Why have a Drama program at school?
Drama improves academic performance
- reading comprehension and proficiency
- specifically improving achievement in STEM
- verbal skills
- higher order thinking skills and capacities
- learning differences
- outperform non-arts students
Drama improves school attendance
- participation in learning
- achievement gaps
- motivation
- outcomes for at-risk students
Drama improves wellbeing
- self-esteem
- sense of self
- confidence
- social skills
- tolerance of others
- attitude
Drama provides pathways
- further tertiary study
- the making of art
- direct employment in the arts
- employment in allied industries
- education and teaching
- the enjoyment and enrichment of theatre and performing arts
- socialise and share
- lifelong wellness
- communities of practice
Drama develops 20th century employment skills
- creativity
- collaboration
- problem-solving
- critical thinking
- imagination
- communication
- agility
- empathy
Drama pervades our world
- it is a widely valued art form
- a right of the child to play and engage in the arts by UN Convention
- significant within many cultural practices
- intrinsic to film, television, radio, streamed entertainment and games
- used in marketing, advertising and business narratives
- the arts contribute $14.7 billion to Australia’s value added (GDP)
- supports many allied industries
Drama is a complelling art form
- acting and theatre design encompass many forms, styles and technologies
- has a broad and rich history
- speaks to a multiplicity of audiences
- tells traditional and novel stories
- questions and interprets life
- provides the opportunity to create in visible, material form
Evidence & Research
Why is a STEAM curriculum perspective crucial to the 21st century?
The Role of Arts Participation in Students' Academic and Nonacademic Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study of School, Home, and Community Factors
Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development
Drama Australia Advocacy
Drama Australia Guidelines
National Association for Arts Education - Evidence & Research
American Alliance for Theatre Eduction - The Effects of Theatre Education
Australia Council for the Arts - Arts Nation: An Overview of Australian Arts
The Australia Institute - Background Brief: Economic Importance of the Arts and Entertainment Sector
Introduction to Communities of Practice
A Simplified Version of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
National Advocates for Arts Education ((NAAE) Submission to the Inquiry into innovation and creativity: workforce for the new economy, January 2017 (Anderson, M. (2016, October 14). Creativity as the innovation literacy. Keynote speech at Australian Curriculum Studies Association conference, STEM, STEAM or HASS?)
ACER, The Arts and Australian Education: Realising potential
Creating Our Future: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey, Australia Council for the Arts, August 2020
