Research School Network: Drama: a bit of fun in the classroom or a tool to improve children’s learning?

“Drama, when carefully planned for and executed well, can have a great impact on children’s learning,” said my PGCE English lecturer in the one hour seminar that she had set aside to discuss how to use drama in the classroom. And although she meant every word of what she said – I believed that – my experience as a student in the classroom told a completely different story. Drama was used sparingly and without purpose on my placements or, if it was used at all, it became a performance device to showcase the children’s learning rather than a tool to support it. Because of this, it never became a staple in my teaching practice as I started my (slightly anxious) journey into teaching. Although I came from a drama background and knew of the many benefits that come from using it, I personally feared drama and grew anxious of the behavior and disruption that would often follow it. Visions of unruly children crawling on the floor, screaming and doing just what they pleased filled my head: I hated the thought of having to teach the lesson all over again.

Then everything changed forever. The RSA’s Performing Pedagogy programme came to Billesley. It was a journey of discovery. This clear and decisive move to bring drama and creativity to the forefront of our teaching and learning, changed the way that I and so many others felt about drama.

Why should it be used?

According to the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education, many teachers cited accountability, performance tables, curriculum content and teacher capacity itself as the main barriers to teaching drama more. The commission also emphasised the importance for it to become embedded in a schools ethos and that teachers need to be guided and supported by their school’s leadership team to explore these creative practices so it ensure an impact. The Art’s Council stated in their ​‘Value of Arts and Culture to People and Society’’ evidence review, that the positive links we make to the arts earlier in life can have a great impact on, ​“educational attainment and later life outcomes.” Meaning, if we think about the future life that these children will be entering into one day, creativity is cited as one of the key skills that employers are looking for in a prospective candidate. So, if we do not begin that cognitive change here at school, when are they meant to learn it? The Paul Hamlyn Foundation cited this as one of it’s key priorities for funding this programme as, ​“For many young people, especially those experiencing the most disadvantage, the only opportunity to gain access to arts-based learning is at school, and that is increasingly constrained” (Evaluation).

The Project In Action

Skilled and highly regarded experienced practitioners from the RSA led myself and a group of 38 practitioners from 10 schools in year one of the project. My excitement knew no bounds as I stepped foot into that classroom. Together we explored drama and used various creative ideas to breathe life into our topics. My passion had been reignited.

Clear aims were established by all involved:

To explore drama in literacy to impact on children.
To improve engagement in writing
To raise standards in writing
Create more resilient learners
To explore texts in more depth
To generate ideas
To improve grammar
Embed key concepts of genre conventions

Impact

I imagine you’re thinking now – what was the impact then? How have you managed to build creativity and resilience through drama in your school?

Let’s start with the children. Through pupil voice questionnaires, I saw a real difference in the way they felt about their lessons. Students who I thought would be completely disengaged with the whole process were discussing their ideas, asking if they could share their work with others and could articulate clearly and cohesively what their writing was about. Impact on attainment was also significant:

Moreover, for me personally (and for our school) the greatest impact has been how we have taken this research, combined it with what we already know to develop and embed performing pedagogy in our teaching and learning (Three fields of knowledge NCSL). Since participating in the programme (and subsequently the 2^nd year which focused on enhancing our curriculum in a similar way), we have begun to use drama to develop children’s creativity and resilience in nearly all aspects of teaching and learning.

– Our English cycle involves clear oral rehearsal lessons which allow the children to focus on their speech and language, cohesion and the grammatical structures of their sentences.

– Our humanities topics are fed through carefully chosen books which follow the children through each lesson as the characters (through hot seating, conscience alley, whoosh exercises) take them on a journey through history or physical space.

Now some of these concepts are so embedded in our every day teaching that children rarely feel like they are doing ​‘drama’, they see it as a normal part of their lesson.

Obviously these changes have come with time, dedication and most importantly, quality CPD for our staff – from external parties as well as those of us who took part in the programme – and support from SLT. A shared vision and ethos is integral to our everyday practice at Billesley and it is this that has removed the apprehension from our staff, developed their own confidence in teaching drama and overall, improved the children’s learning.

The RSA summarised their findings on the impact of the project here where Billesley is a featured school.

Think

I am thankful for the opportunity to engage in a programme such as this and share it with my colleagues. Sadly, I am aware that within our profession there are still many barriers to teaching drama. However, with Ofsted’s new framework there is now, more than ever, an opportunity for schools to strategically plan how they are going to encourage creativity in all areas of their learning.

​“Teachers create an environment that allows the learner to focus on learning. The resources and materials that teachers select – in a way that does not create unnecessary workload for staff – reflect the provider’s ambitious intentions for the course of study and clearly support the intent of a coherently planned curriculum, sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.” (Ofsted 2019)

In education, we are all working tirelessly at raising standards for our pupils, so can we really afford to look over such a simple and effective tool in raising children’s attainment?



^{​“The curriculum provides pupils with rich and meaningful learning experiences. It is planned carefully to help pupils make strong progress across a wide range of subjects. The strength of the curriculum shows in the pupils’ joy in learning.” (Billesley Primary School Ofsted Inspection, 2019)}