Reports

The reports listed below present demonstrate the value of drama, creativity and the arts within education, but also to our society and economy, through evidence, testimony, and observation.

Assitej Manifesto

As Covid-19 crisis was raging, hundreds of professionals of performing arts across the globe collaborated through the Coffee Sessions of ASSITEJ. They shared their realities, expressed their points of view and their emergencies.

ASSITEJ Manifesto is the fruit of all this work. We wish it to be a tool, and, through a coordinated international campaign, a mighty lever for recognition and support to arts addressed to children and young people, and those who produce it.

Read the manifesto

Action for Children's Arts Manifesto

"Every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts. Member governments shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity."

- Article 31, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Read the manifesto

Drama from 5 to 16
HMI Series: Curriculum Matters No. 17

Since 1984 HM Inspectorate has published a number of Curriculum Matters papers designed to stimulate discussion about the curriculum as a whole and its component parts.

Drama from 5 to 16, the seventeenth in the series, published in 1989, sets out a framework to help schools formulate policies and practices for the teaching and learning of drama appropriate to their pupils.

Current Government Guidance on GCSE Drama

Subject content, aims and learning objectives for GCSE in drama for teaching from 2016.

Click here.

TEF Scoping Research

This scoping research responds to a conversation that began at the TEF meeting on 13 March 2020, which raised many important questions about the role of research and evaluation in
theatres with learning, education, or participation departments.

Read the full report here.

Developing a Representative Drama Curriculum

At the time of writing (June 2020), the four main exam boards in England offer 27 set texts between them for students studying GCSE Drama, and 61 at AS/A Level.

Only one of the GCSE 27 plays is by a Black author. Of the four exam boards, three of them have no Black, Asian or ethnically diverse representation through set texts.

At AS/A Level Drama and Theatre, across the four exam boards, only two of these 61 plays are by Black, Asian and ethnically diverse authors. Of the four boards, two of them have no Black, Asian or ethnically diverse representation through set texts at AS/A Level.

This got us thinking. Read the full report here...

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), protect children's rights to access arts and drama. Articles 13 on freedom of expression, and Article 31 on participation in cultural and artistic life are key to this argument.

Windsor Report

The Comino Foundation is an educational charity committed to exploring better ways of developing young people’s capabilities, their capacity and desire to make things happen. It encourages and supports innovative ventures designed to enable people to function effectively and to thrive.

Read the report here.

Durham Commission

In October 2019, the first report of The Durham Commission on
Creativity and Education made recommendations as to how creativity and teaching for creativity could be integral to the preparation for life for all young people. Since then, Covid-19 has changed the landscape of education. While the Commission believes all its initial recommendations to have been prescient, some are now particularly urgent.