News

Representation in Drama project: support and teacher survey

17 March 2021

Guest blog from mezze eade, CLA Special Advisor Representation in the Curriculum and Romana Flello, Royal Court Theatre

RinD aims to address systemic imbalances in KS3, GCSE and A level drama by supporting intersectional anti-racism work happening in UK schools, theatres and theatre companies.  The project promotes the study, directing and programming of plays by writers from the global majority*.

‘If you only have one type of flower in your garden, you don’t have the best garden in the world.  If you have every type of flower in your garden, then you have the best garden in the world.’

This is a saying that a young person shared with us to convey the importance of an inclusive and representative curriculum. While our conversations and consultation has involved practitioners, theatre industry professionals, teachers and exam boards the experiences of children and young people are at the heart of this project. 

Every child and young person should feel represented in the subject content they learn at school. Every child and young person should be encouraged and inspired to learn about other ethnicities and cultures and every child and young person should know that they have access to the broadest variety of knowledge in our schools and colleges.

We are working partnership with London Theatre Consortium (LTC), Pearson Edexcel, National Theatre, Open Drama, Arts Council Bridges and the DTEA.

Embedding pedagogy and building skills and confidence

We are working with Creative Engagement departments in theatres and with freelancers to:

  • support schools and youth theatre companies to embed anti-racist pedagogy in their practice
  • build the skills and confidence of teachers and facilitators to study and direct texts which represent the lived experience of their students and young people
  • prepare young people to engage empathetically with Britain’s rich society of multiple heritages and ethnicities

We are delivering Anti-Racism and Representation in Drama sessions for trainee teachers, qualified teachers, freelance facilitators and creative engagement staff in theatres. We are also working with drama exam board representatives to support the changes being made to some GCSE specifications. RinD will also create resources to support the teaching of plays by global majority writers.

Survey for teachers

We are asking teachers to fill in a consultation survey by 31 March 2021 to ensure that we understand the different contexts within which schools are working, the challenges that teachers face, and concerns about choosing texts by global majority writers and creating an anti-racist curriculum.

It is important that our sessions and resources address these needs and effectively support teachers to become knowledgeable and confident in creating an inclusive classroom and drama studio. Please share this survey widely with your networks.

To sign up to receive news about the RinD project, including resources, please email participation@royalcourttheatre.com.

* Global majority includes, but is not limited to, artists of African, North African, South Asian, South East Asian, East Asian, Caribbean, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Native American, Native Australian, Pacific Islanders, Roma and Traveller heritage or diaspora, and refers to people who have experienced racism due to the colour of their skin. We do not want to lump individuals into one category and try to be specific when talking about individuals and communities.

Image credit: Artswork/Rachel Dunford