Opinion with Emma Love

When a Drama teacher speaks about the importance of their subject, they may encounter the occasional supportive response. However, they are more likely to hear: ‘of course you're going to gush – bloody luvvie!’ ‘what's the point? Not everybody wants to perform, and the profession is overcrowded – and mostly unemployed at the moment anyway’ ‘kids are dramatic enough without you lot pitching in’…and so on.

The problem here is one of perception. The majority of people do not understand that there is a difference between Speech and Drama, Performance Drama and Curricular Drama. The work we do in the classroom, particularly at KS2 and 3, is different from what the LAMDA lady does, what happens in our rehearsal rooms and what is delivered by Stagecoach et al; it has to be, because the young people in our classrooms have not chosen to be there and it's often the ones who don't want to be there who need us most.