In March last, Mr Gove gave his support for an annual Shakespeare week, distracting the public from the immense cuts happening to regular drama teaching in schools. Shakespeare week passed by virtually unnoticed this year. Now education minister Nick Gibb spouts the merits of national textbooks (copying Singapore). Maybe Mr Gibb would like to know that Singapore has a curriculum officer for drama and a major international research conference on drama education is happening in three months. Why can’t England copy this instead? Thanks to this government, England is no longer seen as leading the world with its drama in schools. Shakespeare Week and the RSC drama toolkit are no substitute for specialist drama teachers and a balanced drama curriculum available to all pupils.
Patrice Baldwin
Past chair, National Drama, and past president of the International Drama Theatre and Education Association (IDEA)
