FEATURE: CULTURAL EDUCATION
developed and delivered in collaboration with 12 regional theatres and over 200 partner schools. The results are often extraordinary. In research
undertaken by teachers the impacts they report most consistently include accelerated language development (particularly with children who enter the school with lower-level language skills), improvements in behaviour and peer relationships, the engagement of previously dis- engaged boys and better attitudes to learning and school. And these kinds of impacts can be seen in the work of artists and arts organisations across the country in their work in and out of schools. In line with the Government’s commitment to
recovery and levelling up, we urgently need to take advantage of the opportunity to reframe the role of arts learning in young people’s lives. Years of experience working in schools all over the country has shown us the extraordinary impact that this way of working can have on young people’s well-being, attainment and aspirations. We need a robust evidence base that
in exams and to secure entry to more prestigious schools, universities and ultimately, jobs. Those children are predisposed and equipped to do well in an education system that values the knowledge and ways of thinking developed by acquiring certain kinds of cultural capital. As adults, cultural capital helps individuals to network with other adults who have a similar body of knowledge and experiences, and who in turn control access to high-paying professions and prestigious leadership roles, for example in government. But – and here’s the rub – not everyone has
equal access to the arts and so many children and young people are excluded from ever having access to this highly lucrative currency. Evidence suggests that approximately one third of young people will only ever access arts and cultural experiences in school. This second point is crucial and is why a conviction that an arts-rich education should be the right of every child and not just the preserve of the privileged few is the founding principle of the Cultural Learning Alliance and underpins the work and approach of the RSC, regional theatres and arts organisations across the country. RSC Learning is about unlocking potential in
everyone – regardless of where they live or where they go to school. We very deliberately target and work with schools in areas of socio-economic disadvantage, using Shakespeare and our rehearsal-based approaches to engage students emotionally, intellectually and physically. That means pushing the desks aside, speaking the words out loud and embodying the action of the play, just like our actors do in rehearsals. We ‘scaffold’ learning by gradually increasing the complexity of the language being explored, starting with a word or a line and building to whole speeches and scenes. There might be an assumption that
Shakespeare is ‘for posh people’ but this playful and active way of working connects to all types of
December 2021 All photos by Sam Allard (c) RSC
www.education-today.co.uk 35
learners. Our approaches to learning help to level the playing field and encourage children and young people to discover new skills, explore and see themselves and the world around them in new ways. And we take teachers on a journey as well. Teachers tell us this way of working has transformed their practice and classrooms, as well as their relationships with students, colleagues, parents and communities. They can then go on to further their own professional development with our RSC Certificate in Teaching Shakespeare or take part in a bespoke INSET day at their school. Each year in the UK we reach over 500,000
children through our work with 1,000 schools. This includes our Associate Schools Programme,
demonstrates the value and impact of our work and the transformative power of an arts-rich education. The RSC has recently become the first performing arts organisation to be awarded Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status and our first research project as an IRO is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and expands on the findings of our 2018 Time to Listen study. This next major research project will focus on developing quantitative and qualitative measures that can be used to understand the impact of arts learning on children and young people. We remain deeply disappointed that there was
no arts premium for schools included in the Chancellors most recent spending review. We remain resolute that an arts rich education is the very best type of education and we will continue to make that case at every level and for the benefit of every young person.
uwww.rsc.org.uk/learn
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