Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
TEF Year Two provider submission
Provider Context
The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (hereinafter ‘Central’, or ‘the School’) is a small and specialist higher education institution that stands at the forefront of training and research in the theatre and performance arts. Placing students at the centre of its work, Central develops practitioners and researchers who shape the future of theatre and performance across the UK and beyond. This is achieved in a conservatoire environment that is vocationally focussed, industry aligned and intensely practical. We train students to high-level industry standards in specialist technical theatre practices and identify, inspire and equip cultural leaders to develop the future of the theatre industries. By creating new challenges in our training environments, and establishing ourselves as a world-leading centre for research excellence in performance, we foster a climate of creativity, artistry and innovation that prepares students not only for jobs, but for professional careers.
Recognition of the School’s world-leading teaching and graduate impact was conferred on Central by HEFCE in 2016 as a result of its review of institution-specific targeted allocations (ISTA); the review panel comprised a number of international experts, and led to the School being awarded the highest possible allocation of institution-specific funding.
Academic strategy and philosophy
Central is committed to: maintaining our distinctive ethos as an HE conservatoire at the crossing-point of HE, industry and the theatre and performance arts community. This consists of a fluid combination of scholarship and research, industry-related vocational training and research- informed teaching; the recognition that enhancement of learning is a project for staff and students alike, and that it takes many forms and relationships; active encouragement of diversity as a basis not only for an enriched learning experience but also for an enhanced working environment; opening doors to our disciplines for new thinkers, makers and practitioners in dispersed and diverse communities and seeking to lead participation in varied but interrelated communities of interest and study.
The School employs conservatoire models of intensive physical and technical training extended and informed by industry engagement, and integrated with a research environment of active staff research that is coupled with a research degree programme. It is widely known as one of the UK’s oldest drama schools, with Laurence Olivier, Harold Pinter, Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench among its alumni, in addition to contemporary stars such as Martin Freeman, Kit Harrington, Cush Jumbo and Riz Ahmed. Less well known to the general public are the world-leaders in stage design and technical production who graduated from Central, and the leading role graduates play in regional and community arts. From its origins as an institution that focussed on actor training it has grown and diversified to cover a full range of production, design and craft disciplines, social and community applications of drama and theatre, and specialist pedagogical practices (for example, the training of acting and voice coaches and movement directors). It is a constituent college of the University of London, with its own taught degree awarding powers, and was one of the first drama schools to situate rigorous, practice-based vocational training and learning within higher education frameworks and benchmarks. By 2015/16, 955.7 student FTEs were taught across three undergraduate programmes (640.7 FTE) and a portfolio of specialist postgraduate programmes extending from taught Masters-level courses (MA and MFA) to MPhil/PhD degrees. Postgraduate programmes (315 student FTEs in 2015/16, including those on research degrees) constitute the largest platform of specialist drama-related postgraduate provision in the UK.
Page 1 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
Central distinctively does much more than the traditional drama conservatoire. Its research-led teaching produces graduates who challenge the parameters of the discipline and make new art. Central offers the widest range of small vocational BA and MA theatre and performance arts courses in the specialist sector, with some subjects only available at the School. It also has the largest faculty of permanently contracted, expert scholars in either the specialist HEI or university drama department sectors, extensively supplemented by visiting professional practitioners. It delivers its teaching in diverse modes and levels of instruction appropriate to the curricula, including placement learning, community production work and collaborative outreach. Through industry-related and research seminars, Central provides a forum for professional and academic peers to engage with pedagogic, and research, discourses and practices from the UK and beyond.
Teaching Quality
Central’s undergraduate academic provision comprises three programmes: BA (Hons) Acting, which also includes routes in Musical Theatre and Collaborative and Devised Theatre; BA (Hons) Theatre Practice, with routes in twelve theatre and performance practice specialisms, including costume construction, stage management and performance arts; BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education (or DATE), which includes a pathway in writing for performance.
Together and separately, these programmes are regarded by current students, alumni, and peers in both academia and the theatre and performance industries as sector- and, indeed, world- leading.
