Children as young as five to learn Shakespeare

by Paul Conneally | July 7, 2008 at 11:23 am

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These are only two of a number of initiatives to revitalise the teaching of the great bard's works. The speeches of modern war leaders will also be used and read alongside Shakespeare's plays to help youngsters make historical sense of modern warfare. It's never too early to meet great art and this will see Shakespeare back on the UK education agenda hopefully stopping the embarassing situation where overseas people know more about Shakespeare, Wordsworth et al than the majority of British people.

Children in the reception year of primary school will be introduced to some of Shakespeare's best-known plays through watching abridged film versions contained in a DVD box-set of ‘Shakespeare: The Animated Tales'.

In addition, 40,000 students aged 11 to 14 who are taking part in the government's Making Good Progress testing trials, will have the chance to see a Shakespeare performance live, thanks to a £1.5 million government grant.