These one day courses offer an affordable way to access our rehearsal room approaches to teaching focusing on the plays in our season. Join us to develop knowledge, confidence and skills to begin to teach Shakespeare’s plays in your classroom.

Each course includes a ticket to see a Shakespeare play in our repertoire, a resource pack of activities to use in the classroom, the chance to network and build relationships with fellow teachers and opportunities to work with and receive support from experienced RSC practitioners.

Upcoming Course Dates

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SPRING TERM: Friday 21 March 2025 - includes a ticket to Hamlet

All our Introduction Certificate courses run roughly 10am - 4.30pm, and take place in person in our education spaces in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Each course includes a ticket to see the Shakespeare play associated with the course. If you have any specific access requirements, please let us know when booking your place on the course.

How to Book

To book email learning.boxoffice@rsc.org.uk or call the Learning Hotline on 01789 331259 (midday-6pm, Monday – Friday, excluding Bank Holidays)

COST

• £175.00

This includes a full day of professional development, a ticket to a production on one of our stages, and a resource pack of teaching and learning activities from the course.

We currently have bursary discounts available for state school teachers, Early Career Teachers (ECTs) and members of the English Association. For details and to confirm eligibility, please contact: teachers.courses@rsc.org.uk 

Professional Outcomes

In addition to supporting research-informed and evidence-based professional development through an enjoyable and interactive day at the RSC exploring Shakespeare, teachers on our Certificate courses work towards specific professional outcomes.

Completing our Introduction Certificate in Teaching Shakespeare course will support you to develop the knowledge, confidence and skills to:

1. use various theatre-based practices to introduce and explore the plots and characters in Shakespeare’s plays with your students.
2. use rehearsal room approaches to develop your students’ understanding of Shakespeare’s text, including monologues, soliloquies and dialogue.
3. enable young people to work as text detectives to interrogate the text to explore different interpretations and performance possibilities.
4. ensure effective planning for incorporating rehearsal room approaches into your lessons, with a particular focus on engaging and progressing learning for lower attaining students.
5. create a secure learning environment in which your students feel confident to take risks and to work physically and vocally as a company of actors.
6. choose scenes or speeches that best unlock the language / themes / plot to anchor your students’ analysis of a Shakespeare play.

COURSE CONTENT

• Introducing our techniques: begin your journey to develop expertise in using RSC rehearsal room approaches to teach Shakespeare.
• Practical activities: engage with practical exercises which demonstrate there are multiple ways to learn about Shakespeare’s texts and other plays.
• Understanding Shakespeare’s text: delve into extracts from the plays in our season and begin to develop ideas for introducing them to your students.
• Theatre-based approaches: discover approaches used by our actors and directors to tackle complex texts in accessible ways.
• Supporting outcomes in your school: learn how to adapt our techniques to your specific school setting and the needs of the pupils in your classroom.

Questions?

Please visit our dedicated FAQs page.

If you cannot find the answer you're looking for, please get in touch: teachers.courses@rsc.org.uk