‘Central graduates currently stand head and shoulders above other Drama School graduates.’ M.D., White Light – the market leader in lighting and audio-visual equipment
‘Central is a byword for high quality training both in the UK and worldwide.’ Kate Buckley, Manager, 42 – a leading management and production company
‘The BA DATE programme is exceptional: it offers an incredibly robust structure, with excellent staff inviting students to engage with an expansive range of practices and theoretical frameworks as well as providing unique placement opportunities with a range of local, national and international partners. Students clearly flourish, developing and pursing independent research interests and practical work that actively contributes to a wider body of cultural practices in educational, community and professional theatre contexts. […] It is also important to acknowledge the extraordinary commitment demonstrated by staff in the delivery of the programme.’ Dr Caoimhe McAvinchey (Queen Mary, University of London), External Examiner BA DATE, 2016
Student feedback on teaching quality
The quality of Central’s teaching is attested by the high regard in which it is placed by students, something that is clearly demonstrated by the ‘double positive’ flag that the School receives in the corresponding TEF metric. In NSS 2016, 95% of respondents agreed that staff are good at explaining things; 97% agreed that staff have made the subject interesting; 97% agreed that staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching; and 92% agreed that their course is intellectually stimulating. Central is thus placed well above its benchmark in this area, and at a course level some of the responses have been even more gratifying: 100% of BA Acting respondents in 2016 agreed with every statement in the ‘teaching on my course’ category of questions. Comments about the School from NSS respondents in 2016 confirm its high standing in their view:
‘The course is so thorough, and has really helped me develop as an artist. I am so grateful for the generosity of the teachers, with their time, enthusiasm and rigour. What I've learnt has been very
Page 2 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
valuable, but just as valuable has been learning how to learn. I feel extremely capable, in a deep way which I don't know that I could have before Central.’ BA Acting NSS respondent, 2016
‘The course has helped me develop as a person and an actor in a way that I don't think another institution would have enabled me to. The support the staff offer to the students is exceptional, and though they push you to your limit, there is such a high level of care behind everything that they do.’ BA DATE NSS respondent, 2016
‘The low student-to-tutor ratio really makes your degree a personal experience and the course is able to adapt around you, your wants and your needs. All the tutors really care about you and the work you are producing.’ BA Theatre Practice NSS respondent, 2016
Central also gathers feedback from first- and second-year undergraduate students on their perceptions of teaching quality in the form of an annual survey that uses the core questions of the NSS. The responses to this survey have consistently replicated the high levels of agreement on teaching quality that the School finds in the NSS; in 2016, for example, 88% of second-year undergraduates agreed that ‘staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching’, while 85% agreed that ‘staff have made the subject interesting’ and that ‘the course is intellectually stimulating’.
A one-to-one discussion on student feedback (gathered from the NSS, internal surveys and course committees) between Course Leaders and Central’s Director of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience takes place each year, and course leaders are required to respond formally in an annual course monitoring exercise. Student feedback in recent years has resulted in a number of specific modifications to course content and design as well as enhancements to the institutional learning and teaching environment. For example, the introduction of Student Support Inductions in 2015 led to the School’s outstanding rates of progression and attainment. A forthcoming review of assessment practices and procedures across the institution has been prompted by feedback on this area (see below for further details).
Accreditation of academic provision
Beyond standard HE validation processes and the rigorous quality assurance that is required of us as a constituent college of the University of London, Central's undergraduate courses have long been accredited by relevant industry bodies (the National Council for Drama Training, and subsequently Drama UK until its 2016 closure). This accreditation, in which major employers from the BBC to the National Theatre and the Association of British Theatre Technicians were stakeholders, has represented the highest standards of training within the vocational drama sector, and accreditation has demonstrated to applicants, students and other stakeholders that the School provides: professional courses that provide the expert training demanded by the profession. Students are trained by staff with relevant professional experience and by a wide range of visiting experts and practitioners who are currently working in the wider business; intensive courses that are full-time, with a programme which provides a high number of contact hours a week; work-orientated courses providing training for professional work in a demanding business.
With the announcement that Drama UK is to close, Central is actively developing its own professional standards framework in the next twelve months to ensure not only consistency in teaching and learning, but also clear communication of those standards and practices to industry and other stakeholders. As part of this framework, it has already established regular portfolio reviews, in which industry representatives participate as critical friends in an evaluation of the balance and currency of its curriculum as a whole.
Page 3 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
Teaching intensity
Drama and theatre conservatoire pedagogy works to an industry model of individual coaching, rehearsal and production. It is physical as well as cognitive, and operates within benchmarked - e.g. by NCDT/Drama UK - models of best and safe practice that pertain to physical space, specialist industrial equipment, and ethics. In contrast to many HE disciplines, it employs appropriately high levels of contact time and a low staff-to-student ratio. This model is particularly evident in the School’s BA Acting and BA Theatre Practice courses, where, in pursuit of preparing them for the demands of their professional lives, students will spend a minimum of 30 hours per week during each of their three years of study in scheduled learning activities in small groups.
Assessment and feedback
Our aim with feedback is to provide students with a chance for reflective development throughout their studies, enabling them to consider their personal and professional growth and to take ownership of lessons learned. It is characteristic for some students to have difficulties with feedback that does not simply grade their work, but as 2013 BA Theatre Practice (Performance Arts) graduate Sophie Grodin describes in a statement sourced for our 2018 prospectus: ‘I was challenged, pushed and encouraged to try out the things that might have seemed alien to me in the beginning, only to discover that those were the areas that came to mean the most for my future work.’
Assessment and feedback combine conservatoire methods with the best HE practice. Students receive frequent 'crits' (that is, in situ oral evaluations of their work from staff, either individually or in a discursive group) and constant formative verbal feedback on practical performance as part of the coaching/ rehearsal/ production model described above. This feedback is summatively framed by reflective self- and tutor-assessment feedback processes. This employs a range of methodologies from peer group discussion to the submission of journals, reflective portfolios, and essays. These evaluatively reflect on and contextualise practical learning and performance in relation to relevant critical and artistic contexts, as well as to assessment criteria aligned to the FHEQ and the relevant subject benchmark statements. In common with most conservatoires, Central does not use unseen, written examinations.
