a poem that describes American Civil War, such as
“O Captain! my Captain!” by Walt Whitman, can also bring forth certain key events as well
as the emotions attached with those events.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; (Whitman, 2015)
This stanza will inform the death of the captain – Abraham Lincoln, while also noting the
chronology of events that lead to the victory in the war. Similar poems not only introduce
students to various rich poetic features, but also allows them to connect with other subject
areas. Even though interdisciplinary approaches in pedagogy can sometimes be time
consuming and confusing for teachers, if they can allow for a successful synthesis of two or
more disciplines, then they can foster higher-order thinking capabilities in their students
(Jones, 2009). This is beneficial, especially because critical pedagogy itself aims at building
interdisciplinary spaces where knowledge becomes freely accessible without constraints
(McArthur, 2010). This means that interdisciplinary space can allow both teachers and
students to engage critically with various knowledge bodies. The secondary school poetry
curriculums being flexible as well as interdisciplinary, benefits students by enabling them to

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acquire higher order thinking as well as by allowing them to critically engage with various
knowledge bodies.
Strengths of Ontario’s Secondary School English curricula focussed on Poetry
Ontario’s English curricula comprises of a variety of courses and I consider this to be
one of the most important strengths of the ON curricula. One important reason for this is the
promotion of student autonomy. Large pools of courses mean students can utilize the
curriculum to the fullest and select the appropriate course that they wish to study. Moreover,
since the purpose itself of these courses is multifold – first, to prepare students for their
future careers or as an essential step towards university or workplace preparation, second, as
a condition for admissibility in the next grade level, third, to allow them to opt for a
specialisation course, and fourth, to study in a theory-based, application-based or a self-paced
program (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a; 2007b) – students are empowered to choose
the courses based on their desired outcomes. This also means the variety of courses within
the ON English curricula is diverse with respect to the skills they foster – including various
common language-learning skills within all courses and specific skills within the electives –
that allows students to choose what they perceive is the best option for their future. For
instance, optional courses such as The Writer’s Craft and Studies in Literature for Grade 12
(Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007b) are specifically designed for students wishing to
pursue a career in creative writing, reflective writing, research and analysis of literatures
from various eras, analysis and study of First Peoples literatures and literary criticism. Many
courses for students to opt from, is a sign of the curricula’s learner-centered approach. This
makes the curricula very strong with respect to how students are allowed to be partakers of
their own learning, and not how teachers deem it fit for them. With such a variety available

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for students, the teachers’ role becomes that of being an equal in the process of teachinglearning, by students being the selectors of the course containing specified skills to which
respective teachers tutor. Teachers are then not the owners of the knowledge bodies that are
introduced in the classroom, rather they are just the transformative intellectuals who help
students to critically evaluate and learn from the courses that they themselves have opted
from this variety that is available for them. Thus, the presence of a variety of courses to learn
poetry in the secondary school ON English curricula, is a key strength of the curricula as it
enables students to choose the apt courses based on the requirement for their future
undertakings.
Secondly, the availability of numerous examples and ‘teacher prompts’ is a strength
of the ON secondary school poetry curricula. This is a strength because with numerous
examples, teachers feel empowered in their classrooms to realise the expectations of the
curriculum. This aspect can also be studied as a limitation of the ON curricula, because
despite of its flexibility, various examples and teacher prompts can make the curricula
prescriptive in nature, where teachers may get restricted to go beyond the scope of these
mentioned examples. I will be exploring this aspect in the limitation segment of this chapter.
Davis et al. (2017) points out that teachers having sufficient guidance for their curricular
documents can easily meet the expectations of the curriculum and they are then able to foster
the skills highlighted within the curriculum. For instance, one example of the prompt for
teachers with respect to the presentation of a poem is: “How did the speaker’s use of facial
expressions, vocal effects, and body language contribute to the text?” (Ontario Ministry of
Education, 2007a, p. 57). This prompt is particularly centred on video/live presentations of a
poem in the classroom. Students who attend to this prompt in the classroom learn about three

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dimensions of the poetry presentation - facial expressions, vocal effects, and body language.
Teachers can also introduce how facial expressions, vocal effects, and body language, have
significance in various cultures represented through the poem. For instance, the importance
of bowing heads as salutation in the Asian context. This example shows how the usage of
prompts and discussions in the classroom fosters language learning, as well as aid teachers to
include cultural-sensitive contents in their classrooms. This aspect is also a strength because
the curricular document not only provides multiple examples and prompts for teachers, but
also urges teachers to go beyond the scope of these examples and prompts by introducing
more context specific real-time examples in the classrooms and lead critical discussions
based on contemporary themes. Various examples and prompts mentioned in the curricula, as
well as various real-time examples allow in-depth language learning and lead students into
critical discussions, making them more connected to their societal issues and needs. I
consider this to be the juncture where teachers become transformative intellectuals by
facilitating critical reflection in classrooms (Giroux, 2002). It is noteworthy, that the usage of
real-time examples of poetry can help students not only learn about the skills associated with
language learning, but also indulge with the contemporary themes and issues prevalent in the
society. This makes the curricula stronger in terms of its link with the worldly affairs and
concerns. For instance, following is a stanza taken from the poem by John Lithgow, which is
about the Trump administration in USA.
“Trumpty Dumpty wanted a crown
To make certain he never would have to step down.
He wanted a robe made of ermine and velvet.
The Constitution? He wanted to shelve it.” (Lithgow, 2020, p. 11)

