A Critical Look at the Teacher Factor in Senior Secondary School Students’ Poetic Appreciation Skills Development

The paper examines the teacher factor in the development of poetic appreciation skills among Senior Secondary School (SSS) students. A questionnaire was administered and data collected from two secondary schools in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The data is analysed using mean average, frequency count, column chart, and rank scale. The major finding is that the teacher is a significant factor in the development of Senior Secondary School students’ poetry appreciation proficiency. Moreover, the effect of book scarcity, which could be severe due to the current economic problems worldwide, could be mitigated through the teacher’s creativity. A reconsideration of curriculum choices in terms of recommended poetry texts to reflect familiar African cultural products before the unfamiliar European ones is also advocated