Shakespeare Valued

This ground-breaking monograph takes a comprehensive, critical, and theorised approach to the value of Shakespeare as constructed in educational policy, pedagogy, and television programs about or for education, with a focus on 1989 (the year compulsory Shakespeare was introduced under the National Curriculum for English) to the present. It also offers a methodological model for further research on related topics.

This book offers a thorough, scholarly, critical and coherent account of the value of Shakespeare in education during the last century. It is wide-ranging, in that it engages with diverse groups of stakeholders (academics, teachers, policymakers, arts practitioners, cultural critics, and heritage organisations) in exploring why such high value is placed on Shakespeare in our educational system: how it evolved during the twentieth century and into the first decade of the present one. It is hoped that reading this material will encourage greater reflexivity ('why Shakespeare?') in these professionals' own practice. Thirdly, the book is intended to encourage researchers in the areas of English and education to engage with a wider range of methods and sources: from document analysis to reuse of existing data, from marketing materials to websites. Since these will form much of the evidence for this book's argument, it offers a model which others may build on. Furthermore, it updates existing models such as Barbara Hodgdon'sThe Shakespeare Trade, which was published before online media and associated technologies flourished.

This book will be unique in terms of its focus, appeal and rigour. It seeks to redress the lack of existing books on Shakespeare in education. This is in contrast, for instance, with the number of works dedicated to Shakespeare in some facet of popular culture e.g. popular music, television broadcasting and film. This book will offer an unparalleled critical analysis of the way in which Shakespeare is valued in a range of educational domains in England. Additionally, it offers a snapshot of Shakespeare, education, and the arts under New Labour - and engages with questions of what has changed already, in terms of how these are valued, in the new political era marked by the election of the coalition government.