Teachers fail to name more than two poets

London: More than half of primary schoolteachers cannot name more than two poets, a study has shown.

Research found 58 per cent could name either one, two or none at all.

The study, by academics at the Open University, Cambridge and Reading, warned that teachers' "very limited" knowledge of poetry is damaging children's reading skills.

They found 22 per cent of 1,200 teachers quizzed could name no poets at all. Just 10 per cent were able to mention six — the number they were asked to name by researchers.

The findings emerged after a separate study revealed how comics and magazines have overtaken story books and poems as children's favourite reading matter. Both reports will deepen concern over "dumbing down" following a damning world league table which exposed falling reading standards among England's 10-year-olds. In just five years, the schools fell from third to 19th in a table of reading achievement.

Research commissioned by the UK Literacy Association showed many teachers when asked to name poets, found it not an "easy task".