Drama

Course Overview

The Drama ITT programme seeks to enhance your existing knowledge and to ensure you are developing the necessary subject and pedagogical knowledge required as a Drama teacher. Through our sessions, you will develop as a teacher of Drama becoming a committed, enthusiastic and optimistic practitioner.

Understanding how to effectively deliver practical lessons as well as theoretical study is vital. You will develop your expertise of life in the Drama studio by utilising a range of approaches to teaching through research, reading, observation, and workshops.

Being a Drama teacher not only involves having the right knowledge, it also requires you to be creative, imaginative, and inspiring, and through the Subject Expert Training programme, you will learn different strategies and approaches to be the best teacher you can be.

As a result, it is intended that Drama trainee teachers will be able to:

Develop their subject knowledge to a depth and breadth that enables them to teach their subject at KS3-KS4 with confidence and competence
Understand the pedagogy of their subject and be both deliberate and judicious in their choice of methods and approaches
Be able of the curriculum requirements for the age range they teach and have awareness of how content is chosen to be broad, balanced and deliberately sequenced
Understand how learning happens in their subject and be able to use a range of approaches to ensure that knowledge is more likely to be retained
Learn about the statutory assessment arrangements for Drama and be able to guide and prepare students for both internal and external assessment
Anticipate and address common misconceptions within planning and lesson delivery
Develop students’ hinterland knowledge and intellectual curiosity
Use a wide range of subject terminology and be aware of strategies to help students use these terms for themselves
Provide learners with actionable, motivational and manageable subject specific feedback in order for them to make progress in their learning
Create classroom climates that are inclusive for all learners regardless of ability or background through an awareness of potential barriers to learning and how to overcome these
Learn how to activate hard thinking in their subject as a result of a deliberate approach to structuring, explaining, questioning, interacting and embedding knowledge

Useful Websites

Victoria & Albert Museum (Theatre History)

British Library (Theatre Practitioners)

Arts Council England

Technical Theatre

Details of Subject Associations

National Drama

NATD – National Association for the Teaching of Drama

Entry Requirements

Mandatory

A degree in Drama or a related subject, at class 2:2 or above

Maths and English GCSE at grade 4/C or above

How To Survive Your First Year in Teaching – Sue Cowley: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
Inspired Drama Teaching: A Practical Guide for Teachers – Keith West: A&C Black.
Starting Drama Teaching – Mike Fleming; David Fulton Publishers Ltd.
Secondary Drama: A Creative Source Book – John Doona: Routledge.

The following texts are not essential reading but would be worth becoming familiar with:

Another 100+ Ideas for Drama - Anna Scher and Charles Verrall: Heinemann Educational Publishers
Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty – Albert Bermel: Methuen
Beginning Drama 11-14 - Jonothan Neelands: David Fulton Publishers Ltd
Building a Character – Constantin Stanislavski & Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood
Commedia dell’Arte – An Actor’s Handbook – John Rudlin: Routledge
Disability, Theatre and Education - Richard Tomlinson: Souvenir Press Ltd
Dorothy Heathcote: Drama as a Learning Medium - Betty Jane Wagner: Greenwood Press
Dramatherapy: Theory and Practice vol. 2 - Sue Jennings: Routledge
Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Drama Student Book (Edexcel GCSE 9-1 Drama 2016)
Edexcel A Level Drama and Theatre Student Book and ActiveBook (Edexcel A Level Drama 2016)
Education & Dramatic Art: Second Edition – David Hornbrook: Routledge
Games for Actors and Non-actors: Second Edition – Augusto Boal: Routledge
How Drama Activates Learning: Contemporary Research and Practice – M Anderson: Bloomsbury Publishing
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre – Keith Johnstone: Methuen Drama
Learning to Teach in a Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience - 4th Edition - Susan Capel, Marilyn Leask and Tony Turner: Routledge
Learning to Teach Drama 11-18 - Andy Kempe and Helen Nicholson: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
Masterclass in Drama Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning – M Anderson: Bloomsbury Publishing
On Theatre – Bertolt Brecht & John Willett
Progression in Secondary Drama - Andy Kempe and Marigold Ashwell: Heinemann Educational Publishers
Structuring Drama Work: A Handbook of Available Forms in Theatre and Drama – Jonothan Neelands and Tony Goode: Cambridge University Press
Technical Companion to Drama – Brian McGuire: Pearson Publishing
The Actor and the Text – Cicely Berry: Virgin
The Art of Drama Teaching - Michael Fleming: David Fulton Publishers Ltd
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre – John Russell Brown: Oxford University Press.
Theatre Games: A New Approach to Drama Training – Clive Barker: Methuen
The Theatre of Steven Berkoff – Steven Berkoff: New Ed. Edition 1993: Methuen Drama
Towards a Poor Theatre – Jerzy Grotowski: Methuen
Action Speaks Louder: A Handbook of Structured Group Techniques - Jane Remocker and Elizabeth T. Storch: Churchill Livingstone

