For Drama teachers in independent schools, it has largely been a different story: increasing numbers have been choosing Drama as an exam subject and there has been significant investment in staffing and facilities. At Sevenoaks, for example, from this September, almost a quarter of the 190 Year 10 students will take Drama as one of their GCSE options. And at IB level, in addition to the Theatre course, there is also Standard Level Literature and Performance, which this September will see almost a fifth( 44 students) of the Lower Sixth cohort begin this inter-disciplinary course.
It has been clear for decades that many people in independent school communities value and understand what Drama – as a curriculum subject – can offer to teenagers. The established wisdom is that it can, amongst other things, help to boost self-confidence and self-awareness, develop creativity and nurture collaborative skills. As a Drama teacher since the mid-Nineties, I can certainly confirm that it continues to do all of those things. So why is it more important than ever that we continue to offer students the opportunities for personal and skills development this subject is built around?
Why drama’ s role in the curriculum is as important as ever
Paul Harvey, Teacher of Drama
In most UK schools, there were no Drama lessons back in the 1980s. Yes, there were school plays and yes, there were teachers( mostly of English) who included‘ drama activities’ in lessons. But for the most part, that was all.
Then came the landmark Education Reform Act of 1988 and the creation of the National Curriculum; this was the opportunity for Drama to be formally established as a discrete subject. But“ the [ National ] curriculum model... implicitly positioned drama as simultaneously too progressive and not academic enough, and so did not recognise drama as a subject in its own right”( Pitfield, 2013). It was not classified as a Foundation Subject and has been fighting ever since to maintain its credibility and status in the state education system. Since 2010, there has been a drop of almost 40 % in numbers enrolled for GCSE Drama( Fisk, 2023).
It is obvious that the environment children now grow up in has changed significantly over the past 25 years. As you might have guessed, I chose that span of time because it’ s been the era of mobile phones, the internet, social media and increasing use of digital technology in schools. While the pros and cons of all of these continue to be vigorously debated in terms of their involvement in the lives of schoolchildren, there is plenty of evidence that the huge growth in the use and influence of the digital world is connected to the massive increase in mental health problems in teenagers( World Health Organization, 2024 and Shen, et, al., 2024).
Where does Drama come in? Firstly, it’ s a subject where social skills are essential and are used, developed and often critiqued each week. Whether it is partly the continuing effect of Covid lockdowns’ detrimental effect on child development( Oates, 2024) or the amount of time young people now spend using digital devices( UK Government Education Committee, 2024) – or both of these – at Sevenoaks there has been a notable drop in the ability of students to work together productively in Drama lessons. The verbal communication of many is more limited than in the past( GL assessment 2025); this means that explaining what is in their imaginations is more challenging for students. This in turn makes it harder for them to create drama together in groups. Many seem to find it difficult, initially, to use their imaginations creatively and collaboratively. Perhaps it is too simplistic to say that both of these aspects – weaker communication and less-developed imaginative skills – are attributable to increased use of devices. Regardless,
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