A significant amount of time is spent with students of all levels introducing and explaining to them the critically reflective assessment methods used in higher education arts disciplines, which can prove challenging for some students used to examinations and less discursive feedback. It can also present particular challenges for groups with a high incidence and diversity of dyslexia and other learning differences (22% of Central's students overall, and 24% of its undergraduate cohort, have a declared disability). While Central's recent NSS responses around assessment and feedback reflect these challenges, we are pleased that the work that we have undertaken in the last year to enhance assessment literacy amongst students has produced a huge improvement in satisfaction in this area, with %agree rates improving for each assessment-related question in the NSS by between 12% and 28% in 2016 compared to the previous year, and with a significant number of students now in the neutral range — neither agreeing nor disagreeing with these questions.
This work has been conducted specifically in response to student feedback (both in the NSS and Central’s own internal student surveys), indicating the importance placed by the School on collecting and responding to students’ accounts of their learning experiences. A particular success has been the introduction and refinement of methods of inclusive assessment across the twelve specialist craft and production areas of the BA Theatre Practice course, the only one of Central’s three undergraduate courses to have received below-par responses (in %agree terms) to NSS questions around assessment and feedback in the last three years. As a result, the course’s responses to these questions showed a marked improvement in 2016 (for example, 57% of respondents agreed that ‘the criteria used in marking have been clear in advance’, compared to
Page 4 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
35% the previous year; and 65% agreed that ‘assessment arrangements and marking have been fair’, compared to 37% in 2015). We recognise that there is still work to be done in this area, and a root-and-branch review of assessment processes and practices across the institution is to take place in the current academic year, but we are heartened by the success that we have already achieved.
When benchmarked against a group of similar specialist providers (comprising: Rose Bruford College; Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; Conservatoire for Dance and Drama; Guildhall School of Music and Drama; and The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts), Central’s NSS 2016 assessment and feedback responses are even more positive, and generally well above sector averages, demonstrating perhaps that the questions in this survey are less attuned to the nature of intensively taught, practice-based courses that emphasise self-appraisal and self-evaluation in assessment. Thus: 78% of Central’s NSS 2016 respondents agreed that ‘the criteria used in marking have been clear in advance’ (other providers, 73%); 81% agreed that ‘assessment arrangement and marking have been fair’ (other providers, 74%); 80% agreed that ‘feedback on my work has been prompt’ (other providers, 69%); 88% agreed that ‘I have received detailed comments on my work’ (other providers, 87%);
Only the question that ‘feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not understand’ sees Central fall slightly behind this group of competitor institutions (77% of Central’s respondents agreed to the question, against 81% of the specialist provider group). The review of assessment will address this area specifically.
It is worth noting that recent reports from the School’s External Examiners for its undergraduate programmes also provide a more nuanced account of the successes of its highly individuated approach to assessment and feedback:
‘I have rarely encountered the attention to detail and individual scrutiny of student progress offered by the Collaborative and Devised Theatre tutors on the Assessment Feedback Forms. I am confident that this is a feature of all BA Acting pathways.’ David Bond (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), BA Acting External Examiner, 2014
‘Assessment processes are very thorough and students receive a good level of careful feedback.’ Dr Simon Parry (University of Manchester), BA DATE External Examiner, 2015
‘The level, detail and quality of feedback to students both formally and informally through tutorials is exemplary. […] Feedback is clear, detailed and helpful in identifying areas (even in the best work) where improvement could be made.’ Scott Palmer (University of Leeds), BA Theatre Practice External Examiner, 2015
‘The level of attention given to each individual student’s development and progress by tutors is to be commended. […] The practice of giving verbal feedback to students on performance work which the students then write up seems to me to enable students to take on board and make use of constructive feedback intended to help them progress in a way that a written feedback sheet might not. The written feedback I saw was extremely detailed, supportive and helpful.’ Dr Rose Whyman (University of Birmingham), BA Acting External Examiner, 2016
These comments were reiterated by students at the School’s periodic review of BA Acting in 2016 (the only such review of its undergraduate courses to fall within the TEF Year 2 timeframe). From the report: ‘Students noted that personal feedback is very detailed and very beneficial and stated that the level of personal attention given to students is exemplary. Students were positive about the detailed feedback shared via crits. […] The Panel commended the individuation of the teaching and feedback for each student, and the personal care and attention to the individual, from the point of audition to graduation’.
Page 5 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
The efficacy of Central’s developmental approach to student feedback and assessment is borne out by the very positive outcomes for its students in terms of their final degree classifications. In 2015/16 26% of the School’s undergraduates achieved First Class Honours, up from 18% in 2014/15; 63% achieved an Upper Second Class Honours degree, slightly down from 70% in 2014/15. (Lower Second Class Honours degrees remained stable at around 10-11%, while only 0.5% were awarded a Third Class Degree in 2015/16). External Examiner comments confirmed that these high levels of achievement were the result of a strong cohort, excellent teaching and robust methods of assessment:
‘This cohort performed exceptionally strongly. However, the assessment is well judged to enable differentiation between levels of attainment.’ Dr Simon Parry (University of Manchester), BA DATE External Examiner, 2016
Staff recognition and reward schemes
Of Central’s 69 permanently contracted academic staff, 59% possess formal teaching qualifications, and most have extensive links and experience within the industry. In total, 33 members of staff, including four members of the School's technical support department, are either Associate Fellows (3), Fellows (25), Senior Fellows (4), or Principal Fellows (1) of the Higher Education Academy. The School offers a range of continuing professional development opportunities for all its academic staff. As well as specialist disciplinary development such as advanced certification in Linklater technique (voice) and Perdekamp Emotional Method (acting), IOSH and NEBOSH (industry standard health and safety), twice-termly academic staff training and information provide CPD in topics that have included assessment, e-learning, neurodiversity in HE, best low-carbon/eco-responsible professional practice (an area for which Central won a Green Gown award in 2013) and mental health and wellbeing. Course leaders and academic heads of department attend training events run by MASHEIN (a network of small institutions run by the Leadership Foundation) and, since autumn 2015, Central has re-run a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, successful completion of which provides an accredited route to Fellowship of the HEA. Six members of staff were accordingly awarded the PG Certificate in its first year of operation and were able to gain Fellowship of the HEA.
