This article reports on a participant‐centred research project with English teachers in a senior secondary college in Melbourne, Australia. It builds on previous research (Weaven and Clark 2009, 2011), which showed a low take‐up of the opportunities to teach poetry in Victoria's senior secondary English curriculum. This study explores the reasons why teachers of English are unwilling to use poetry texts in their senior classes. The teachers who participated in this study discussed and documented their attitudes towards the teaching of poetry and explored with each other the pedagogical challenges associated with teaching poetry. Their discussions – an analysis of which forms the empirical core of this article – reveal a range of explanations for teachers' reservations about offering poetry to their students. Importantly, these teachers were able to use professional discussion as a means to consider what changes in teaching practice could be successfully developed to facilitate more time spent on the teaching of poetry in senior secondary classes.

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Statement of contributions: DL conceived the study, obtained ethical approval, undertook the literature review, analysis, and drafted all sections of the manuscript; CS navigated and helped interpret institutional data, undertook the SES and QILT analysis, and reviewed the draft manuscript; PP guided all aspects of the statistical analyses and use of the specific software applications utilised, and reviewed the draft manuscript; and MW expanded the literature review.Three authors are employed by the intervention institution.

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