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Discussions about this poem can be about the structure of the poem and teach
students the skills associated with usage of literary devices. Deeper discussions of this poem
may include the rising racist instances in North America during Trump’s tenure. This twoway benefit for the students is the reason why the availability of examples and prompts is a
key strength. Thus, various prompts, examples and real-life based themes and discussions are
a strength of the ON curricula, as this can be utilised by teachers for not only the purpose of
language learning, but also for the purpose of portraying educational institutions as cultural,
social and economic zones that are inseparably attached to politics and power, prompting
critical discussions.
Lastly, the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills promoted by the curriculums is an
important strength of the ON secondary school poetry curricula. This is because the benefits
of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills for students are multifold: first, these skills prepare
students to be anti-discriminatory, second, it gives them a representational space in a
multicultural setup, third, it allows them to thrive for social justice, and fourth, it increases
their cross-cultural competencies. I believe these skills are a strength specifically in the
context of Canada which is a multicultural nation, because students developing interpersonal
and intrapersonal skills through the ON curricula will be able to bring harmony among
diverse groups. For example, the curriculum for grade 9 mentions the understanding of “body
language, gestures, level of assertiveness and facial expressions” to be important in
developing interpersonal skills, where students learn strategies to demonstrate “sensitivity to
cultural differences” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a, p. 57). In the case of
intrapersonal skill, as an example, Grade 10 curriculum mentions a specific teacher prompt:
“what pieces do you feel show your increasing awareness of yourself?”, which helps students

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to “reflect significant advances in their growth and competence” (Ontario Ministry of
Education, 2007a, p. 79). Interpersonal and Intrapersonal skills are essential for the theme of
reconciliation with the First Peoples. When students are encouraged to write, speak or recite
during performance poetry sessions, they better express themselves (Atwell, 2014) appreciate
their own cultural values, invoke cultural empathy among others (Xerri, 2012) learn
resiliency, and start introspecting about themselves and their positioning in the society (Desai
& Marsh, 2005). The exercise of introspection and the evaluation of one’s own culture
encouraged by the poetry curricula, harnesses intrapersonal competency amongst students.
Moreover, ON curricular document, by incorporating recitations and performance poetry
sessions in the classroom allows students to have a representational space within the
classroom, where they can perform or write poetry based on their own experiences or based
on the real-life stories they have heard. Furman, Coyne & Negi (2008) point out that when
students are asked to write poems based on their daily life occurrences in their classroom,
self-reflection skills leading to higher order intrapersonal skills, as well as their cross-cultural
competencies get improved. Self-reflection and interpersonal communication in a
multicultural environment mean engaged citizenry of the youth, which is vital in realising
social justice. Thus, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills are a strength of the ON
curriculums because of its social justice orientation.
Flexible Curriculums may also be a Limitation
One important limitation to both BC and ON secondary school poetry curriculums
can be derived from their flexible nature. The BC curricula is “vague” since teachers do not
have resource packages to guide themselves in order to bring suitable content to the
classroom (Storey, 2017, p.44). The studies and opinion-based literatures on the new BC

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curricula have all elaborated on how the newer curricula do not become a valuable guide for
teachers (Blades, 2019; Tuinstra, 2018). Even though the ON curricula ensures that teachers
have numerous examples and prompts, it can make teachers lose their innovation in
exploring and going beyond the mentioned prompts and examples. This can also be a
challenge of the flexible nature of the ON curriculums, as teachers may restrict themselves to
the contents that they would have been teaching for several years already.
Teachers play a significant role in the success of a curriculum. It must not be left
unsaid that curriculum is not just an ordinary document and includes everything associated
within the educational process (Eisner, 2002). A teacher’s effective practice in the classroom
makes a curriculum successful. In case of both BC and ON curriculums, the contents
mentioned in the curricular document are just the major ‘ingredients’ within the actual
content. For instance, the curricula of BC mention the importance of interdisciplinary
approach in learning, however, it truly depends on teachers to adopt this measure in their
classrooms. Teachers feel empowered when they have educative materials and resources for
their classes; they feel secure with the guidance that they receive through the educative
materials (Davis et al., 2017). Furthermore, even though I previously mentioned students’
viewpoint on flexible curriculums as stated by Kaminskiene & DeUrraza (2020) that it
promotes student autonomy, Jonker, Marz & Voogt (2020) point out from teachers’
standpoint, that it creates confusion, tensions and professional pressure. Thus, flexible
curricula can be a limitation of both the ON and BC curriculums based on its enactment.
Teacher educators being at the center of curriculum enactment, may be under great scrutiny
when anything related to the implementation of the curriculum goes wrong.

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Summary
This chapter observed various strengths of the BC and ON curriculums. The BC
secondary school poetry curricula’s core competencies focused on fostering communication
skills among students, big ideas that pave way for empathy, collectivism, and Freirean
critical consciousness and praxis, the appreciation of oral traditions of the First Peoples, the
promotion of social justice, flexibility, and its interdisciplinary nature are the key strengths of
this curricula. The variety of courses in ON curriculums, availability of numerous examples
and teacher prompts, and its promotion of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills are the key
strengths of the ON secondary school poetry curricula. With respect to the limitations, the
flexibility of both BC and ON curricula, that creates confusion, tension and professional
pressure among teachers are notes in this chapter.

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Chapter Six
Findings and Implications
Introduction
In this chapter, based on the critical examination of the curricula, I will further delve
into answering the research question – How (if at all) are the English Language Arts
curricula of British Columbia (BC) and the English curricula of Ontario (ON) that focus on
poetry, influenced by multiculturalism? I will also look into the key implications that inform
the existing gap within both Ontario and British Columbia’s English Language Arts curricula
with a focus on poetry, and how poetry is situated to promote multiculturalism. I will
specifically connect these implications to the greater discourse of multiculturalism through
and within poetry. The chapter is divided into four main segments, first, I will connect my
findings to the research question, second, I will elaborate on the implications of flexibility of
the BC curricula, third, I will analyze the implication of ON’s poetry curricula’s inclusion of
excessive expectations and its insertion of too many prompts and examples for the teachers,
and fourth, I will explore the implications of not including any definitive multicultural poetry
content in both BC and ON curriculums.
Findings of the Study
Based on the critical examination of the curriculums using Text Analysis
methodology, this study’s findings demonstrate that poetry found within the English
Language Arts curricula of BC and the English curricula of ON, is only minimally influenced
by multiculturalism. Even though the critical examination of the curriculums paved different
ways into looking at how the curriculum attempted to foster multiculturalism, the dearth in
the emphasis on poetry over other genres, and the deficit in the direct mention of