All interviews for teaching posts at Central include observed teaching sessions and therefore an appropriate engagement with the student voice in the appointment process. Once academic staff are employed at the School, a peer observation of teaching (POT) system is in operation, overseen by the Dean of Studies’ Office. New academic members of staff are always observed twice as part of their probationary year, and other staff members continue with POT on an annual basis. The system informs discussion when the personal development of academic staff in relation to teaching, learning and assessment is reviewed at annual appraisal. The Director of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience interrogates the observation forms to identify themes for further exploration at the termly internal seminars on learning, teaching and assessment. This has led to, for example, external speakers talking about learning and teaching practices that support students with specific learning disabilities and mental health conditions. The impact of this can be seen in the positive flags received by the School in the TEF metrics relating to employment or further study for those students with a declared disability (refer to the Student Outcomes section, below, for further details).
In September 2016, the School introduced a sabbatical and award scheme for developing Teaching Excellence, mirroring one related to Research Excellence. This gives staff the opportunity to apply for 14-week sabbaticals either to undertake projects that develop their pedagogical or specialist disciplinary expertise in industry or peer educational settings, or to produce specialist textbooks and industry manuals. There are also smaller schemes of £5k and £2.5k for developmental projects with defined outcomes that enhance teaching excellence and/or the student experience (these range from the development of new teaching methods or class/workshop formats, to buy-out time to develop HEA applications). Already two sabbaticals
Page 6 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816 have been granted: to complete a textbook on actor movement training, and for a staff secondment to world-leading dramatherapy courses in Canada and the USA. Smaller awards have also been given: for example, to complete an edited volume on performer pedagogy; to develop the undergraduate Writing for Performance curriculum in relation to regional identity; and to develop a model of best practice for psycho-physical performer training with neuro-diverse students with specific learning differences. In January 2017 the School will introduce a Teaching and Scholarship career path with HERA-based grade definitions through to Professor. These recognise teaching excellence and scholarship related to specialist conservatoire and industry practices.
The School also runs a research sabbatical scheme and provides internal funding for research projects, both of which have led to teaching innovations: for example, one staff member’s research into health and performance in South Africa informed the development of Leverhulme-funded undergraduate placement projects in the area; the sabbatical research of another led directly to an HEA teaching development grant for ‘Care and Partnership: Applied Theatre and Social Enterprise’, with undergraduate teaching outcomes that included verbatim dramaturgy within the curriculum.
In common with other industry-aligned conservatoires, and small and specialist institutions in general, Central considers as a teaching strength the number of practitioner-teachers it employs – on hourly-paid or temporary contracts, or under self-employed arrangements (as agreed with the tax office) – who also work in the industry. In total, approximately 50% (FTE) of the School’s teaching staff are hourly-paid visiting professionals who inject specialist skills and industry relevance into our courses (46% FTE of our staff are on either full-time or part-time permanent contracts). This enables our students to gain first-hand, up-to-date insights into the professions they might enter upon graduation. We would also argue that such practices align with the government’s emphasis on apprenticeship schemes, providing students with the equivalent of in- house apprenticeships in conjunction with the strengths of HE.
In addition to their engagement with the relevant industries, Central’s academic staff are also noted for the esteem in which they are held by the wider academic community. This esteem translates particularly into national and international External Examiner appointments (at both specialist providers such as RADA, LAMDA and the Guildford School of Acting as well as large, multi-faculty universities such as Goldsmiths, the University of Winchester and the Central Academy of Beijing); membership of validation/ review panels and other curriculum advisory groups (for example, Richard Hougham’s position as Vice Chair of the European Consortium for Arts Therapies Education; Wendy Gadian and Nick Moseley’s roles as OFTSED inspectors); consultancy roles (for example, Professor Ross Brown’s consultancy advice during the formation of the University of the Arts, Helsinki in 2014, and his advisory work for the Department for Education in relation to GCSE and A-level Drama specifications); and membership of sector-level steering groups, panels and committees (for example, Professor Maria Delgado’s membership of HEFCE’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategic Advisory Committee; Jo Shah’s membership of the Research and Development Working Group at the Association of Learning Development in Higher Education). The impact and benefits of this engagement are twofold: Central’s academic provision and learning support and student services remain informed by sectoral best practice, and the School maintains a visible and influential role in (inter)national developments and debates.
