Patrick Yarker taught English for twenty years in comprehensive schools in London and Norfolk. He was one of nine teachers whose practice was the subject of a ground-breaking book from the Open University, Learning Without Limits, a demonstration of how it is possible and why it is beneficial to teach without recourse to ability-labelling.

He left the classroom to research the effects on teachers of being required to act professionally against core-values and beliefs, receiving his PhD from the University of East Anglia in 2009. These days he teaches on supply and for the Norfolk e-Learning service. He’s also a contributing member of the editorial board of Forum: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, as well as working as a researcher, most recently at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. He is a Visiting Fellow at the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia.

Yarker’s precise, thoughtful poetry has appeared regularly in magazines in the UK. He lives in mid-Norfolk with his partner Nicola and their two daughters Rosa and Lucy.

Publications:

Patrick Yarker: A Sampler, HappenStance, 2010

Links

http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=2424

http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=2423

http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=3309

http://magmapoetry.com/archive/magma-11-poetry-from-san-francisco/poems/yellow/