Acting and Education

Acting and education is a combination that develops your skills as a performer while also training you to use drama and performance as a vehicle for learning, development and community engagement. Acting is a practical, intellectually demanding discipline that develops your ability to inhabit characters, interpret texts, use your voice and body expressively and collaborate creatively with others. Education theory and practice, alongside this, examines how learning happens, how drama and performance can be used pedagogically, and how you can facilitate creative and theatrical experiences for others across a range of age groups and contexts.

At Liverpool Hope University, this four-year programme with a foundation year is set in a city with a rich theatrical and cultural heritage, taught by practitioners who are closely connected to Liverpool's distinctive arts community. The programme is designed to equip you with the skills, knowledge and creativity to thrive as a performer on stage and screen, while also developing the educational understanding and facilitation skills needed to work with drama in learning and community contexts. A sandwich placement year provides professional experience, a year abroad adds international perspective, and work placement opportunities throughout the programme ensure you develop practical connections to both the performance and education sectors.

Graduates from acting and education programmes pursue careers as performers, drama teachers, theatre-in-education practitioners, community drama facilitators, drama therapists, youth theatre directors and arts educators. Many work across both performance and education in portfolio careers that combine creative work with facilitating others. Secondary school drama teaching, after appropriate teacher training, is a common route.

Postgraduate study in acting, theatre education, applied theatre or drama therapy is available for those who want to specialise further or pursue research in the field.