As an educator with over 30 years’ experience in the Arts, I specialise in the analytical, creative and practical spheres that quantify and qualify success in drama. I have been a Drama teacher and Arts Project Officer in the Independent, Catholic, state, and private sectors in primary and secondary, single sex and co-educational environments. This longevity of knowledge, gained through firsthand experience, affirms that students who study drama through until at least Year 10 acquire communication, creative thinking and problem-solving skills and learn about global history and diversity. Research suggests that students who participate in drama classes will develop skills of connection and empathy and are less likely to partake in risky behaviour. Additionally, students who have studied high school drama successfully transfer these fundamental skills to a range of industries and professions when they leave school.

“Without a doubt, drama class was responsible for developing what I would consider my most valuable skills in the workforce. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I have not used matrix multiplication since I studied Math C, I haven’t written a short story since English, and I haven’t found the kinetic energy loss of a collision since Physics. What I have done, is sat in a job interview and had to explain why I was the best candidate for the job. I have sat across from clients and interfaced as to what problems they are encountering or what they would like from our product. I have stood up in a meeting every fortnight to discuss my team’s progress. I am always chosen to speak on behalf of the team, not because I’m the best software engineer (I’m not) but because I’m the best communicator. Drama develops real world skills.” - Adrian Irwin, Head Day Boy, 2013 - 2018, Software Engineer.

Despite all the research that points to the benefits of studying drama, there are still hurdles to overcome when students are tasked with selecting their subjects in Years 9 and 11. So why should you son study drama?

Physical Environment

At TGS, drama is tailor-made to suit the physicality of boys. Lessons are taught through game play and competition – both of which boys thrive on. Students can freely move around the space, adapt the elemental rules and, with limited direction, process and create their own drama experiences. Rydberg as cited in Higgins (2016) asserts: ‘When students are put in charge of their learning, they develop life skills such as flexibility and adaptability by having to make adjustments along the way rather than waiting for the teacher to tell them what to do’. Boys engaged in this style of learning will speak about how much they enjoy Drama because of the games they have played and invented, and the creative and humorous work produced, both through written and physical form. Through the physicalisation of the drama classroom, students connect to the fundamental skills of communication, flexibility and adaptability.

“The lifelong skills of public speaking and the ability to be my true self, I believe, has directly stemmed from my time spent in Senior Drama. Skills which have and continue to provide opportunities for my teaching and footballing career.” - Ryan Ensor, 2010 – 2014 Secondary English Teacher, Professional Footballer Newcastle Jets.

Academic

In engaging both verbally and physically in texts specifically selected for boys, drama allows for self-exploration and growth through understanding of actions and consequences in the safety of the classroom. Many boys struggle to engage in reading, specifically when the text has no relevance to them. In TGS drama however, text choices are specifically selected to engage boys in the subject. Wilhelm and Smith (2006) suggest if you neglect the power of pleasure in reading, boys underperform.

Additionally, students who engage in reading text aloud and kinaesthetically experience the outcomes through performance in a safe environment, are less likely to engage in risky behaviours in real life as “drama allows for a safe place to try out the situations of real life; for experimenting with expression and communication; and for deepening human understanding” (Schiller, 2008, p.7). By presenting realistic situations through Theatre for Young People texts, risk-taking circumstances are confronted, allowing boys who have yet to develop the fully-formed frontal lobe, to physically and verbally explore consequences through differing perspectives, in the safety of the drama classroom.

Empathy

Drama offers participants the ability to step into someone else’s shoes and gives them an insight into the road others travel. The doyen of drama education, Heathcote (1970, p.1077) argues that by allowing students to discover “how it feels to be in ‘someone else’s shoes,’ drama activities, such as role play offer one of the most efficient ways of gleaning information in emotional experience without having the actual experience.

“Two different skills I learnt from drama that I use in both work life and personal life are communicative skills and understanding people’s emotions; reading body language and knowing when to emphasise phrases to get your point across.” - Will Cruice, 2010 – 2014 Para-Planner, Medical Speciality.

Exploring the given circumstances of a new identity allows students to empathise with the experiences of others. To listen to returned servicemen share their personal oral histories in the Year 10 Verbatim unit, Australian’s At War, then witness students create improvisation and script around these lived experiences, creates empathy for those whose lives were impacted. The opportunity to explore the devastating effects of bullying in our Year 9 Realism unit, listen to the experiences of refugees told through Physical Theatre in Year 9, or the excitement of the student who has discovered the inner psychology of a tormented Hamlet, realising it is a torment with which they can relate in the Year 12 Transform unit, all create empathy for those whose lives have been inhabited.