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‘multicultural poetry’ throughout the curriculums, present the outcome that curricula
examined were minimally influenced by multiculturalism. In other words, when curriculums
do not explicitly mention ‘multicultural poetry’ or poetry over other genres, it limits the
scope and depth of understanding the presence and use of poetry, and any direct themes of
multiculturalism in them.
The critical examination of the curricula documented in the previous chapter, informs
that multiculturalism could be fostered by the Core Competencies and Big Ideas of the BC
English Language Arts curricula for Grades 9 to 12. This is possible because of the focus on
fostering communication skills, empathy, collectivism, Freirean critical consciousness and
praxis, and due to the curricula’s appreciation of oral traditions of the First Peoples,
promotion of social justice, flexibility, and its interdisciplinary nature. With respect to the
ON curricula, its variety of courses, availability of numerous examples and teacher prompts,
and its promotion of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, aid in a cursory way to promote
multiculturalism through poetry. However, as both BC and ON secondary school curricula
are flexible, and strongly mention the role of educators in the implementation of the
multicultural poetry (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015; 2016a; 2016b; Ontario
Ministry of Education, 2007a; 2007b), the findings of this study in terms of the strengths of
the curricula in promoting multiculturalism through poetry, depends primarily on how
teachers implement the curriculums in their classroom. This is also why I wish to reiterate
what I stated earlier – poetry found within the English Language Arts curricula of BC and the
English curricula of ON, is only minimally influenced by multiculturalism. The following
sections further elaborate on the key implications and their impacts, that inform certain gaps
within the BC and ON curricula, with respect to its promotion of multiculturalism.

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Implication of flexibility of BC curriculums
Flexibility of the BC curricula is aimed towards encouraging teachers to design
courses, units and experiences for students based on the principles of First Nations, other
local contexts, and student interests and their needs (British Columbia Ministry of Education,
2016). Even though flexibility implies autonomy with respect to how a teacher designs and
teaches their classroom content, and how learners’ perspectives are thoroughly reflected
within the classroom discourses, the sheer lack of teacher prompts and the vagueness around
how to engage in the discourses of First Nations people in the BC curricula implies confusion
and stress for teachers (Storey, 2017; Blades, 2019). With teacher confusion and stress, I also
intend to mention the complications those teachers face who are not particularly skilled in
teaching poetry. This also means that without teacher prompts or sufficient guidelines, new
teachers or teachers who are not confident in teaching poetry will feel a sense of
unsettledness with their teaching practice. Jonker, Marz and Voogt (2020) mention that
flexibility implies teacher confusion in course development, technology handling and
enactment of lessons. Key impacts of this implication include professional pressure among
teachers, a lack of connectedness to multicultural education through poetry, a lack of
inclusion of the indigenous perspectives, contents and cultures within classrooms, and the
non-fulfillment of the curricular expectations, all of which are problematic and worth
examining for policy change. This implication of flexibility is also crucial to peruse because
teacher confusion and stress can further imply alternative practices in the classroom to reach
the curricular expectations, such as, a passive inclusion of poetry in the classroom content. I
will further explore this implication of flexibility and its impacts in the following paragraphs.

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Teacher confusion and stress due to the unavailability of sufficient guidelines,
prompts and examples, could mean a passive usage of poetry in the classrooms to reach the
curricular expectations. Poetry is mentioned under the scope of texts in the BC curricula.
Texts also include other oral, visual, written and digital texts such as plays, stories, novels,
articles, photographs etc. (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016a; 2016b). In Grade
9-12, big ideas, core competencies, and contents do not explicitly mention ‘poetry’, instead
include texts as a hypernym for poetry and other literary genres. Teachers who get
overwhelmed while integrating big ideas, core competencies, and contents, or those who
themselves do not have an aptitude for poetry, may choose to avoid using poetry and instead
introduce contents from other genres to foster the skills mentioned under the curricula. For
instance, to teach intonation, instead of poetry a teacher can use dialogues from a play, or to
teach literary devices, a teacher can use fiction instead (Gabrielsen, Blikstad-Balas, &
Tengberg, 2019). This means, a teacher who is not well-versed in poetry can easily avoid
teaching about poetry in their classrooms while still addressing all the areas mentioned under
big ideas, core competencies, and contents. Moreover, looking at this omission from a
critical pedagogy lens, this impact caused by teachers’ confusion due to the lack of prompts,
guidelines and examples in the curricular document will in turn result in teacher
authoritarianism with respect to the knowledge body introduced in the classroom. This is
because teachers who use alternate methods and rarely use poetry in their classrooms,
deprive their students of the very benefits poetry has to offer to them. Teachers’ passive or
negligible usage of poetry in the classrooms to reach the curricular expectations, means
teachers’ authority over the contents they use, and this authoritarianism leads students to miss
out on the positive attributes that poetry has to offer. The forceful adoption of contents in the

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classroom delimits the real sense of autonomy (Houlden & Veletsianos, 2020), which is
ironical in the case of flexible curriculums.
Furthermore, the vagueness of the curricula can also negatively impact the curricular
expectations for poetry. The BC curricula expects the integration of core competencies, big
ideas and contents in the classroom. However, realizing the specific content that covers the
key concepts and fosters core competencies among students may be a confusing task for
teachers (Storey, 2017; Blades, 2019). This can also lead to professional pressure. Tensions
due to the lack of clarity induces pressure among teachers in realizing the goals of the
curriculum (Jonker, Marz and Voogt, 2020). Furthermore, this stressful situation of
introducing the appropriate knowledge body in their classrooms can also result into teachers
referring back to the previously existed resource packages (Blades, 2019) in order to meet the
expectation of the curriculum. Blades (2019) mention that teachers throughout BC still use
the aged Integrated Resource Packages (IRPs), which are course contents that were available
for teachers prior to the introduction of the 2016 BC curricula, and was an important
document which the previous curricula entitled for every teacher’s classroom practice. I
consider the present usage of IRPs, due to the protracted confusion and stress among teachers
to be a resultant negative implication, and because these resource packages are undoubtedly
linked to the previously existed curricular expectations. One must note that since curriculum
design is carried out after a thorough analysis of the deficiencies and needs of an existing
curriculum and practice (Macalister & Nation, 2019), the continued usage of the IRPs in the
present-day classrooms denote the non-fulfillment of the expectations laid down in the new
curriculums of BC.

