When head of the history department, Kate, hires a new history teacher, all the students and parents love him - so why does he make her so uncomfortable? A series of short encounters trace the progress of their relationship and that of the students over the course of an academic year. A darkly funny play about the state of education and class privilege.

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Content Warnings: Mild Adult Language

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Director's Concept:

Progress is defined as forward movement toward a destination. But where are we going?  

 

Hopefully towards a place where gender is neither a limitation nor a privilege. A place that does not consider a person’s monetary value to be inextricably tied to their worth. Someplace that is refreshingly free of structures that reinforce oppression. 

 

What’s so dangerous about these structures is that they’re very good at making themselves invisible. I hope that this play is able to lessen their opacity. 

 

Question what you’ve been taught. 

Because we can’t fix everything overnight, but we can sure as hell make some progress. 

 

Dramaturgy:

Education in England 

The education system in the UK is divided into four main parts: 

primary education, secondary education, further education and higher education.  

Children in the UK have to legally attend primary and secondary education which runs from about 5 years old until the student is 16 years old. 

 

Primary Education: 5 –11 (contains stages 1 and 2) / Mandatory 

Secondary Education: 11 – 16 (contains stages 3 and 4) / Mandatory 

• Begin move towards taking the GCSE’s 

Further Education: includes A-levels

• Must be completed for students planning to go to college or university 

 

Higher Education

• About 1/3 of students in the UK pursue a form of higher education

 

Split into Key Stages: 

• Key Stage 1: 5 to 7 years old 

• Key Stage 2: 7 to 11 years old 

• Key Stage 3: 11 to 14 years old 

• Key Stage 4: 14 to 16 years old 

 

GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education

When reaching 14, students usually enter their first year of a 2-year process known as your GCSE. GCSEs are a set of exams that test your knowledge. 

 

At state schools students typically take 5 to 10 GCSEs, depending on the student's ability and drive. For independent schools, which are usually a lot more results-driven, it is not uncommon for students to take as many as 11 or 12, focusing more on academic subjects compared to the arts. 

 

GCSEs take a total of 2 years and mark the end of compulsory education for students in the UK. Once they have completed their GCSEs students have the choice to either move into further education (with a path to higher education) or can leave school and look for work. 

 

Special Measures: 

Schools are made subject to special measures under section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, where the Chief Inspector is of the opinion that: ‘….the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education, and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.’

 

A school subject to special measures will have regular short-notice Ofsted or Estyn inspections to monitor its improvement. The senior managers and teaching staff can be dismissed and the school governors replaced by an appointed executive committee. If poor performance continues the school may be closed.

 

The current circumstances under which a school may be placed in special measures, and the procedures to follow, are stipulated by the Education Act 2005. Prior to 2005, special measures were applied to any school which was failing to supply an acceptable level of education; potential for improvement under current leadership was not taken into account. Under the new rules, schools demonstrating such potential are instead given a notice to improve and reinspected after a year.[2] 

 

A-Levels: 

A-Levels (Advanced Level qualifications) are a U.K subject-based qualification for students aged 16 and above. They are usually studied over the course of 2 years, and lead to qualifications recognized for entrance to higher education institutes in the UK and many others worldwide. Most higher education institutes require a minimum of 3 subjects. 

 

A-levels, like GCSEs, follow a two-year program and there are two components to them: full A-levels and half AS-levels. Generally, A-levels comprise of 6 modules, and an AS-level has 3 modules. 

 

Students will generally take between two to three A-levels, but depending on your academic ability and drive you may take more. Students at independent schools may take anywhere up to 5 A-levels. 

Written examinations, taken at the end of the 2-year course of study, are the main form of assessment. Following the reforms mentioned above, there is now a lot less project work. However, some coursework does still contribute to the final grade depending on the subject.  

Grades are awarded on a scale from A* – E. Those who do not meet the minimum standard receive a U. Students need 40% to achieve an E, 50% for a D, 60% for a C, and so on. Students who average 80% across all modules will gain an A*. 

 

Special Thanks:

Special thanks to my family - particularly my incredible dad - for supporting me and embracing my chaos, thanks to Katie Pappas for once again being an incredible Assistant to the Director, and an especially special thanks to Dr. Tessa Carr for playing such an enormous part in making me into the artist and woman that I am today.