Covid forgotten but not for some
How do we engage the absent one?
I focussed on inspiring those who were present
Yet the metrics will always dis-augment
Judged on the percentage of the total count
Many ghost students put our teaching in doubt
How can this be overcome?
Low tariff adds to the conundrum
Poor attendance engenders frustration
Monitoring has become a fixation
Yet the ones who attend and don’t leave
Are the students who progress and achieve
My approach to engage and make teaching compelling
Was to use poetry and enliven with storytelling
To show inclusive practice from the rhetoric
To bring reality to life that’s not Eurocentric
The global majority had the voice at every opportunity
In order to create a student community
A classroom where everyone’s stories are told in a safe space
A practice not new for me, it is commonplace!
The best teaching in the world cannot solve our metrics
The tyranny we are measured by, leaves us apathetic
Perhaps vet the students before they arrive
Remove the ones that won’t survive.
I love to teach and embrace diversity
But many of our students suffer adversity
Intersectionality exposes the victims of this crime
Neo-liberalism to blame, we all chime!
So, what is the answer, what more can lecturers do?
We’re all singing and all dancing but still no breakthrough
The grades are still poor despite every intervention
Will we ever get our redemption?
Learned Words 