Education Texts

Dorothy Heathcote’s Story: Biography of a Remarkable Drama Teacher - Gavin Bolton: Trentham Books Ltd
Drama Education and Special Needs - Ed. by Andy Kempe
Drama for Learning: Dorothy Heathcote’s Mantle of the Expert Approach to Education. - Dorothy Heathcote and Gavin Bolton: Greenwood Press Subject Knowledge/Resources
100+ Ideas for Drama - Anna Scher and Charles Verrall: Heinemann Educational Publishers
A Students Guide to Play Analysis - David Rush: Southern Illinois University Press
Class Acts: Monologues for Teenagers - Clare Dowling and Caroline Williams: New Island Book
Collected Works Vol. 4 – Antonin Artaud – John Calder: Calder Publications
Costume 1066-1990’s – John Peacock: Thames & Hudson.
Drama 14-16: A Book of Projects and Resources - Pauline Marson et.al.. Stanley Thornes: Nelson Thornes Ltd
Dramaform: A Practical Guide to Drama Techniques (Introducing Media) - Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore. Hodder and Stoughton: Hodder Murray
Drama Strategies: New Ideas from London Drama - Edited by Ken Taylor. Heinemann.
Drama: Text into Performance – Peter Reynolds: Penguin
The Actors’ Lab Workshops. A Book of Acting exercises. (Advanced Level) - Robin Wilson: First and Best in Education Ltd
Graft: Tales of an Actor – Steven Berkoff: Oberon Books: Oberon Books Ltd
How to Enjoy Shakespeare - Robert Thomas Fallon: Ivan R Dee, Inc
Ideas That Work in Drama - Michael Theodorou. Stanley Thornes: Nelson Thornes Ltd
Making Sense of Drama - Jonathan Neelands. Heinemann.
Maskwork - Jennifer Foreman. With Photographs by Richard Penton: Greenwood press
Playing Shakespeare – John Barton: Methuen
Practical Drama & Theatre Arts: A Skilled-based Introduction for Student Performers and Technicians - David Chadderton
Practical Theatre: A Post 16 Approach - Edited by Sally Mackey: Nelson Thornes Ltd
Stanislavski – An Introduction – Benedetti: Methuen.
Starting with Scripts - Andy Kempe & Lionel Warner. Stanley Thornes: Nelson Thornes Ltd
The Actor and His Body – Pisk: Virgin
Theatre Games: A New Approach to Drama Training - Clive Barker: Methuen Drama
Theatre and its Double – Artaud: Calder
The Empty Space – Peter Brook: Penguin
The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre – Brow: Oxford.
The Physical Comedy Handbook - Davis Rider Robinson: Greenwood Press
Voice and the Actor – Cicely Berry: Virgin
Drama for People with Special Needs - Ann Cattanach: A & C Black (Children’s Books)
Getting The Buggers to Behave – Sue Cowley: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd: 3Rev ed.
Interactive Research in Drama in Education - David Davis: Trentham Books Ltd
Learning Through Theatre: New Perspectives on Theatre in Education - Edited by Tony Jackson: Routledge
Secondary Education: The Key Concepts - J Wellington: Routledge Key Guides
Speaking, Listening and Drama - Andy Kempe and Jan Holroyd: David Fulton Publishers Ltd
Workshop Drama for Secondary Schools - Bob and Helen Orr: First & Best in Education Ltd

Course Funding

There is currently no funding for this subject. To find out more about financing your teacher training, click here

Course Codes

QTS with PGCE, full time or part time - 23FK

Drama Lead Subject Tutor

Joe Claflin

Joe is going into his fourth year as Head of Drama at Hylands School and has 8 years’ experience in theatre education and teacher development. Throughout his career he has equipped numerous trainees with the practical skills, subject knowledge and pedagogical confidence to thrive within the teaching industry, all of which have gone on to have successful careers as drama teachers and heads of department.

Prior to becoming a teacher and head of department, Joe graduated at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) completing the BA (Hons) course in Professional Acting in 2012. Here, he learnt a huge variety of skills and techniques for collaboration and performance as well as tools and strategies from professional directors, actors and teachers with years of experience in all aspects of the industry from theatre, film and television. He is passionate about, and continues to instil, techniques, devices and exercises he learnt as a student at LAMDA into his teaching and mentoring which are always discussed with trainees as tools to develop their practice.

Upon graduating from LAMDA, he worked consistently as a professional actor for 6 years, mostly in film and television before training as a teacher. His industry experience, and colleagues he continues to still collaborate with within the industry, has also allowed him to keep up to date with current subject knowledge for drama which is beneficial to his teaching and mentoring practice.

With a background in professional performance and directing, combined with extensive experience in secondary education, he specialises in curriculum design, inclusive practice, and fostering imaginative, student-centered learning environments. He is hugely passionate about developing reflective practitioners and supporting trainees in becoming resilient, responsive, and innovative drama educators.

Mid Essex Initial Teacher Training