Trainee teachers at Ormiston Academies Trust schools are to receive specialist training in using the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) award-winning teaching approaches and newly launched Shakespeare Curriculum, as part of a brand-new pilot scheme. Aimed at giving trainee teachers the tools and confidence to deliver high quality arts learning through Shakespeare, the pilot builds on Ormiston’s longstanding partnership with the RSC through the Associate Schools Programme.
23 Early Career Teachers (ECTs) and Initial Teacher Trainees (ITTs) in English and Drama will take part in the bespoke professional development course, giving them the opportunity to experience first-hand how the RSC’s newly launched Shakespeare Curriculum and lesson plans rooted in rehearsal-based techniques can improve young people’s academic, social and emotional development. Through evidence-informed, research-based practice, participants will explore how to bring Shakespeare’s works to life using the RSC’s ‘rehearsal room’ approaches which are based on the way RSC actors and directors work on the plays in rehearsals. Over the three days, teachers will study Macbeth, The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet, and on completion will receive the RSC’s Foundation Certificate in Teaching Shakespeare.
The programme has been designed to help teachers make Shakespeare’s work meaningful and accessible for all students, including those who may find traditional approaches to learning more challenging. Research from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) highlights how arts-based pedagogies can improve engagement and inclusion, particularly for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), English as an additional language (EAL) and those at risk of disengagement. The RSC’s own Time to Act research, demonstrates how the combination of Shakespeare’s language and RSC’s rehearsal room approaches, improve young people’s writing, language and oracy skills whilst building essential competencies like communication, self-confidence, collaboration, problem-solving and critical-thinking. By equipping ECTs with these transferable techniques early in their careers, the Trust aims to strengthen teaching practice and enhance outcomes for pupils across all Ormiston schools.
This partnership marks a significant moment in Ormiston’s longstanding relationship with the RSC and underlines both organisations’ commitment to ensuring that every young person, regardless of background, has access to a high-quality arts education. By investing in the next generation of creative teachers, Ormiston is helping to build a passionate, skilled workforce that is vital to achieving equitable access to the arts.
Lesley Turner, Assistant Head of Ormiston Teacher Training, East, said:
“We’re incredibly proud to be working with the Royal Shakespeare Company to offer this unique opportunity to our Early Career Teachers. A high-quality arts education plays a vital role in developing creativity, confidence and communication, skills that enrich every area of learning. By introducing these approaches at the start of a teacher’s career, we’re not only enriching their professional practice but also ensuring that every pupil has the chance to experience the transformative power of the arts.”
Conrad Cohen, Teachers Programme Manager at the Royal Shakespeare Company, said:
“Our work with over 500,000 young people and 2,000 teachers each year consistently shows that using our rehearsal room approaches to teach Shakespeare improves learning and life outcomes for children and young people. Building on this and the launch this month of our new digital platform, the Shakespeare Curriculum, we are delighted to be joining forces with Ormiston Academies Trust to embed these inclusive, dynamic approaches into early teacher training. We believe that every young person can benefit from an arts-rich education and that giving teachers the tools to deliver this right at the start of their careers, will help unlock potential and opportunities for many more young people.”