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The non-fulfilment of the expectations of BC curriculums negatively impacts the
multicultural environment envisioned in the BC curricula. Teacher confusion due to the lack
of proper guidelines, examples and prompts can negatively impact BC secondary school
poetry curricula’s aim of promoting intercultural communication, which is an important
component of multicultural education. This could only be achieved by rightfully including
indigenous perspectives, contents and cultures, other diverse contents, and personalized
learning into every course. Even though the curriculums extensively mention the integration
of indigenous perspectives, cultures and contents into the classroom (British Columbia
Ministry of Education, 2016a; 2016b) there is a lack of advice regarding the compliance of
this integration (Blades, 2019). For instance, teachers might include local Indigenous
people’s poetry in their classroom, however, if teachers are unable to bring out the
importance of the issues and the multiple themes mentioned in the poetry stanzas, this could
be problematic for multicultural education. Teachers who do not bring in culturally sensitive
material and are unable to inform students of the background of the multicultural poems,
provide students with partial information, which is harmful in every sense. Moreover,
teachers who hail from non-Indigenous backgrounds will find it very difficult to cope up with
this infusion without proper examples and guidance. This also means that it would be
challenging for some teachers to include diverse content in the classroom resulting into the
inability of teachers to foster personalized learning for students hailing from diverse
backgrounds. For instance, teachers who have a European Ancestry may find it difficult to
foster personalized learning for Asian students if they are not properly guided through the
curriculum or exposed to this in teacher education programs. And even if they are able to
introduce personalized content, there still might be a lack of understanding regarding the

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themes and events mentioned in various poems that teachers have researched for this
purpose. Thus, it is no doubt that that introduction of Aboriginal perspectives and contents,
other diverse contents, and personalized learning in the classroom are all undoubtedly
important in a multicultural environment like Canada where students from diverse
backgrounds attend public school together.
There also lies the possibility of a gap between different classrooms and among
different students from the same province due to their exposures to completely different
classroom practices. For instance, a teacher from a certain school location, might have only
focused on the academic course completion based on the previously existed IRPs. If they
have done this without addressing First Peoples texts and other diverse poetry texts, then they
are distancing their students from the other classrooms where other teachers were able to
induce multiples perspectives among their students. This creates a gap among students within
the same province. To summarize this section, the lack of teacher prompts and the vagueness
associated with BC curriculums, will negatively impact multicultural education envisioned
by the curriculum and this is ironical because at the first place the provision of flexible
curriculums itself is to include diverse knowledge bodies in the classroom.
Implication of numerous expectations within the ON curriculums
Numerous expectations listed in the ON curricula with the addition of numerous
examples and prompts for classroom consumption implies, first, partial inclusion of
competencies within the classrooms, and second, lesser scope for innovation and creativity
for teachers. It is interesting to note that unlike the BC curricula, for each competency
mentioned in ON curriculums, there are several sub-categories of expectations, and for each
of these sub-categories there are numerous prompts and examples available in the curricular

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document for the teachers. The curriculums expect teachers to innovate and bring real life
examples to the classroom, while also offering them a plethora of examples and prompts
which they may or may not refer to, based on their personal teaching styles (Ontario Ministry
of Education, 2007a; 2007b). However, as much as it appears that the provision of additional
support within the curricula empowers teachers; the inclusion of excessive prompts and
examples pertaining to numerous expectations within the curriculums exceed to a point
where it gets overly time-consuming for teachers to address most of these expectations in
their classroom. When teachers address certain expectations and leave out certain others, the
overall expectation of the curriculums are not met. Moreover, with respect to skills necessary
in a multicultural environment, this would mean a growing gap between different learners.
For instance, learners from a school where various multicultural competencies, such as
intercultural communication and the promotion of social justice are fostered in the classroom,
would possess these key skills for a multicultural environment, as opposed to learners from
another school where students hail from a homogenous section of the society, and the teacher
might not include any multicultural content or foster any of these skills.
Furthermore, according to Chan et al. (2017), teachers often refrain combining certain
competencies with their course contents as they perceive it to be a time-consuming activity
primarily because of two reasons, one, lack of guidelines and difficulties in the assessment of
certain competencies and two, their own lack of experience dealing with a variety of
competencies. One significant impact of this is an ardent focus only on the disciplinary
knowledge content and not the fostering of key skills such as intercultural communication
and empathy among students. In simple words, too many expectations within the ON
curricular documents can be overwhelming for teachers, prompting them to not focus on all

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of them and emphasizing largely on the disciplinary content alone. Despite the focus on
disciplinary content being an important attribute, not focusing on key multicultural
competencies such as intercultural communication and empathy is a negative aspect because
this will lead into the creation of knowledgeable mindsets lacking the skills for survival in a
multicultural environment. This might further lead to the fundamental question of what the
aim of education is.
I will describe this further with an elaborate example: ‘Making inference’ is an
important competency mentioned as a sub-category of the expectation, ‘reading for meaning’
in the ON curriculum for grade 9 (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a, p. 45). Other than
‘making inference’, there are 7 other important competencies such as ‘critical literacy’ and
‘evaluating texts’ mentioned as sub-categories under the main expectation, Reading for
Meaning. Now Reading for Meaning itself is a part of 4 overall expectations mentioned
under the major skill of Reading, which together with oral communication, writing, and
media literacy forms the course curriculum of Academic English for Grade 9. Simply
eliminating ‘making inference’ from a classroom discourse by not leading an inferential
study of poetry and its background, might not appear as a big change for a teacher who is
already including various other crucial competencies mentioned in the curriculum. However,
from a multicultural point of view, similar to many other key skills mentioned within the
curricula, ‘making inference’ is too a crucial skill leading into the understanding of diverse
backgrounds and generating empathy among students (Kendeou, Broek, Helder & Karlsson,
2014). One may argue here, that the skill of ‘making inference’ can be harnessed from
reading literatures and it does not have to be specifically addressed through the usage of
multicultural poetry, however, then they are neglecting the ability of multicultural poetry to

