DTEA members attended the Music & Drama Education Expo on 22nd and 23rd February, exhibiting and running CPD sessions for visitors.
Dr Steve Ball, Co-Chair of the DTEA, spoke in the Keynote Theatre about Getting our act together: advocacy and equality in drama and theatre education.
"For too long we have been preaching to the converted about the value and threats to drama and theatre education for children and young people, at the expense of making our case to policymakers and politicians. This session explored the need to actively promote a broad and balanced curriculum with drama and theatre education at its core."
Steve Ball was also a judge on the Music & Drama Education Awards and attended the awards ceremony on 22nd February. He said "The Music and Drama Education Awards was a wonderful celebration of the teachers, artists and organisations that make up our diverse sector. The awards recognised the huge contribution that drama and theatre makes to the lives of children and young people."
Dr Geoff Readman, Chair of National Drama and DTEA Secretary, spoke about Drama teaching: the neglected art?
"The session celebrated the complexities of the roles of Drama teacher and theatre practitioner, offering an inclusive framework for learning in which the child is at the centre of their learning".
This topic is a philosophical cornerstone in National Drama’s (ND) Year of Advocacy 2024 - a year in which ND aims to communicate the learning potential of Drama to a wider audience. As part of that message ND aims to bridge the perceived divide between Drama as cross-curricular learning and Drama as theatre performance.
Why is there a hierarchy of arts subjects?
Why is Drama not a Foundation subject?
Why is theatre viewed as an expensive luxury?
Finally, Adam Milford, Director of Theatre Workout, ran two practical sessions to provide teachers with resources and techniques to expand their repetoire and teaching practice.
A session on Primary Drama was designed to empower more primary teachers to use more drama in the classroom, both to teach drama as a subject in its own right, but also to expand on other aspects of the curriculum, such as literacy, creative writing and more.
A session on Stage Combat was aimed at secondary teachers to introduce core principals of stage combat training to enhance teaching, devising and rehearsal processes.
We're delighted to report that all sessions were extremely well attended and sparked lots of meaningful conversations with delegates.