What is Rehearsal Room Writing?
This whole-class programme aims to improve pupils’ writing through using rehearsal room techniques that actively engage with the stories and language of Shakespeare’s plays. Teachers are trained to use these and integrate them within their own English schemes of work. In the rehearsal room lessons, pupils work collaboratively in groups to engage with the world, story, characters and language of the play(s). They might use games, freeze frames, soundscapes, character profiles, pictures and choral readings as active ways of working with the Shakespearean content, leading to a variety of writing outputs.
Who is leading this project?
This programme is delivered by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). The RSC has a long history of working with schools and teachers to improve the teaching of Shakespeare’s plays.
What will this project look like in your setting?
This project is a school-level randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes.. Participating schools will be allocated to the intervention or control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. at random. Those in the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. will receive the Rehearsal Room Writing Programme. The control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. will continue with their regular English lessons.
If allocated to the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. , the year 5 teacher(s) will attend three separate sets of training (five days in total) with the RSC in Stratford-Upon-Avon, across the autumn and spring terms. Two of these training days will include a live Shakespeare theatre performance. Teachers will be expected to deliver at least 20 hours of lessons using rehearsal room techniques between November 2025 and June 2026.
Intervention schools will receive subsidised CPD training for one Year 5 teacher, delivered by the RSC’s experienced learning practitioners in Stratford-upon-Avon. Schools will be asked to contribute £200 per teacher towards the cost of this training, but will be able to claim back travel costs and up to £200 per day for teaching cover.
As this is a research evaluation, both intervention and control schools will be asked to complete some evaluation activities during the project. These will include writing assessments, surveys and interviews with the evaluators. Exact evaluation requirements will be set out in the information materials if you express an interest in this project.
Who can take part?
State-funded mainstream primary schools across England who:
- Have not previously participated in RSC training
- Have a qualified teacher of year 5 who delivers at least 2 lessons of English a week
- Are not taking part in any of the following EEF trials: Pathways Literacy; Power of Reading; and Writing Roots
- Are not participating in the Gloucestershire Evidence into Action Partnership
Writing is a crucial skill that children learn in school and a facilitator of both personal and academic success. More research is needed to find successful approaches that align with promising evidence and address priorities in school.
Many children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, leave primary school without achieving the expected level in writing. In 2023, only 58% of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds reached the expected level at the end of Key Stage 2, compared to 77% of pupils from non-disadvantaged backgrounds (DfE, 2023).
However, programmes that use talk, high-quality reading materials and drama activities show promise for improving outcomes in writing. The RSC’s own research ‘Time to Act’ suggested that Rehearsal Room Writing had a positive impact on pupils’ writing outcomes.
The funding for this project and evaluation is from the Department for Education’s Accelerator Fund, which aims to expand the use of evidence-based programmes.
The National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) is leading the independent evaluation of this programme, in collaboration with the University of Exeter.
A randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes. will assess the impact of using rehearsal room techniques on pupils’ writing attainment, attitudes and motivation. Schools have a 50% chance of being allocated to the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. (receiving the rehearsal room programme). Schools allocated to the control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. will continue with business as usual and will receive £500 on completion of the evaluation activities. All schools in the trial, those that receive the programme and those in the control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution., will be expected to complete the evaluation activities.
An implementation and process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. will be conducted alongside the impact evaluation to explore how schools implement the programme and their perceptions of the rehearsal room writing programme. One year after the programme ends, further evaluation will investigate whether there was an impact on reading and writing scores in the key stage 2 statutory tests, as well as checking that there is no negative impact on maths.
The evaluation report will be published in Summer 2027.