Looking for Shakespeare
Shakespeare is appropriated by educators and others to serve their own purposes (Allen, 1991, p. 42–43), whether they be to teach the heritage of English literature, to perpetuate the examinations system, the Shakespeare industry and its Bardolatry, or, in this case, to promote adolescent response. The perspective from which Looking for Shakespeare begins is that of an inquiry into the layers of personal meaning in the play: Shakespeare’s “open text” challenges participants to reassess and transform their perceptions and their worldview (Allen, 1991, p. 45). A four–week intensive theatre workshop for adolescents which began at New York University in 1999, the program was conceived for inner–city adolescents who may not have had any theatre background to get to know and to perform a Shakespeare play. We adopted an integrated arts approach, employing improvisation, role play, visual art, creative writing, movement and music to explore and illuminate the text.
Shakespeare in the Changing Curriculum
English literature as a subject area in secondary and further education is undergoing profound change. The expansion of communication, cultural and gender studies, together with the claims of new theoretical perspectives, is transforming traditional approaches to literature. With the introduction of GCSE and the National Curriculum, schools, colleges and universities are being subjected to unprecedented demands for curriculum reform. At the same time, the education system is faced with a deepening crisis of resources. How is the teaching of Shakespeare affected by these academic and political developments? "Shakespeare in the Changing Curriculum" provides a context for debates about the place of Shakespeare within the English curriculum in the 1990s, and examines the new possibilities in teaching Shakespeare afforded by the application of contemporary critical approaches in the classroom and seminar room. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of English literature and education.
Initial Teacher Training: the French view
ABSTRACT This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.