Drama is given a higher profile in the new National Curriculum and is included in AT1 as one of the four strands: speaking, listening, group discussion and interaction and drama activities. Much classroom drama, however, could include all the other strands since it will involve speaking, listening, discussing and interacting in small groups. The QCA have used the Arts Council Framework of making, performing and appraising in the arts to structure the statutory orders and from September 2000 schools will need to make clear provision for drama, timetabling drama and ensuring progression and continuity across and within the Keystages. The revised National Curriculum specifies the range and skills required and these are listed below:

KEY STAGE 1

Range The range of drama activities should include:

a) working in role;
b) presenting drama and stories to others, e.g. telling a story through tableaux or using a narrator;
c) responding to performances.

Skills To participate in a range of drama activities, pupils should be taught to:

a) use language and actions to convey situations, characters and emotions;
b) create and sustain roles individually and when working with others;
c) comment constructively on drama they have watched or in which they have participated.

KEY STAGE 2

Range The range of drama activities should include:

a) improvisation and working in role;
b) scripting and performing plays;
c) responding to performances.

Skills To participate in a wide range of drama activities and to evaluate their own and others' contributions, pupils should be taught to:

a) create, adapt and sustain different roles, individually and in groups;
b) use character, action and narrative to convey story themes, emotions and ideas in devised and scripted plays;
c) use dramatic conventions to explore characters and issues, e.g. hotseating, flashback, representing issues in different ways;
d) evaluate their own and others' contributions to the overall effectiveness of performances.

Within the QCA's (1999) planning document Teaching Speaking and Listening in Key Stages 1 and 2 the three drama strands of making, performing and responding are allocated one to each term. This could ease planning but at all times improvisation is central, since much of the work will invariably be created not script led. Response may sometimes be to aspects of stage craft, characterisation in a TiE performance, or a short video extract, but most frequently this will be applied to children's own small group improvisations. The ability to create sustained drama investigations in alternative worlds, and to reflect upon and evaluate these worlds, will therefore become a critical skill in delivering the new National Curriculum. The QCA's document includes a non-statutory planning framework and identifies clear teaching objectives in drama. These are useful, but as with the National Literacy Strategy, the emphasis is on what is to be taught not how this can be developed. Teachers wishing to develop drama would however be well advised to examine the termly objectives, extracts from which are noted below:

Year 1 - QCA: General teaching objectives - drama

Term 1 Improvisation

explore familiar themes and characters
respond to 'teacher in role' to explore character
respond in role to create stories

Term 2 Performance and improvisation

act out own stories and well known stories to different audiences, e.g. Peers, other classes
respond as themselves in a fictional setting to create stories

Term 3 Responding to drama

consider motives and issues in response to others' performances, e.g. In visiting theatre groups
consider character, motive and story development by reflecting on own drama

Year 3 - QCA: General teaching objectives - drama

Term 1 Writing and performance of drama

present drama for other audience
sequence and develop events and characters

Term 2 Improvisation and role play

use drama to explore key moments from a text
respond in role, using language appropriate to the given context
consider starting points, finishing points and key moments in dramatic explorations

Term 3 Responding to drama

focus on themes and characters in live and/or recorded performances
identify and discuss qualities in others' performances

Year 5 - QCA: General teaching objectives - drama

Term 1 Writing and performing drama

develop scenes or incidents
write a play/script from novels or poems based on a scene in a novel or poem, or on a further episode and present it

Term 2 Improvisation and role play

explore different ways of life in other cultures or periods of history
work in and out of role

Term 3 Responding to drama

recognise theatrical effects, e.g. Sound and silence, movement and stillness
describe and discuss style and genre in performances seen

The new National Curriculum (2000) drama requirements represent several challenges to teachers: can time be found to teach and integrate the improvisational work in cross-curricular settings? Do they have the creative skills and subject knowledge to undertake this? Many teachers are already using drama conventions in the Literacy Hour, but the new National Curriculum demands much more than this and challenges teachers to embrace classroom drama and explore it both as an art form and a learning medium. If knowledge can be gained and confidence achieved, drama can be used as a positive learning method and teachers can utilise the conventions across all subjects to promote pupils' understanding.

For teachers who have little confidence, no drama skills or limited knowledge of the subject, the Arts On The Move course 'Primary Drama' would be an essential and useful INSET day.

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