GCSE English Literature Virtual Communities 2020 - Pre-event booklet - Exploring Teaching Shakespeare Using Exam Reports

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

Pre-event booklet for a one-hour online GCSE English Literature virtual community meeting on teaching Shakespeare. It prompts teachers to reflect on practice using national exam reports, highlighting what constitutes a strong answer and where improvement is possible. The session distills the reports into two guiding mantras—knowing the play and answering the question—and frames discussion around reading for understanding, developing plot and character knowledge, and planning cohesive essay responses with context.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

What can we learn about teaching Shakespeare

Meeting format and purpose

Two overarching mantras: Know the play, Answer the question

Know the play

Preparing students for confident reading and reference selection

Structure and characterisation for AO2 responses

Answer the question

Thesis-led writing and effective structures

Using extracts holistically

Context (AO3) and avoiding unnecessary biographical detail

Advice for students

GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE Virtual communities 2020 Pre-event booklet Published: Autumn 2020 What can we learn about teaching Shakespeare from the reports on the exam? In advance of the virtual community online meeting , we’d like you to reflect on your experience and practice of teaching Shakespeare. The entire meeting will last one hour and we’ll dedicate 20 minutes to breakout rooms , giving you the opportunity to talk to other English teachers and share your experiences. The reports on the exams (available to download from Secure Key Materials on e-AQA) reflect students’ performance at a national level. These observations highlight what makes a good answer and areas that could be better. The reports on the exam are a useful starting point to inform discussions about pedagogy and improving outcomes for students. The aim of this session is to use the reports on the exam to explore what best practice in the teaching of Shakespeare looks like and to share practical examples of approaches that work. For the purpose of this event, in the limited time available, we have distilled the reports on the exam to two overarching mantras: 1. Know the play 2. Answer the question. Exploring how teachers support students to do both underpins future exam success. In the grid below we invite you to consider some of the feedback from reports on the exam and the questions about teaching pedagogy and practice these statements elicit. You could consider this in relation to your own practice or discuss with your wider department, preparing your thoughts for the breakout chat rooms in our virtual community. Know the play | Feedback from the report on the exam | Questions to consider | | --- | --- | | Students need to know the play before they can answer an exam question. A confident understanding of the plot, characters, key events , and sequencing of these , underpins better answers and equips students to develop a cogent response to questions.
A feature of the highest-level responses is their knowledge and understanding of the text, which enables students to dip in and out of both the extract and the whole text to select details which support their argument as appropriate:
‘students who knew their text well had no problems with incorporating relevant references and quite often these fell into the category of ‘apt, integrated’. | How do you prepare to read the text, engage students during the reading of the text , and explore the rich possibilities the text offers during reading?
Reading a text is about building understanding – how do you plan to do this with a play by Shakespeare? | | Fluency in knowledge about plot and character informs AO2 responses as well. Reports on the exam highlight an increasing focus in answerson the structure of texts, and of characterisation, as a means of conveying ideas and meaning.
Exploring aspects of structure encourages students to look at the broader picture, rather than focusing solely on the intricacies of word-level analysis. Examples of structural aspects include:
• the order of events
• the juxtaposing of events
• the use of characters as conscious constructs, contrasts or foils, so that what one character does illuminates and reflects on the actions of other characters
• characterisation – how characters develop and change over the course of the text and how the writer portrays this. | If the student doesn't know where the extract is within the story, it’s hard for them to analyse ina meaningful and conceptual manner. How do you secure knowledge of plot, character and key events? | Answer the question | Feedback from the examiner’s report | | Questions to consider | | --- | --- | --- | | Examiners are seeing well-constructed responses and , increasingly, essays that open with a thesis where the student establishes their argument/interpretation in response to the task set.
Examiners continue to see pre-prepared structures and tacked-on sentences.

FAQs

What is the purpose of the virtual community pre-event session?

To use national exam reports to explore best practice in teaching Shakespeare and share practical approaches that work.

What are the two overarching mantras used to structure the discussion?

Know the play and Answer the question.

How should teachers help students prepare to read and understand the text for exam responses?

By building understanding during reading—supporting students to engage with plot, characters, and key events so they can select relevant details to support arguments.

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk