All children should have opportunities to learn about, make and respond to drama, as well as learn through drama. Some primary schools have it as a standalone subject, some have it within their English and/or arts curriculum and some schools may not have the subject in their curriculum at all.
Establishing intentions
Some primary teaching may be cross-curricular, possibly linked to exploring texts in English, issues in PSHE or events in History. Most primary teachers have had little or no drama training, so subject leaders may need to arrange some good-quality training across the school to enable teachers to become more confident and knowledgeable about teaching drama.
Talking point: What are our school's intentions with drama?
Whether a school is creating a new drama curriculum or reviewing a current one, the subject leader needs to initiate a staff discussion about the school's drama intentions and current practice.
The drama intentions below can be used to initiate a staff discussion and raise expectations. It will probably highlight some gaps in a school's current drama provision. Schools can use, adapt or reject the possible intentions below but they may raise awareness of some development possibilities.
Curriculum mapping activity
Subject leaders could prepare a large drama self-review grid and give teachers plenty of green self-adhesive labels (see Table 1).
Table 1:
drama self-review grid
| Year group and age | Autumn term | Spring term | Summer term |
|---|---|---|---|
| R (4-5yrs) | |||
| 1 (5-6yrs) | |||
| 2 (6-7yrs) | |||
| 3 (7-8 yrs) | |||
| 4 (8-9 yrs) | |||
| 5 (9-10yrs) | |||
| 6 (10-11yrs) |
The teachers can be asked to jot information on labels about the drama they are teaching each term. For example, a Reception teacher might write, ‘Regular indoor and outdoor dramatic play, (sometimes with teacher in role)’. A teacher of seven-year-olds might write: ‘History through drama – the Great Fire of London’.
Starting with the teacher/s of the youngest children, they take turns positioning their labels on the grid, briefly explaining their content. In a school with no agreed drama curriculum on place, a lack of cohesion and breadth may soon become evident.
Possible primary drama intentionsA primary drama curriculum should develop children's knowledge and understanding of what drama is and develop their drama skills. They should have opportunities to participate in age-appropriate role play and improvisation, exploring situations, events, dilemmas and issues. Students should become increasingly skilled at making drama together, as they gain increasing knowledge, skills and understanding of drama forms, elements, strategies and conventions. They should also become increasingly aware of drama as an aesthetic artform and have opportunities to create, perform and respond to drama. Opportunities to perform to one another and to external audiences should be prioritised, whether it's to parents or other classes.
Drama provides the opportunity to develop and deepen their creative and critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills during the drama process.As part of this, the contexts for drama should include different times, places and cultures to help students develop empathy, increase knowledge and understanding of themselves and others, enabling them to communicate feelings, ideas, motives and viewpoints. Sources and contexts for drama should include personal experiences and stories, including fictional and historic characters, events and situations. There should be cross-curricular themes from culturally diverse images and texts. Prompts could include playscripts, narrative poems, picture books and stories. Students should have opportunities to read, write, move and talk in role for a variety of purposes and audiences, and have opportunities to use puppets, masks and props. They should also become increasingly able to use technology, when making, watching and evaluating drama.
Talking point: what additions might we need to make to our teaching?
Teachers can write their ‘now’ ideas on amber self-adhesive labels and their ‘later’ ideas on red labels, before placing them on the drama grid sequentially and talking about them. Any curriculum grid or plan is only a document until teachers make it come alive in practice. To do so, staff will need to implement changes in manageable steps and may require some primary drama training.
Next issue: a possible drama curriculum for five to seven-year-olds