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connect the multiple emotions and feelings attached to various situations. An example here
would be a perspective on Residential schools by an Indigenous poet. Students may read
about the Residential schools and events that happened within the schools by reading a prose
on Residential schools. Students might also read about various experiences of the Indigenous
students who went to Residential school. However, poetry alone will enable students to
connect with the feelings and emotions that the poet has included through their various poetic
devices, allowing students to actively engage and empathise with the experience of the poet
(Mittal, 2016; Johnson, 2019). Thus, keeping multiculturalism in view, as much as I value
the importance of this bombardment of several important competencies into poetry
curriculums of ON, the irony of overcrowding it to a point where it would not be completely
met, is also harmful for the curricula.
Another implication of numerous expectations and the abundant prompts and
examples contained in the ON poetry curricula is that it lessens the scope for innovation and
creativity for teachers. The ON curricula guides teachers with a ton of examples and prompts
to a point where they might not have more opportunities to innovate, instead choose to settle
by exercising what the curricula offers through its own numerous suggestions. For instance,
when the curricula offer two to three prompts under one sub-category of a competency and
mentions at least a few examples alongside with it for classroom discussion and learning, the
scope for teachers to include more examples from outside sources, self-experiences or
student experiences is often reduced. In simple words, “overspecification of standards”
within a curriculum “tends to cramp the creativity of both students and teachers” (Noddings,
2013, p.212)

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Moreover, the crowding of the ON curricula with respect to the several expectations
laid down through too many prompts and examples for the use of teachers also imply a
superficial addressing of topics, and a lesser regard to the inclusion of learning based on
student experiences (Bialystok, Norris & Pinto, 2019; Adolfsson, 2018). This also means that
when teachers settle down with the mentioned prompts and examples, they connect to topics
superficially and not wholly. For instance, one specific prompt mentioned under reading
skills in order to discuss ‘diverse cultures and historical periods’ for Grade 11 English course
is: “What recurring themes emerge in your study of World War I poets from various
nations?” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007b, p. 46). Other examples mentioned for the
same topic are: “compare their (students’) own perspective on a topic with the perspective of
the main character in a narrative from an earlier historical period”; “compare treatments of
similar themes in stories from different cultures, including First Nation, Inuit, or Métis
cultures”; “study literary essays, noting thesis statements and structural elements, as models
for their own writing”; “research a topic of interest to develop an annotated bibliography for
an independent study” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007b, p. 46). The inclusion of these
many examples for analyzing one topic alone means that teachers are “held tightly” by the
curriculum and there exists minimum opportunity for them to go beyond the scope of what
the curriculum mentions (Noddings, 2013, p.213). Furthermore, assuming that a teacher
might discuss recurrent themes of World War I poets from different nations to address this
topic, the obvious question that comes to mind is what happens to all the other important
examples mentioned under this section? Can a teacher bypass other examples, the more
crucial ones such as the comparison of “treatments of themes in stories or poetries from
different cultures, including First Nation, Inuit, or Métis cultures” in this case? I consider that

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leading a classroom with one prompt alone will be time consuming in this case, let alone the
inclusion of the rest of the examples.
From the above-mentioned example, if a teacher wishes to discuss recurrent themes
in the study of world war I poets, students might get connected to these themes as well as to
the historical context of World War 1 and its poetry. Students might be able to look at the
contemporary issues by comparing it to the issues mentioned in World War I poetry.
However, if a teacher chooses to exclude the other prompts and examples, such as the
comparative study between diverse cultures, including that of the First Nation, Inuit, or Métis
cultures, or an annotated bibliography or a researched write-up, due to their time consuming
discussion and study, then teachers are definitely leaving out important areas in their
classroom. Since teachers are expected to cover a lot of expectations and are required to
attend to the remaining topics in a subject, instead of delving into the deeper meaning of the
lessons and into elaborate discussion of contents, teachers address topics superficially
(Adolfsson, 2018; Armstrong, Stahl & Kantner, 2015). This also means a lesser regard to the
inclusion of learning based on student experiences. For instance, a refugee student who
moved to Canada in recent times due to the conflict situations they faced in their own country
might want to discuss their experiences in the classroom. Teachers on the other hand, due to
their choice of prompts, might not even allow the inclusion of refugee students’ perspectives
and experiences in their class. This might make these students feel left out in comparison to
the rest of the students. All of this implies teachers might not have more opportunities to
innovate and bring creative ideas to the classroom, instead choose to settle by exercising
what the curriculums offer through its own numerous suggestions.

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Adopting multicultural education in the classroom through poetry would look
something different than a normal classroom discourse. Creativity, for the above-mentioned
topic can, hypothetically, be a poetry composition based on a photo walk in a museum that
displays artefacts from a historical event, a poetry composition followed by a discussion
based on one’s own choice of a historical event, or, a comparative study of the struggles that
the diverse students from diverse backgrounds faced, or, even an interdisciplinary approach
where students connect a lesson in their history classroom to their English course and prepare
for a poetry slam or a formal competition. There can be many other creative ways in which
teachers can introduce multicultural poetry in their classrooms. Thus, the multifarious
expectations listed in the ON curricula with the provision of a myriad of examples and
prompts for classroom consumption imply a partial inclusion of competencies within the
classroom, as well as lesser scope for innovation and creativity for teachers, further leading
to a superficial addressing of topics in the classroom.
Further implications of the inclusion of multicultural contents
With respect to multicultural contents, the BC curriculums focus on the inclusion of
local Indigenous content, and contents supporting and valuing diverse learners in the
classroom (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015). The ON curriculums on the other
hand specifically mentions the inclusion of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people’s content, as
well as contents inclusive of diverse cultures (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007a; 2007b).
In both BC and ON curriculums, even though the terms ‘diversity’ and ‘culture’ are defined
with a broad definition, no groups are specifically exemplified, other than First Nations,
Metis and Inuit people in the context of ON curriculums, and a broader terminology of ‘First
Peoples’ in the context of BC curricula. It must also be noted here that instead of mentioning

