The Royal Shakespeare Company has teamed up with the University of Warwick to create an online professional development platform for teachers of Shakespeare.
Claiming that 50% of schoolchildren in the world study the works of the Stratford playwright, Teaching Shakespeare is launched with the huge ambition of transforming the teaching of Shakespeare across the world.
The web site will feature film of RSC education expert Rachel Gartside, University of Warwick's Professor Jonothan Neelands and international Shakespeare scholar and author James Shapiro working with students plus podcasts and interviews with such people as the RSC's voice director Cicely Berry, actor David Oyelowo and directors Rupert Goold, Roxana Silbert and Michael Boyd.
The web-based platform will offer both a set of resources through a yearly subscription and formal teaching through different qualification routes to a PG Award, a PG Cert or an MA in the Advanced Teaching of Shakespeare.
Details of a few courses are now on the Teaching Shakespeare web site, although registration doesn't begin until April for the first courses that begin in October. There is an online course in "The Essentials of Teaching Shakespeare", a 5-day residential course on the same topic, another residential course on "The Essentials of Staging and Performing Shakespeare with Students" and information about the MA pathway via PG Award and PG Cert.
The cost appears to be a standard £995 + VAT (£1195) for UK and EU students or £2,500 + VAT (£3000) for non-EU for most online courses, residential courses and MA modules, although there is some variation in the modules.
RSC director of education Jaqui O'Hanlon said, "We believe that young people get the most out of Shakespeare’s plays when they approach them in the way that RSC actors do: on their feet, actively exploring the text and unlocking its meaning. Teaching Shakespeare brings together an astonishing range of voices, experiences and insights from the worlds of professional theatre and education that explore the impact of these kinds of approaches on actors and students alike. This rich array of materials will now be available to teachers anywhere in the world, thanks to the online platform and expertise provided by Warwick Business School.