My research interests include: The role of beauty as a value in education; Drama and values education; the role of story and story telling in drama and theatre education; Evaluating and theorising the effectiveness of Theatre in Education programmes; Drama pedagogies for the teaching of Shakespeare in the primary and middle years; The educational work of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Drama and Second Language Learning, 3-16; Drama education in South East Asia, particularly in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Professor Joe Winston has a background in primary and middle school education and was a head teacher for three years before joining the staff at Warwick University in 1991. He was responsible for co-ordinating the Arts subjects in the BA(QTS) degree until 2004 and afterwards the MA in Drama and Theatre Education until his semi-retirement in 2016. He founded the MA in Drama and English Language Teaching in conjunction with the Centre for Applied Linguistics which has been operational since 2014. He has successfully supervised over 20 doctoral students from the UK, China, Cyprus, Iran and Taiwan. Between 2005 and 2015, he was joint editor of Research in Drama Education widely recognised as the leading academic journal in its field. Well known nationally and internationally for his in-service work with teachers, he has published a wide range of books and articles both of an academic and professional nature. He has delivered key note addresses at international conferences in the UK, Europe and Asia. His book Beauty and Education was published in January, 2010, and was reviewed as book of the week in the Times Higher Education Supplement in April, 2010. More recently his publications include 'Second Language Learning through Drama', published by Routledge in 2012; and 'Transforming the Teaching of Shakespeare with the Royal Shakespeare Company', published by Bloomsbury in the Arden Shakespeare Series in 2015.
Recent and current research projects include:
Accelerating the impact of the RSC education department's partnerships with schools .
This research was carried out in 2015, with funding provided by the ESRC's Impact Acceleration Account. It examined how involvement in the RSC's Learning and Performance Network (LPN) had brought about significant and beneficial whole school change in a number of schools. Its purpose was to uncover how and why this had been the case in order to inform the company's nascent Associate Schools Programme, the successor to the LPN. Some of the findings are discussed in Winston, J and Partovi, M. 'Within the Girdle of these Walls: bringing about whole school change through the RSC's Learning and Performance Network' in Theatre and Education London: Springer Press, 2018.
The Work of Royal Shakespeare Company Education in the first year of the Associate Schools Programme.
This project, for which Joe was Principle Investigator, was commissioned by the RSC and carried out jointly by CEDAR and CES. The research grant was £25,000 and the research was carried out between June and December, 2017. The report was submitted to the RSC in January, 2018, and its findings have been discussed (February, 2018) in the national press and on BBC Radio 4.
Supporting the Learning and Teaching of Chinese for non-Chinese Speaking Students in Secondary Schools in Hong Kong.
This is a large scale research and development project being carried out between 2016 and 2018 by a project team based in the University of Hong Kong. The Principle Investigator is Dr Loh KYE. There are three strands to the research, one of them being the investigation and promotion of ways in which drama can be used by Chinese language teachers as an integral part of their pedagogy. Joe am acting as consultant to this strand of the project.
- Winston, Joe, Lin, Mei-Chun, 2015. Navigating the boundaries of cultural difference through participatory drama. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 20 (2), pp. 196-212
- Winston, Joe, Strand, Steve, 2013. Tapestry and the aesthetics of theatre in education as dialogic encounter and civil exchange. Research in Drama Education : The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 18 (1), pp. 62-78
- Cheng, A. Y.-M., Winston, Joe, 2011. Shakespeare as a second language : playfulness, power and pedagogy in the ESL classroom. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Vol. 16 (No. 4), pp. 541-556
- Strand, Steve, Winston, Joe, 2008. Educational aspirations in inner city schools. Educational Studies, Vol.34 (No.4), pp. 249-267
- Winston, Joe, 2006. Beauty, goodness and education : the Arts beyond utility. JOURNAL OF MORAL EDUCATION, 35 (3), pp. 285-300
- Winston, Joe, Partovi, Monireh, 2016. 'Within the girdle of these walls' : bringing about whole school change through the RSC?s Learning and Performance Network. In Anderson, Michael; Finneran, Michael (eds.), Education and Theatres, London, Bloomsbury Press, pp. 2-13
- Winston, Joe, 2015. Transforming the teaching of Shakespeare with the Royal Shakespeare Company. London, Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare
- Lindsay, Geoff, Winston, Joe, Franks, A, Lees, D., 2018. The work of Royal Shakespeare Company Education : in the first year of the Associate Schools Programme. University of Warwick, CEDAR
- Neelands, Jonothan, Lindley, Robert M., Lindsay, G., Winston, Joe, Galloway, Sheila, Kellgren, Ian, Morris, Maggie, 2009. Dance and drama awards strategic review 2009 : final report. University of Warwick
- Trowsdale, Jo, Winston, Joe, Lindsay, Geoff, 2005. Cultivating creativity?. University of Warwick
Title | Funder | Award start | Award end |
---|---|---|---|
RSC survey based quantitative research project - CES element only (main agreement 54649 CEDAR) | Royal Shakespeare Company | 29 Jan 2018 | 31 Mar 2018 |
BA Small Grant; Analysing and evaluating the Royal Shakespeare Companys attempt to transform the teaching of Shakespeare in English primary and secondary schools, 2006 tothe present day. | British Academy | 01 Apr 2013 | 31 Mar 2014 |
Research project between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Warwick Universitys Institute of Education: Why start Shakespeare young? | Royal Shakespeare Company | 11 Oct 2010 | 31 Jul 2011 |
Documenting the History of the TiE | Belgrade Theatre Trust (Coventry) Ltd | 16 Aug 2010 | 31 Dec 2010 |
On the edge: Project evaluation | The Play House | 18 Oct 2010 | 17 Dec 2010 |
Researching into the effectiveness of theatre in education as a method for educating against extremism | West Midlands Police | 01 Nov 2009 | 31 Jan 2010 |
Review of the Dance and Drama Awards Scheme | Learning and Skills Council (Coventry) | 01 Jul 2009 | 31 Dec 2009 |
Reveiw of the Dance and Drama Awards Scheme | Learning and Skills Council (Coventry) | 01 Jul 2009 | 31 Dec 2009 |
Young peoples levels of aspiration | Birmingham City Council | 01 Apr 2005 | 31 Jul 2005 |
Investigating the Computer-based Learning Resources Currently Offered by the Royal Shakespeare Company: Research Proposal | Royal Shakespeare Company | 01 Jun 2004 | 30 Jan 2005 |