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any definitive content or prescribed textbook, both BC and ON poetry curriculums only
mention components and competencies that must be contained within the contents that
teachers adopt in their classrooms. Even though this implies teacher autonomy with respect
to the adoption of multicultural contents in the classroom, one major negative implication of
the unavailability of definitive multicultural content stems from the fact that many
Indigenous community members and other diverse groups may not be primary English
speakers and may not have poems or other literatures with proper English translations. There
might also be a lack of awareness regarding the translated texts. This situation in the
classroom might lead to a challenging classroom environment, even leading cultural
appropriation as opposed to cultural appreciation. The implications of the unavailability of
definitive multicultural content are multifold; one, in order to deal with the majority of the
expectations of the curriculum, the contents adopted in the classroom might belong to
culturally dominant groups, and two, even if teachers include culturally diverse contents,
there might still be a lack of cultural sensitivity around the usage of these diverse contents in
the classroom. Both these implications are important to be discussed here, as what might
appear to be a multicultural environment in the classroom, might in reality be an environment
promoting cultural appropriation and prejudice.
Indigenous communities and other diverse groups may not be native English
speakers. This might impact the choice of contents in the classroom. For instance, students
who have recently migrated with their families to Canada from non-English speaking
countries may not have available translated poetry contents in English pertaining to the
specified competencies that are mentioned in the curricula. Moreover, these students might
also find it difficult to understand various cultural practices of other diverse groups when

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they interact with the common classroom contents. Teachers resorting to contents that largely
affiliate to a particular group, mostly the ones to the dominant groups, would be an
immediate impact to the unavailability of multicultural contents. Interestingly, most teachers
in Canadian schools are Caucasian and have a European background (Ryan, Pollock &
Antonelli, 2009) which might also lead them to include mostly European poetry in their
classroom, instead of texts from the First Nations or other parts of the world. In such
situations, the cultural knowledge body of the dominant groups becomes universal
knowledge body in the classroom (Petherick, 2018). This is fundamentally oppressive and a
harmful practice for a classroom that is expected by the curricular document to promote
multiculturalism. It is therefore no doubt, that with respect to the contents in the secondary
school poetry curriculums of both BC and ON, teachers predominantly include
Shakespearean poetry, and poems influenced largely by British poets (Colarusso, 2017).
Moreover, even when teachers include culturally specific poetry content, there might remain
a lack of cultural sensitivity around the content. For instance, teachers including haikus,
pastoral poems in their classroom, or organizing poetry slams may not necessarily inform
their classroom of the importance of these types of poetry with respect to its place of origin
and cultural significance. Students and teachers might study various types of poems without
being aware of the cultural significance around it (Sumiati, 2019; Finch, 2003). Lack of
cultural information might lead to prejudice among students towards different multicultural
content. Such a curriculum is adversely impacted when students have to settle with content
that is presented without cultural context and moreover, does not indulge in critical learning
as well as the understanding of the background of the information they access (Bialystok,
Norris & Pinto, 2019). Thus, having no or very limited access to multicultural context and

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having limited guidelines regarding the usage of multicultural content is a limitation of both
BC and ON curriculums leading to a challenging classroom environment.
Summary
This chapter delved into three significant areas of implications pertaining to both BC
and ON secondary school poetry curriculums. These three are significant areas as they are
indicative of the gaps within the curricula. With respect to the flexibility of BC curriculums,
the lack of teacher prompts and the vagueness around how to engage in the discourses of
First Nations people implies confusion and stress for teachers. This confusion and stress also
denote a lack of connectedness to multicultural education through poetry, a lack of inclusion
of the indigenous perspectives, contents and cultures within classrooms, and leads to the nonfulfillment of the curricular expectations. This is because teachers who are not guided by the
curriculums, might not know how to include local Indigenous content or might not be
proficient in fostering the skills that are important for a multicultural environment such as
empathy and intercultural communication. With respect to the numerous expectations listed
in the ON curricula with the provision of numerous examples and prompts, the implication is
that partial inclusion of competencies in the classroom, and a lesser scope for innovation and
creativity for teachers. With respect to fostering multicultural education, the implication of
ON curricula’s many expectations as well as numerous examples and prompts is a visible gap
between different opportunities given to learners, determined by teacher’s knowledge and
access to multicultural texts, and a superficial addressing of various important areas in the
classroom. Lastly, the exclusion of any definitive multicultural contents in both BC and ON
poetry curriculums may imply cultural appropriation and prejudice among various diverse
groups.

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Chapter Seven
Significance, Limitations and the Way Forward
Introduction
In this thesis, I have sought to explore multicultural poetry in secondary school
English Language Arts curriculums of British Columbia (BC) and the English curriculums of
Ontario (ON). With the research question – how (if at all) are the English Language Arts
curricula of BC and the English curricula of ON that focus on poetry, influenced by
multiculturalism? – my aim was to study the strengths and weaknesses of both the curricula,
particularly with their focus on multiculturalism and evaluate the existing gaps with respect
to their promotion of multiculturalism through poetry. Adopting a critical pedagogy lens, I
have analyzed the key strengths and weaknesses of both the secondary school poetry
curricula and based on the inclusion of multicultural education through poetry, examined the
gaps and its significant implications. In this concluding chapter, I will begin by summarizing
my findings, followed by stating the significance of the findings of this study to the English
Language Arts curricula of BC and ON, teacher education programs, and Canadian policy on
multiculturalism in general, and lastly I will consider the limitations of this study and
possible steps for further research.
Brief recap on how poetry curriculums supports multiculturalism
The secondary school English Language Arts curriculums of BC and the English
curriculums of ON that focuses on poetry, indeed foster multiculturalism. The BC secondary
school English Language Arts curricula, with its focus on poetry, includes core competencies
which foster intercultural communication skills among students, and incorporates big ideas
that pave way for empathy, collectivism, Freirean critical consciousness and praxis,

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appreciation of oral traditions of the First Peoples, promotion of social justice, flexibility, and
creates an interdisciplinary space for both teachers and students to indulge with multiple
knowledge bodies. The expression of one’s feelings and emotions through poetry and the
understanding of others’ expression, fosters intercultural communication wherein students
communicate with the members of other cultures without discrimination and with profound
respect and empathy. Likewise, the role of big ideas in stimulating empathy through poetry,
promoting collectivism, enabling students to critically analyse their reality with multiple
perspectives, and allowing students to become engaged citizens as well as educated social
beings through poetry is important for multiculturalism.
The secondary school ON English curricula focused on poetry, promotes student
autonomy, critical classroom discussions, and interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Student
autonomy is promoted due to the availability of a large pool of courses – such as
specialisations in poetry, creative writing, general English, and university or workplace
preparation English. Inclusion of various prompts, examples and real-life based themes and
discussions enable critical classroom discussions, which is an important step towards
multicultural education. Lastly, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, promoted by the
secondary school ON English curricula focused on poetry fosters multiculturalism by
preparing students to be anti-discriminatory, giving them a representational space, and
allowing them to work for social justice.
Brief Recap on Gaps within the English curriculums
Even though both BC and ON curriculums foster multiculturalism, there are some
gaps that need to be addressed within the curricula due to their serious implications on the
policy. The flexibility of the BC curricula with the lack of teacher prompts and the vagueness

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around its implementation which implies confusion and stress for teachers, means the nonfulfilment of the expectations of the BC curricula towards multiculturalism.
With respect to ON curriculums, ironically, the numerous expectations with the
addition of numerous examples and prompts listed for teachers imply partial inclusion of
competencies within the classrooms and lesser scope for innovation and creativity for
teachers. This is because due to the crowding of the curriculums, teachers will superficially
address certain topics in the classrooms and instead of bringing innovative ideas to the
classroom, choose to settle with the existing knowledge body. Lastly, challenging classroom
environments due to cultural appropriation, and the inclusion of cultural knowledge body of
the dominant groups in the classroom, as a result of the dearth of specific multicultural
contents for teachers, is a serious gap for both BC and ON poetry curriculums.
Significance of the Findings
The findings of this study indicate the importance of poetry in promoting
multiculturalism through secondary school curricula and recognize teachers’ crucial role in
fostering multicultural skills among their students in both BC and ON. Even though these
findings are only from two distinct provinces of Canada – BC, from the west of Canada and
ON, a central province – I consider these findings contribute towards the greater literature of
Canadian multiculturalism through education. I also consider the findings of this study are
crucial for teacher education programs, policy makers and curriculum developers. The
significance of the findings of this study will be further elaborated in this section based on
three different areas – on the English Language Arts/English curriculums of BC and ON, on
teacher education programs, and on Canada and its policy on multiculturalism in general.

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Significance of the Findings on English Language Arts Curricula
This study is of profound importance to the English Language Arts/English
curriculums of BC and ON. While the findings of this study suggest that the English
Language Arts curricula, with its inclusion of poetry is a beneficial tool for fostering
multiculturalism, through the discovery of certain gaps and its impacts, the study also
informs an urgent need to reform the existing curricula of BC and ON. Curriculum analysis
studies like these, are definitely crucial for policy makers to recognize the strengths of the
existing curricula, while also considering ways to improve its ongoing implementation
process.
By finding the unique potential of both the curricula in promoting multiculturalism
through poetry and looking deeper into the implications of certain gaps, this study, in the
words of Jackson (2017) informs curriculum developers and policy makers to adopt a
systematic approach to curricular reform, wherein they must frequently connect with every
stakeholder of education in order to facilitate multicultural education in classrooms. This
study reflects the importance and need of regular consultations of policy makers and
curriculum developers with diverse students, educators and parents, in order to address
various gap areas that it successfully gauged. On these lines, I would also maintain Setyono
& Widodo’s (2019) claim of recognizing the function of textbooks which incorporate
multicultural representations, as an entry-level support for multicultural education through
poetry in the classrooms. Textbooks, together with regularly supplemented contents can be
one of the most important tools in addressing the current gaps within the BC and ON English
curricula. However, only when policy makers frequently connect with various stakeholders
of education, biases and prejudices from within the adopted contents can be recognized and a

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critical awareness of diversity be established among students (Jackson, 2017). Thus, the
findings of this study are important for English Language Arts/ English curricula of BC and
ON as it informs the policy makers and curriculum developers of various existing practices
as well as various practices that need reformation.
Additionally, this study informs how the curricular documents of BC and ON
specifically focus on harnessing various core competencies through poetry that aim towards
fostering multiculturalism among students. Indeed, poetry is considered a vital tool for
language acquisition due to its provision of opportunities for students to quicker
memorisation and language learning through its richer vocabulary and metrical style (Wolf,
2018; Dahami, 2018) while also significantly contributing towards cognitive development of
an individual (Jovanović, 2020; Barnes-Holmes et al., 2018). Combining this important
aspect of poetry with the findings of this study, one can infer the substantial nature of poetry
within the English Language Arts classrooms. Thus, for English Language Arts curricula,
this study presents an important tool in the form of poetry for the successful promotion of
multicultural education in the classrooms.
Significance of the Findings on Teacher Education programs
Taking into consideration the importance of poetry for English Language Arts, I
consider teacher education programs must not shy away from giving due importance to
poetry and its promotion of multicultural education. The findings of this study are significant
when understood in terms of teacher education programs for both pre-service and in-service
teachers because, even while the official education policy of BC and ON is that of promoting
multiculturalism through education (George, Maier & Robson, 2020), currently the in-service
teacher education programs and professional training and development programs of BC and

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ON, superficially introduce multiculturalism for teachers (Miled, 2019), meaning the
emphasis is more on subject specific knowledge body. To teacher education programs and
teacher educators, this study is then an important assessment of the present-day classroom
requirements for multicultural education in an English classroom. For instance, teachers need
to know and learn the importance of poetry over other literary genres when it comes to
certain competencies such as intercultural communication through the expression of one’s
emotions and feelings in the classroom. While the curriculums of BC and ON include
multicultural poetry within its purview, it is only through teacher education programs and
development programs that teachers can be made aware of different practices and contents
that they may use in classrooms. As a result, this study informs the importance of including
poetry in the classrooms so as to foster both language learning competencies as well as
multicultural competencies. Thus, because this study points out the crucial role teachers are
expected to play in executing flexible curriculums which foster the multicultural
competencies in English language curriculums, teacher education programs will benefit from
the findings of this study.
Another very important area to which this study contributes in terms of teacher
education programs, is the understanding of the importance of preparing teachers to be able
to change curricula based on recognizing perspectives of multiple cultures (Tabatadze &
Gorgadze, 2017). This means instead of teachers being perplexed in a multicultural
environment or while dealing with multicultural education (Miled, 2019), this study prompts
teacher education programs and teacher educators to fill the gaps due to which teachers are
not fully able to exercise their autonomy in a multicultural setting.

