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Drama in SchoolsDateline: 24th September, 2000 When the National Curriculum was introduced, it laid down the amount of time the school timetable should give to the so-called Core Subjects (English, Maths and Science) and the Foundation Subjects (other subjects which the government of the day felt were essential). The time allowance was given in percentage terms and occupied most of the timetable. A little time was left over for other subjects. At the same time, the government laid down the what was to be taught in each Core and Foundation subject and introduced the principle of Attainment Targets and the reporting of achievement in terms of Levels, each Level being related to the age of the child: by age X a child should achieve Level Y in subject Z. The immediate result in the majority of schools was the loss of a number of subjects which were not part of the NC. Among these was Latin, which had been losing ground in schools for a number of years, and Drama. There was a considerable outcry from Drama teachers and their professional associations, demanding that Drama be made a Foundation subject. This was ignored, but there was mention of Drama in the regulations for English. Drama was to be studied as part of English Literature and there was to be a new section of English, entitled Speaking and Listening, which would, it was argued, give scope for Drama work. However the inevitable result was that Drama as literature was taught as literature - in other words, the study of text - and the Speaking and Listening tasks that were devised were those which could be taught by the average English teacher and did not need a Drama specialist. Something similar happened with Dance. It became a (optional) part of PE (Physical Education). However there was much emphasis on social dance and on dance history and, as in Drama, the personal development and performing arts aspects were lost. Just as Drama teachers still argue that their subject requires specialist teachers and is stifled as part of English, so Dance teachers still protest at their subject's inclusion in PE, which they feel is totally inappropriate. The situation was a little better with Music, in that it became a Foundation subject. However, in one of the many redesigns of the NC which have gone on over the years, it was decided that Music should no longer be a compulsory subject at Key Stage 4 (ages 15-16). Currently the situation in secondary schools is this:
In primary schools it is very rare for there to be any teaching of Dance or Drama, except as an out-of-school activity. Music is, obviously as it is a NC subject, taught but, as specialist teachers of Music are very thin on the ground at primary level, the quality of teaching is very variable and the level very basic. There are, of course, brilliant exceptions, but this is the norm. Even where Drama is still taught, there is disagreement among Drama teachers as to what it should cover. Some years ago I attended an national training weekend for Drama teachers, organised by HMI (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Schools) and it was very clear that there was bitter dissension. In many discussions, die-hard sixties-trained (or influenced) staff bemoaned the encroachment of the performing arts. For them Drama has nothing to do with performance - I heard more than one proudly boast that (s)he would never prostitute him/herself by producing a school play - but eveything to do with personal and social development. In fact, many seemed to my jaundiced eye to believe that the function of Drama was political, to encourage the kids to adopt a particular set of social beliefs and attitudes, with a huge dose of political correctness. Now the emphasis is on Drama as one of the performing arts, especially in GCSE and other exam-related courses. At KS3 most Drama teachers, like me, try to integrate the two strands by using the PSE-type subjects as the raw material for performance-based work. We don't cover such subjects as voice projection (although I do it in the Drama Club), but we do deal with such things as spatial awareness, performing for an audience, establishing a character, and do on. One interesting point, very recently an OFSTED inspector said to me that he had never seen a mediocre Drama department: they are either good or bad. What is the cause of that, I wonder? Articles Indices:
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