From summer 2020 through to summer 2021

The new DP theatre course will launch globally for first teaching in 2021 and ISTA has been working closely with the IB to ensure we offer as many opportunities as possible for our theatre teachers to learn about the new course changes. In 2021 ISTA will be programming a series of ‘Subject Specific Seminar’ or ‘SSS’ workshops, which are bespoke, one off 3-day theatre workshops that fully cover the key changes in the new subject guide and prepare existing DP theatre teachers for the demands of delivering the new course.

The IB recommends that all current DP theatre teachers attend a face-to-face SSS workshop and we will be running these between February and April 2021. Be sure to let your DP coordinators know that the new theatre course is arriving in 2021 to ensure you are able to reserve a place at one of these workshops in good time!

With this in mind, we will be tweaking the delivery of our regular Category 1, 2 and 3 workshops as follows:

— From June to August 2020 we will be producing three Category 1 workshops only.

— From February to April 2021 we will be producing our SSSs across all three global regions.

— In the summer of 2021 we will return to our regular scheduling of Category 1 and Category 2 workshops, all of which will have been updated after the SSS’s to reflect the new changes in the course. The Category 2 workshops will then be ‘blended’, combining the typical content of a Category 2 workshop with some of the SSS content.

— We will not be producing any Category 3 workshops during this time period as we recognise that teachers will be focused on the SSSs or subsequent Category 2 workshops.
There will be no IB workshops at our autumn 2020 TaPS.

We are currently collaborating with the IB on the development of four new Category 3 workshops each to reflect the updated theatre syllabus areas and content; these will be launched in 2022. One Category 3 workshop offered in each region, each year. The first on offer will be Staging play texts.