21st Century Skills and Digital Literacy

Drama embraces 21st century skills, both through preparation for higher education and work, as well as digital literacies. The 21^st century skills reflected in all the QCAA Senior Syllabi, seem to be written explicitly for Drama: critical thinking, communication, personal skills, creative thinking, collaboration and teamwork, and ITC skills. A longitudinal study on the development of 21^st century skills in drama classes for students from 5-18 years across thirteen semesters, revealed that creativity, collaboration, communication, initiative, and problem solving, developed through applied Improvisational skills, were used to help medical students, pharmaceutical students and professional scientists improve their communication skills with patients and the general public (Stutesman, Havens and Goldstein, 2022).

To find connection between historical styles of theatre and modern technologies is to breathe new life and understanding into Drama and connect with technology savvy youth. Technological inventions in theatre stretch right back to ancient Greece. The deus ex machina, translated to ‘god from the machine’, a device used to fly in the gods, was traditionally used as a plot device. The resolution of a tragedy would neatly be prescribed through flying in a ‘god’. An example of this is at the end of the play Euripides tragedy, Medea. After much tragedy and death, Medea flies off the stage in the chariot sent by the Sun-God, her grandfather. The discussion of transferring this technology, which was new and revolutionary for the time, to accessible technology which young people can relate, is left to the creative imagination and integration of digital media. Previously, students have suggested using digital media to greenscreen Medea as she flies in her chariot sent by the Sun God as a projected backdrop, or sending a ‘me-moji’ text message from Medea which is projected on the back screen, accompanied by chariot emojis, or using interactive projection with a ‘sun god’ image behind, whilst beneath the actors on the stage Medea is swallowed into a projected universe. To have the students pitch a solution using a multimodal presentation also makes use of digital literacies. Problem solving with students creates the same level of excitement the ancient Greeks would have experienced when seeing a person ‘flying’ off the stage!

Mental Health

The health benefits of selecting Drama as an area of study have been heightened during this global pandemic. Growing mental health concerns amongst our youth reached a peak due to social distancing restrictions which led to increased social isolation and loneliness (Zhang as cited in Rossell et al. 2021). Fear, anxiety, and depression have increased in those who are more susceptible to the adverse impacts of stress (Duan & Zhu as cited in Rossell et al. 2021). The lived experience of utilising the many disciplines of the arts is to make people feel more connected.

When billions are being spent globally trying to address a burgeoning mental health crisis which has been exacerbated due to social isolation, anxiety and fear, why would you not encourage your child to become involved in a subject which thrives on building fundamental communication skills, empathy and connectivity with a diverse range of people.

“Drama taught me so many valuable lessons, ones that can’t be learned in any other classroom. Lessons such as expressing creativity, teamwork, listening and appreciating difference of opinion, being bold and looking for something bigger and better, finding the joy in work and creating. These are things that directly help me with what I do in my job but each of these things could be used in any job or line of work to make it a more happy, healthy environment.” - Sean Johnston, 2014 – 2018, Bachelor or Music Theatre, Queensland Conservatory, Currently cast: Link Larkin ‘Hairspray’ Regent Theatre, Melbourne.

Dramatic Misconceptions

One dramatic misconception is that the study of drama is about preparing to be an actor. Becoming a virtuosic performer is not what studying drama at school is about. We have many boys who have been initially excited by the prospect of selecting drama as a subject, not choose it. When asked as to why, they hint at the answer through conversations had with parents. ‘You don’t want to be an actor, so why pick Drama? History is a much better choice – you’ll learn research skills and more about ….history!’ Whilst History is fantastic subject, it may be that your son is a kinaesthetic learner. There is no better way to learn about Ancient Greece than through the eyes of playwrights and philosophers of the time who invented theatre as we know it today! Drama is not about preparing you to be an actor but engaging you in “innovation and creative thinking which contributes to equipping students with highly transferable skills that encourage them to imagine future perspectives and possibilities”. (QCAA Drama Syllabus Ver1.1, 2019, p. 2).

“The subject of Drama has allowed me to be confident in both one-on-one and group situations. The skills I learnt from the subject have reassured me and have allowed me to demonstrate composure and express who I am. Drama taught me the skills of speaking confidently in front of people and I acquired effective communication skills, both through written and spoken elements.” - Daniel Cover, Head Prefect 2015, First XV, Secondary Teacher.

The elephant in the room is - Australia Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). Students steer away from studying Drama in Year 11 and 12 as they believe that it will score lower on the ATAR ranking and affect their overall ATAR score. Scaling for each subject changes every year, and students sometimes believe that they should do subjects which have scaled higher in the past. The reality is, you will do better in a subject that you enjoy studying, and how you perform in a subject can make a big difference in your scaled score. As a Drama educator who has witnessed the transformative ability of arts subjects in terms of self-growth and self-awareness, it is also my belief that students and parents need to place less importance on a single ATAR number and more on the myriad of skills gained on the journey towards a new phase in the life of the child.