Learning Environment
Conceived as a ‘central’ hub where diverse theories and practices meet, Central takes a flexible, non-doctrinal approach to training, drawing on high-level industry contributions. More than a conservatoire, it is also a laboratory where research and industry practice are brought into dialogue, innovations made and future directions anticipated. Central:
is globally recognised as the originator, leader and international centre of actor voice training;
Page 7 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
anticipated puppetry as a contemporary theatre art form, developing a unique puppetry degree; pioneered professionally accredited actor training for collaborative and devised theatre, and continues to integrate current industry training methods into its actor training: Chubbock’s screen acting; Geoff Colman’s (Central’s Head of Acting) innovative actor coaching methods for non-actors (e.g. for Jasmin Vardimon Company at Sadlers Wells) and acting to hidden camera (Derren Brown); was the first drama conservatoire fully to embrace design (including lighting, sound and video), specialist technical, craft and construction disciplines; developed the first undergraduate degree in Applied Theatre and became ‘an internationally acknowledged leader and reference point in the field’ (Professor Mark Fleishman, University of Cape Town).
The School's physical learning environment boasts some of the best training facilities in the sector, ranging from industry-standard scenic construction, art, costume and props workshops, to theatre spaces equipped through partnerships with industry suppliers and featuring state-of-the art lighting, sound and stage technologies. As part of its training and industry-showcasing of acting students, the School also produces professional-standard short films and showreels, which are both professionally-screened for industry and distributed on the internet. Building on this, the School's current Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy reinvests some of Central's institution-specific targeted funding in the development of its technological laboratory and technical support infrastructure, specifically in relation to digital applications and to film and television. The period 2014-2016 has seen: significant upgrades of its sound studio and theatre sound mixing (c. £80k), low-carbon LED professional theatre lighting and lighting control (£67k); upgrades to professional video equipment, including the purchase of Ultra High Definition Cameras, lenses and edit suites totalling £90k; the introduction of 3D printing as a creatively speculative prototyping tool in the design for performance curriculum, as well as early experiments with applications of virtual and augmented reality technologies both within the design curriculum and as a means for widening and enlivening participation in curricular community arts projects and theatre outreach. A £17m new building is currently underway which will significantly extend the School's capacity for production-based learning as well as work in digital audiovisual media.
Investment has been made in the School's VLE, and a project to further improve and extend this will come to fruition in time for the 2017/18 academic session. There has also been significant recent investment in Central’s e-learning and digital library resources, including the purchase of the EBSCO Discovery Service to enable better searching of our e-journals and investment into the major drama and theatre practice databases (including Drama Online, Digital Theatre Plus and Alexander Street eResources) to provide students and researchers with access to over 6,000 electronic plays (ePlays), talking books (tPlays) and theatre productions (pPlays). Student satisfaction with Central’s library and learning resources is very high: in NSS 2016, 93% of respondents agreed that ‘the library resources and services are good enough for my needs’.
Employer engagement
As noted above, Central’s teaching staff includes a large number of practitioners who divide their time between industry roles and working with students at the School either as specialist teachers or as directors, designers or technicians within the conservatoire production model. All of Central's full-time staff also practise what they teach. The employment of practitioner-teachers enables our students to gain first-hand, up-to-date insights into the professions they might enter upon graduation, and ensures that course content continues to reflect industry developments. Current examples of the professional practice of full-time undergraduate teaching staff include: sound lecturer Donato Wharton's sound design work for world-leading director Katie Mitchell at the
Page 8 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam; Reader in Theatre Making Catherine Alexander's direction of 'Adventures in Moominland' on the Southbank; the work of lecturers Ayse Tashkiran and Vanessa Ewan on the Courtauld Institute’s current exhibition ‘Rodin and Dance’, which has also involved workshops for students; and lecturer Tom Cornford's collaboration with an industry consortium on the Parents in Performing Arts campaign for equal opportunities and access for parents and carers working in the performing arts. In addition, two theatre company directors (Ben Buratta of Outbox and Professor David Harradine of Fevered Sleep) are also permanent members of the School’s academic staff. Such work provides vital points of connection between the taught undergraduate experience and the current industry. Visiting teaching staff include many leading professionals from all walks of theatre and performance practice. This is a key feature of the school’s conservatoire identity, with recent visiting professionals listed in a ‘Professional Focus’ section on each course web page and in the prospectus for the information of applicants, students and other stakeholders.
Undergraduates also benefit from Central's collaborations and innovations. Manufacturers (e.g. d&b audiotechnik), researchers (e.g. Dr Simon Donger, interactive projection) and innovators (e.g. Guilia Pecorari's wearable technologies) work with students to develop, test and demonstrate new theatre technology. Collaborations between Central and Arts Council-funded theatre companies (e.g. a current project with the world-leading devised theatre company Complicité on three new productions which will lead to professional touring productions) provide learning opportunities for dozens of acting, design and production undergraduate students. The School also engages professional directors, designers and production specialists on its own public productions, who provide a key point of contact between industry and the students. These productions are fully staged, with students working alongside industry professionals to high professional standards (and, in 2017, utilising a £50,000 materials budget and professional industry fees totalling £117,000).
The quinquennial Portfolio Review mentioned above is undertaken with industry representation: in 2014 the BRIT School, National Theatre and an independent theatre director. As well as ensuring that Central’s academic provision remains up-to-date and reflective of current industry practices and future trends, this also addresses future employability. As a result of the 2014 review, planned curriculum developments have included enhancements to digital literacy (including relevant orientation to coding) and innovation (from hacking to further developments with sound, projection, and motion tracking).