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Significance of the Findings on Canadian Multiculturalism
While in academia, it is a proven theory that simple poetry such as nursery rhymes
are an effective means for language acquisition (Mittal, 2016), this study explores the
enhanced usage of poetry beyond its language learning capabilities and delves into its ability
to promote multicultural education in classrooms (Hanauer, 2003). Multiculturalism in
Canada is an official governmental policy which recognizes, supports and encourages ethnic,
racial, linguistic, cultural and religious diversity (Brosseau & Dewing, 2009). This study,
while looking at multiculturalism through poetry in BC and ON explores the representational
space for students where they get connected with various core competencies that are required
to survive in a multicultural world. It is by exploring this representational space, that this
study becomes significant for Canadian multiculturalism policy. The findings of this study
reveal poetry’s unique nature which allows students to interact with the diversity around
them that prepares them to learn, express and harmoniously co-exists with the diverse
sections of the society.
As an example, currently the students in Canada hailing from war-torn countries who
are already in the risk of poor mental well-being with immense trauma associated to their
past life, face discrimination in Canadian schools and in the society in general, resulting into
depression and stress (Walker & Zuberi, 2020). This study informs us that the provision of
multicultural poetry in classrooms can allow students to be empathetic towards each other
and promote better intercultural communication amongst them, which in turn is significant to
the bigger picture of Canadian multiculturalism. This is because students from a young age
can get connected to multicultural education which can further help reduce instances of
discrimination in the Canadian societies. For instance, by intercultural communication skills

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and empathy through multicultural poetry, students can better learn to communicate to
refugee students.
On the other hand, this study also recognizes a few gaps in both BC and ON
curricula, which are important to be addressed in order to positively connect students with
multicultural education. In the words of George, Maier & Robson (2019, p. 13),
“multiculturalism has offered a safer, more palatable vocabulary for discussing
uncomfortable subjects like racism and immigration, but in so doing, has blurred harsh
realities about marginalisation and racialization in this country and its education system”. I
consider this gap between the narrative of multiculturalism and the actual harsh realities of
the Canadian societies as an area that can be addressed only through policies in education
that can potentially empower educators to facilitate a multicultural classroom.
As education is a very important aspect of any society, education that fosters a
multicultural environment is vital for countries like Canada with a huge multicultural
population. This study, which reflects upon the curriculums and educational processes of BC
and ON, gives a general outline of Canadian multicultural education system as a whole. It is
at this juncture that this study becomes significant for the greater literature on how English
curriculums can contribute and support an understanding of Canadian multiculturalism.
Limitations of the study
Due to the nature of my research question, this thesis was limited to studying poetry from
within the English Language Arts curricula of BC and the English curricula of ON. This
qualitative research only studied multiculturalism in poetry from this one specific subject
area – English Language Arts in the case of BC, and English in the case of ON. However, it
is also possible that multicultural poetry could be studied from within other subjects available

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for secondary students of BC and ON, such as Arts Education, English as Second Language,
Social Studies and Humanities, French, Interdisciplinary Studies, Canadian and World
Studies, and Native Studies. This is because multicultural poetry is a subject area inclusive of
additional competencies than just the language learning competencies within English
Language Arts and is not limited to studies in English language alone.
Some of these additional competencies we looked in this study include intercultural
communication skills, empathy, Freirean consciousness and praxis. Poetry from a specific era
or by specific poets can be found as a major content area by teachers while teaching French,
English as Second Language, or Arts Education. In subject areas like Social Studies and
Humanities, Interdisciplinary Studies, Canadian and World Studies, and Native Studies,
poetry can be found in specific texts that represents a particular culture’s prominent work or
in other texts pertaining to diverse cultures. For instance, the religious texts of Hinduism and
Sikhism are composed as poems. Thus, this study was limited to exploring poetry from
within the subject area of English Language Arts in the case of BC and English in ON.
Areas for Future Research
Taking in account the limitations of this study, an immediate area for future research
is, studying multicultural poetry within other subjects taught in BC and ON secondary
classrooms. This is important because, as discussed in the limitations section, poetry as a
subject area may be used in the classrooms to nurture competencies other than the core
competencies for language learning. Moreover, on similar lines, a comprehensive study of
the curriculums including all subjects in a single study can also be conducted in order to
explore multicultural education taught through poetry. This can be done as a conceptual
document analysis or by taking into account the perspectives of educators from BC and ON.

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Another important consideration for future research is to review the assessment
policies for multicultural poetry at the school and provincial levels for each province of
Canada. This study can delve into the presence or absence of standardized exams not limited
to the English Language Arts curricula. This study can further encourage curriculum
developers and educators to approach topics related to multiculturalism in classrooms.
Thirdly, the larger influence of British poets, specifically Shakespearean poetry in the
Canadian curriculums (Colarusso, 2017) needs to be studied in order to evaluate the scope
for the inclusion of local Indigenous poetry and poetry of other diverse groups.
Lastly, from a multicultural point of view, a study to recognize the curricular contents
used in the classrooms by different teachers, would be a great way for me to further add to
the research findings of this study. One hypothetical way to conduct this study can be by
taking the perspectives of teachers into account through interviews and questionnaires and
study the content area vis a vis the curricular recommendations. This can be done, to address
within a multicultural setting, what Dharker (1994) writes,
There’s always that point where
the language flips
into an unfamiliar taste;
where words tumble over
a cunning tripwire on the tongue;
where the frame slips,
the reception of an image
not quite tuned, ghost-outlined,
that signals, in their midst,
an alien.

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