Our INSET days provide subject-specialist professional development for your teachers on how to teach Shakespeare using RSC teaching approaches. 

A day of professional development with us looks at how our evidence-based rehearsal room approaches can positively impact the way Shakespeare is taught and learned about in schools. The session will include active approaches which investigate text by speaking it aloud and encourage participants to make creative choices that explore why these plays are relevant to them. Our strategies champion learning through doing and teachers will find this pedagogy embedded across our work, our professional development courses and the Shakespeare Curriculum.

Teachers attending an INSET day with us will develop their knowledge, confidence and proficiency in incorporating rehearsal room practice into their classroom. 

BOOKING INFORMATION

Full Day: £950 for state schools* (£1,250 for other institutions)

Half Day/Twilight: £750 for state schools* (£950 for other institutions)

*State schools including academies, local authority schools, and free schools.

For international schools outside of the UK, please contact us for bespoke pricing.

To provisionally book an INSET session with us please complete the form below and a member of our team will be in touch to organise the arrangements.

Booking form 2026/27

If you would like to make an enquiry about INSET sessions before you make a booking please contact us: learning@rsc.org.uk

How does it work?

An INSET day led by our practitioners invites teachers to step into the rehearsal room and explore Shakespeare as actors do. Participants will experience practical approaches that bring character, language and themes to life for all learners.

The techniques in the sessions will be modelled so they can be easily adapted for primary, secondary and SEND settings, with a strong focus on inclusion, confidence-building and active participation.

Examples of activities include:

• freeze-frames
• ensemble work
• role-play
• rehearsal-style questioning

In order to book your INSET day please complete a booking form to register your interest. Then we will get in touch to confirm the details of your INSET day. When the logistics are agreed we will send an invoice to your school for the cost of the training. We then commission one of our Associate Learning Practitioners to plan and facilitate your session.

We can send our practitioner to your school anywhere in the UK, or you can choose to bring a group to Stratford-upon-Avon where we can host you in one of our creative learning spaces; please note that at least six weeks lead-in time is required to commission one of our INSET days and they are dependent upon our practitioners’ availability and the availability of our spaces.

What we offer:

• Full day sessions of six hours
• Half day sessions of three hours

We can run an INSET day for up to 30 people.

Our INSET days can focus on:

• Macbeth - including direct links to the Shakespeare Curriculum
• Romeo and Juliet
• Another Shakespeare play that you are studying
• Plays from our repertoire 

Following an INSET day with us, your session leader will share a CPD resource pack which will include detailed descriptions of the strategies and texts used during the day to support your planning and teaching.

Teachers can also sign-up to the Shakespeare Curriculum to access thousands of teaching and learning resources. The Shakespeare Curriculum currently hosts resources and lesson plans for Macbeth with Romeo and Juliet coming in autumn 2026.

If you have any further queries please contact us: learning@rsc.org.uk