The School’s high rates of graduate employment (commented on below) are indicative of the success we continue to have in this regard; in 2013, the report from the Institutional review of Central by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education ‘noted as good practice the excellence of the School's responsiveness and engagement with developments and innovations in the industry.’
Student involvement in research, scholarship and professional practice
Central’s undergraduate programmes deliver skills and competencies aligned to current professional industry practice. However, in order to fulfil our mission to shape the future of theatre and performance, they are also informed by the latest academic research and scholarship. We are the UK’s leading research conservatoire (REF2014: 87% of impact adjudged 4*, with the subject area average at 39%). Most of Central’s taught disciplines are informed by both practice-based and more 'traditional' academic research (Catherine Alexander’s collaborations with Complicité, Professor David Harradine’s cross-art form practices, Professor Ross Brown’s dramaturgy of sound, Dr Dani Ploeger’s performance art installations on electronic waste). Applied theatre research inspires course innovation, which in turn feeds back into further research outputs. Ongoing examples include: A student project in Dharavi, Mumbai (viewed as Asia’s largest ‘slum’) that aimed to empower women to catalyse change - an evaluation of the project by the unit leader was recently published in a leading journal for applied theatre and performance; Student projects at Corradino Correctional Facility, Malta, running daily drama workshops leading to the performance of devised plays with adult and young inmates;
Page 9 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
Hillbrow Theatre project, South Africa, which worked with teenagers from Johannesburg in after-school drama workshops focusing on gender and sexuality; The first conservatoire performer training diploma for people with learning disabilities; An initiative to develop transgender performer training (involving Rebecca Root and Eddie Redmayne) which received extensive attention in the UK press in 2016; Selina Busby's Crossing Bridges project with undergraduate students from Central, Covenant House (New York) staff, Broadway artists and homeless young people to create applied theatre performance; Andreas Skourtis worked with students from all 24 courses in theatre design in UK HEIs and 3 academics from other institutions, as well as the Society of British Theatre Designers, towards the formation of a cross-course student curatorial team and the creation of the UK National Student Exhibit for Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2015; Dr Dani Ploeger's AHRC-funded research project 'Dreaming of Zero Waste' fed in to the curriculum on BA Theatre Practice (Performance Arts) in this TEF period (an international project which included public engagement events at the V&A, Somerset House and the Jean-Michel Rousset school in Nairobi).
Disciplinary expertise is disseminated through specialist textbooks authored by staff (actor movement teaching, Meisner technique, lighting and video design, stage management, integrative performer training technique, clown, puppetry, voice/breath, directing), media broadcasts and journalism. Schemes to ensure regular research and pedagogic-based sabbaticals are in process for all academic staff (and outlined above), ensuring that they remain up-to-date on both their own research and practice as well as best practices within the classroom. (Course Leader for undergraduate Production Lighting and Theatre Lighting Design) Nick Moran's The Right Light (Palgrave, 2016) examines working processes of nineteen top contemporary theatrical lighting designers. Moran's research and pedagogy ensure that students are engaging with the processes and possibilities at the forefront of contemporary theatre making. His Electric Shadows (ET Now Books, 2013) is the core text for teaching video and projection to design students at Central, and is used widely throughout the field. (Course Leader for undergraduate Acting) Nick Moseley's Actioning and How to Do It (Nick Hern Books, 2016) emerged from his teaching of the technique of Psychophysical Actioning, dealing with the ways in which the actor can discover the physical dimension of the psychological intention implied by the action verb. The writing of the book itself led to the development of original techniques around the actioning process, notably ‘signposting’ and ‘resonators’, which he currently uses with undergraduate students. (Programme Leader for BA DATE) Stephen Farrier runs an undergraduate unit on Gender, Sexuality and Performance, which uses work he developed for his edited volume on Queer Dramaturgies (Palgrave, 2016), bringing in guest lectures from a number of contributors, such as artist Nando Messias. (Course Tutor on BA DATE) Katharine Low's Applied Theatre: Performing Health and Wellbeing (Palgrave, January 27, 2017) developed from the unit she teaches entitled ‘Performing Health’, and many of the ideas addressed in the book inform the teaching on the course.
Academic staff produce both standard reference works in the broader field (e.g. Professor Maria Delgado’s co-edited In Contact With The Gods, Professor Sally Mackey’s co-written Theatre Studies and Professor Simon Shepherd’s co-written Studying Plays have each sold in excess of 10,000 copies), and books on specialist practices and pedagogies (e.g. Moseley, Moran, Brown, Maccoy, Ewan and Green, Boston, Bryon) - these typically sell between 3,000 and 5,000 copies per edition internationally.
Support for students
Central is proud of, but not complacent about, its outstanding levels of student retention and completion, underscored by its ‘double positive’ flag in the TEF metrics for non-continuation. This is
Page 10 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816 in a large part due to the high levels of academic staff contact that students receive during their time at the School, as referred to earlier in this document. Our individuated approach to teaching and assessment means that staff can intervene early in cases where students seem at risk of failing their course or leaving for other, non-academic, reasons. This is supported by a 100% attendance policy for all students on all courses (meaning that non-attendance is picked up very quickly and any underlying issues addressed swiftly with the student concerned) and a highly supportive wellbeing and fitness to study process that is used proactively by staff when a student’s health, wellbeing and/or behaviour is having a detrimental impact on their academic progression or wider School experience.
