A teacher’s voice is, suggests Philip Parkin, General Secretary of the Professional Association, one of the main tools for supporting behaviour and learning.”

But at the same time, research in the UK, Europe, America and Australia indicates that teachers are up to five times more likely than other workers to experience voice-related health problems – problems that sometimes end their careers. Responding to this, we are supporting trainee teachers at Liverpool John Moores University in a unique intervention – Voicing the Voice.

Shakespeare Workshops

Following a successful small-scale pilot in spring 2011, Voicing the Voice has now been developed into a single twilight session taking an experiential approach to exploring the science and mechanics of voice, introducing trainees to a range of techniques for using their voices efficiently, effectively and safely – and investigating strategies that promote children’s speaking and listening skills. The programme is also available to individual schools as part of their ongoing CPD provision.

“It helped me to think of what happens when I use my voice and how I breathe. This gave me a much greater understanding of what to think about when I’m speaking” (Trainee Teacher)

For out more information about our Teacher CPD programmes here.