Culture secretary announces creative partnership
27 November 2006
Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has today announced £200,000 worth of investment by Creative Partnerships into a Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) scheme which aims to develop student creativity in schools through the teaching of Shakespeare. The announcement was made as part of Ms Jowell’s key note speech at Creative Partnerships’ inaugural Annual Conference in Manchester on Monday 27 November 2007.
Commenting on the RSC’s Learning Network, Ms Jowell said:
“It's exactly the kind of complete programme that school leaders have been crying out for. And it's really exciting to see one of our major National Companies taking such a positive lead here - keeping its absolute commitment to quality and excellence but bringing the way it works with young people bang up to date”.
Launched earlier this year, the RSC’s Learning Network is a three year rolling programme of between 10-12 hub schools. Recognised either as Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT)* schools with a particular interest in exploring innovative approaches to teaching English and/or the performing arts, or part of a Primary Learning Network, each hub school has its own local network of 6-8 schools with whom it shares best and innovative practice. In total and including these local partnerships, the RSC’s Learning Network currently reaches out to around 90 schools across the country – a figure which will increase year on year with each new intake of hub schools.
With the additional funding from Creative Partnerships, the RSC will now be able to extend the reach of its scheme to a far wider range of schools - in particular those that would not ordinarily have easy access to the work of the RSC’s Learning Department.
Maria Evans, Director of Learning at the RSC added:
“We are delighted and very grateful to Creative Partnerships that the Learning Network is to receive such a boost. With the additional funds we will be able to give a much broader base of pupils a positive experience of learning creatively through Shakespeare, as well as supporting teachers with theatre based tools that unlock Shakespeare texts in a dynamic way. We have long recognised that many young people can have a negative experience of learning at school and that is equally true of learning Shakespeare – and earlier this year we launched a major national campaign, Teaching Shakespeare: Time For Change, calling for a change in the way we approach Shakespeare in education. The Learning Network forms a crucial part of this campaign and is a marked shift in the way national arts organisations historically deliver education programmes into schools.
“With over 30 years experience of running workshops and short courses, often our interaction with teachers and pupils takes place on a short-term basis. A direct response to the needs of young people and teachers, the funding from Creative Partnerships will allow us to move those relationships on to an entirely new level. Now instead of occasional contact with a particular school, we can develop a sustained exchange over three years that will have a tangible and long-term impact on their experience of learning in school - and specifically their first encounter with Shakespeare.”
Over the next three years, the hub schools will work with the RSC to develop their teaching skills and student experiences and then disseminate what they learn to their own network of schools. The three year programme will develop as follows:
- Year one: recruited teachers work with RSC on developing classroom practice in the teaching of Shakespeare. The teachers will also study for a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching Shakespeare that the RSC has developed with Warwick University.
- Year two: recruited teachers work with their pupils and the RSC on performance of Shakespeare. The work will culminate in a series of regional Shakespeare performance festivals and a celebratory gala in Stratford-upon-Avon.
- Year three: the most talented students identified in year two will be invited to attend a two week residential school at the RSC. These students will also become the RSC’s Student Council acting as advisors to the RSC on future work.
Now halfway through their PGC in Teaching Shakespeare, the first year’s recruits will complete the programme in 08/09. The next round of recruitment for teachers will begin in September 2007.
For further information about the Learning Network visit www.rsc.org.uk/learning or contact RSC Learning on 01789 403460.
Ends
Further information
For more press information contact Nada Zakula or Dean Asker in the RSC press office on 01789 412622 or 01789 412660/ nada.zakula@rsc.org.uk or dean.asker@rsc.org.uk
Notes to editors
Creative Partnerships
Creative Partnerships is the Government’s flagship creativity programme for schools and young people, managed by Arts Council England and funded by the DfES and DCMS. It aims to develop:
- • the creativity of young people, raising their aspirations and achievements
- • the skills of teachers and their ability to work with creative practitioners
- • schools' approaches to culture, creativity and partnership working; and
- • the skills, capacity and sustainability of the creative industries
Creative Partnerships focuses on the most deprived communities in England. The programme achieves its aims by nurturing the creativity of learners and educators, and developing creative approaches to teaching all aspects of the curriculum.
*The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT)
The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is the leading national body for secondary education in England, part funded by the DfES, delivering the Government's Specialist Schools and Academies programme. The Government's aim is that by 2008 all schools will be specialist, except those planned to be Academies.
The Trust seeks to give more young people access to a good secondary education by building networks, sharing practice and supporting schools. The Trust's way of working is based on the principle 'by schools for schools.' The Trust is at the heart of a growing network of over 2900 schools including primary, secondary, special schools and academies. We believe it represents the largest network of its kind in the world.