Central is also able to offer counselling to those students who require it, and in an internal survey in 2015/16 100% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the counselling they received had ‘improved their overall experience' at the School; 26 students strongly agreed that counselling had helped them to stay at the School (“[h]aving someone understand my unique experience has been essential to my confidence” remarked one respondent).
Our students themselves comment positively on the support they receive during their time at Central:
‘The teachers make themselves available for if you need support and Central has various systems in place for support and help too.’ BA Acting NSS respondent, 2016
‘[T]he pastoral care that [staff] offer is truly fantastic. I have never had so much support not only with my studies but also with my individual needs.’ BA DATE NSS respondent, 2016
Student Outcomes
Graduate employability
Central’s graduates are hugely successful in gaining employment in relevant graduate-level professions, as would be expected of an institution so closely connected to its industry. The metrics relating to student outcomes provided for the TEF (with Central receiving a ‘double positive’ flag for employment or further study and a positive flag for highly skilled employment or further study) underscore the commendations we receive from sector peers in relation to this area:
‘The review team considers the integrated and targeted approach to employability and career advancement to be good practice that makes a positive contribution to the students' learning experiences.’ Report from the Institutional Review of Central by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, June 2013
‘The professional contact and access that students continue to have with industry practitioners allows contemporary work and working practices to be observed, recorded and critiqued. This is a clear strength of the programme and contributes to the exceptional record of employability of graduates in the field.’ Scott Palmer (University of Leeds), BA Theatre Practice External Examiner, 2016
Central has a long and well-established history of producing iconic artists (Pinter, Dench, Redgrave) and industry game-changers (Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Sonia Friedman, Michael Grandage), and graduates continue to become institutional leaders (Donmar, BAC, Globe, Curve, Traverse). Examples of graduate employment successes from the last year are detailed above (page 8), and already some of our recent graduates are beginning to receive international attention: Joe Alwyn, who graduated from BA Acting in 2015, gained the title role in Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) while still an undergraduate student. During the writing of this
Page 11 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816 submission, Andrew Garfield (who graduated from BA Acting in 2004) was nominated for Best Actor Oscar for Hacksaw Ridge in the 2017 Academy Awards; the forthcoming National Theatre production of Angels in America, in which he will star, is already sold out.
It is worth repeating that, since Central is a highly vocational institution, with academic courses which train students for entry into specific professional roles, employability is very much embedded within individual course curricula through the development of key competencies and skills, with teaching delivery frequently undertaken by industry professionals. Opportunities to enhance employability are offered by a range of mechanisms including community and study-based projects, mentoring of youth-theatre students, and travelling to international drama schools. The development of transferable and broader workplace skills is a key consideration at programme approval and review, and opportunities exist in Central’s undergraduate courses to undertake work experience and placements. These are supported by a dedicated Placements and Partnerships Manager.
As part of their courses, students from BA DATE and BA Theatre Practice work in role within industry: on placements and collaborative projects between industry SMEs and, in the case of applied theatre, various community arts organisations, charities, NGOs and other agencies. 2016 stage management, sound, lighting and technical production management students gained employment, for example, at the National Theatre, ENO and service and event companies TSL, Blinding Light and TAIT Technologies directly through placements. More often, placements lead to the start of a freelance career - theatre is predominantly a freelance industry - either directly with the host (e.g. Old Vic, Northern Ballet) or by impressing designers or production managers who employ them upon graduation. Placements at Glastonbury with LD Kate Carter have led to touring work; a placement at Unicorn Theatre led to more work with LD David Kidd; a stage management placement with Harry Potter production manager and alumnus Gary Beestone led to a job on the New York production; and placements with world-leading sound designers Gareth Fry and Gareth Owens have led to first jobs as operators and associates on high-profile West End, Broadway and international tours. Designers have gained work directly in design teams for world leading directors such as Katie Mitchell and as programmers for world leading digital design company 59 Productions. All these examples of successful graduate outcomes are from 2016.
The School operates as a licensed public venue, with 18 public productions per year, an annual Design and Crafts Exhibition and other public-facing festivals as well as producing public touring work. This completes the training of students in real-world conditions, involving them in, inter alia, licensing and health and safety issues and assessing them in professional circumstances. Visiting professionals work in role alongside students, and industry experts routinely advise on curriculum development, for example, through periodic review or institutional academic portfolio review.
Students collaborate with industry in modelling or proto-typing new work (our historic involvement with the production Warhorse began with Central’s puppetry students workshopping ideas with the company Handspring prior to the show’s production period at the National; this led to regular employment for graduates at each cast change throughout the show's long history). An example is the three productions currently being devised by our third year Acting-CDT and Theatre Practice students with our partner, the leading international devised theatre company Complicité, one or more of which will form the basis of a professional touring production, employing some of the students who worked on it as a project.
Students frequently form start-up theatre or theatre services companies in their third year. Examples of start-ups trading successfully, and making a contribution to the creative economy five years out, include live event service companies DBSL, Lite Up, HAVE Sound and Illusion Design and Construct Ltd, the latter launched at our Design and Craft Exhibition in 2011. Successful theatre companies include the cinematic and immersive storytelling company Parrot {in the} Tank, devised theatre producers Engineer Theatre, the LGBTQ theatre producers Milk Presents, and the Arts Council England-funded children’s theatre company Open House.
