Loves to involve the students in play (7)
I believe the answer is:
othello
'play' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'loves to involve the students' is the wordplay.
'loves' becomes 'oo' (two O's - 'love' means zero in tennis).
'to involve' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters get involved).
'students' becomes 'll' (two abbreviations for learner).
'the'+'ll'='thell'
'oo' going around 'thell' is 'OTHELLO'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for othello that I've seen before include "product of 12 [SHAKESPEARE] , inspiring 6 [VERDI]" , "Hello to Shakespeare's Moor" , "Will's hero" , "Literary character" , "drama!" .)