Drama
About
While drama is not identified as a separate subject within the national curriculum, it nevertheless is important to articulate its importance. As with the other national curriculum subjects there are a number of strands to support high quality subject knowledge:
National curriculum importance statements
Subject associations
Twitter communities
There are a number of references to drama in the national curriculum programme of study for English, for example: ‘specific requirements for pupils to discuss what they are learning and to develop their wider skills in spoken language form part of this programme of study. In years 3 and 4, pupils should become more familiar with and confident in using language in a greater variety of situations, for a variety of audiences and purposes, including through drama, formal presentations and debate.’
It also states that ‘all pupils should be enabled to participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. Pupils should be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in role. They should have opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances’.
Once the importance statements have been revisited, it is helpful for subject leaders and coordinators to discuss and agree with colleagues, the reason why their subject, in this case drama, is important for the pupils in their school. One way of doing this, is to draw on a quote, in this case from James Corden ‘when I was doing school plays, I loved it so much I didn't want it to end. I feel like I'm exactly the same as when I was doing plays at school, to be honest ‘.
This kind of prompt allows us to formulate our way of stating the importance of the subject. We might agree or disagree with such a statement and in doing so come to a form of words which expresses our view of the importance of this subject, in this school. This moves us away from the territory of ‘we teach this subject because of the SATS or GCSEs’. While the external tests and exams are important, they are not the totality of the subject.
Professional Communities
Subject associations are important because at the heart of their work is curriculum thinking, development and resources. There are two subject associations for Drama and they are NATD, the National Association for the Teaching of Drama and National Drama. It should be the case that any member of staff with responsibility for a subject should be a member of the relevant subject association, and this should be paid for by the school.
Twitter subject communities are important for the development of subject knowledge, because it is here that there are lively debates about what to teach, how to teach and the kinds of resources that are helpful. For drama it is worth following both NATD and National Drama and the hashtags #DramaTwitter #edudrama and #dramamatters
Links
Myatt & Co Films
Click on the button below to take you to films on Drama on the Myatt & Co website