Page 12 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816
In 2016 the School started a Graduate Enterprise Award scheme, which will invest cash (to be returned when companies reach a certain threshold of sustainability) in graduating student start-up proposals shortlisted by staff and selected by an independent panel.
The School invests significantly in profiling graduating students to industry. We produce print and online profiles of individual students for web publication and circulation to an industry database of c.400 industry employers, personalised showcase invites, showcase brochures, contact cards for students and downloadable CVs with headshots and Spotlight personal identification numbers (the industry casting directory). We also produce a calendar with high production values that details over twenty public productions per year as well as our annual Design and Craft Exhibition and other public events.
For acting students, the gateway to employment is usually through agent representation, and Central invests heavily in public production work and agent showcases, within its own publicly licensed theatre spaces, on hired West End stages, through audiovisual media and in New York. Maintaining personal relationships with key agents and casting directors represents a significant investment of Central staff time, from the Principal to the Head of Acting, course leaders and administrators in the marketing and course support offices. The School also employs a two-day-a- week dedicated Industry Liaison Officer. In 2016 93% of ‘home’ students graduating from the Acting BA achieved representation with top agents (that is, those who supply talent to major national and international stage and screen producers), as well as 80% of Acting-Musical Theatre graduates and 55% of Acting-Collaborative and Devised Theatre graduates. (Note that there are differences in the way overseas students gain employment in their home countries, and while some gain agent representation here upon leaving this is not always appropriate).
‘The course was a great way to form strong contacts for the future. Straight after leaving Central, I collaborated with Katie Mitchell on The Forbidden Zone at the Salzburg Festival, as Video Production Technician. I also worked as Video Supervisor for The Driver’s Seat with the National Theatre of Scotland and a co-production with Battersea Arts Centre The Destroyed Room with Vanishing Point on their Scottish Tour.’ Ellie Thompson (Graduated from BA TP 2014)
Impact of initiatives aimed at students with declared disabilities
Particularly heartening in the TEF metrics are the positive flags in relation to employment or further study for those students with a declared disability. Again, this accords with external peer comments:
‘The review team considers the highly effective and supportive approach to meeting the needs of students with disabilities to be good practice that makes a positive contribution to the students' learning experiences.’ Report from the Institutional Review of Central by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, June 2013
‘The structures and people to support students with disabilities and with extenuating circumstances are clear and students comment on how appreciative they are of this.’ Dr Caoimhe McAvinchey (Queen Mary, University of London), BA DATE External Examiner, 2016
The School’s Learning Centre is the focal point for providing support to all students in terms of their academic and learning needs. Part of its remit is the coordination of a systematic disability and dyslexia service to ensure that students are assessed, diagnosed and supported professionally in relation to their disability. A specialist educational psychologist is contracted for dyslexia assessment testing, alongside additional peripatetic dyslexia tutors as needed.
As part of the admissions process, prospective students who declare disability at point of application are contacted by the Disability Co-ordinator to establish their needs. This forms the
Page 13 of 14 Name of Provider: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UKPRN: 10007816 start of an on-going relationship between the School and the student that makes appropriate adjustments to enable their full participation in the learning experience which the School offers. The formal record of this relationship is the Internal Guidance Report for Academic Staff (IGRAS) form which stipulates adjustments that should be made to which the student is entitled, such as additional time, modifications to resources, or the provision of equipment or facilities.
The TEF metrics also show positive flags related to mature students, and a series of 'Return to Study' workshops were implemented by the Director of Learning, Teaching and Student experience some years ago. These continue, and students feed back positively that these sessions support their experience in making a successful and dynamic start to their studies.
The Learning Centre accordingly provides evidence of the effectiveness of the School’s initiatives in terms of closing the gap in development, attainment and progression for students who are at a greater risk of not achieving positive outcomes.
Conclusion
‘[Central is] where the practice of the future is developed, where learning is outward looking and deeply connected to the professional theatre industry.’ Sophie Eustace, Executive Director, Fevered Sleep – a leading performance company that makes theatre, installation and site-specific performance
Central’s world-leading commitment to rigorous training across acting, design, production and applied theatre practices involves outstanding small group teaching, high contact hours and a commitment to the highest professional standards, benchmarked through ongoing industry input. This greenhouse environment is vital: training is put into practice and individual students learn to take risks and responsibility, to work collaboratively and to turn mistakes into breakthroughs. The TEF metrics alone demonstrate the excellence of Central's teaching and its learning environment, and the successful academic and professional outcomes of its students. This document contextualises our approach to teaching and assessment as a specialist provider and outlines the intellectual and infrastructural investment we make in order to ensure that we continue to produce world-leading theatre and performance practitioners.
‘Central provided me with an environment that gave me the confidence and permission to go for something I’d always really wanted. It was hard work but I loved the level and the intensity of the training ... It’s a place where you can play around and make mistakes and grow, alongside a small class of people you’ll see almost every day for three years. It felt unique and exciting and unlike anything I’d experienced. The training is brilliant.’ Joe Alwyn (Graduated from BA Acting 2015, first professional job was the title role in Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. Subsequently filmed A Sense Of An Ending with Charlotte Rampling)
Page 14 of 14