I called for drama to be compulsory not scrapped - Paul Roseby

Paul Roseby on Drama in Schools

'In my speech on cultural education last month I called for compulsory Drama, taught across the curriculum, by specialist teachers. Not as a poor fringe relative but at the heart of every young person's education on equal terms. Little of that was reported, but headlines always shout the loudest.

I suggested a radical new way of incorporating Drama across the curriculum, an idea that I wanted to float into an important debate. I did not call for the “scrapping” of GCSE Drama, but for reform through a specific idea. The idea arose from my concern about the current status of Drama in schools and how it's often perceived to be a 'soft or 'irrelevant' option at GCSE.

I of course know that it is anything but, however young people I talk to in my role at NYT tell me they're put off studying Drama because it's seen as second class by some parents, employers and universities. My worry is that young people are losing out on accessing drama under the current system, where it is still on the fringes and stigmatized, and that's why we need to have a debate about its current status.

As someone working in non-formal education, I see the value of Drama as being greater than any qualification. However, I hear those teachers who say that without a formal qualification Drama has no chance in schools. I think we need to drill deeper into this debate to secure the status in schools Drama deserves. The question is how do we join up the need for every young person to experience drama in schools with the wider sector, and the undeniable economic and artistic successes of British Theatre, TV and Film. The solution I believe is twofold.

Firstly we shouldn't 'scrap' but reform the current Drama GCSE to appeal to a wider range of young people by making it more industry relevant and rigorous as a necessary way of examining the world. I support the current DfE proposed GCSE Drama reforms along these lines and hope they will be implemented.

But secondly, and in addition, I believe in championing and formalising cross-curricular learning through the medium of drama. The intrinsic value of studying Drama as a stand-alone subject and its ability to enhance the learning practice of other subjects should not be seen as mutually exclusive. By engaging other subjects in the value of Drama I believe it will gain respect, not just from those who practice and preach it, but from those who don't currently 'get it'. This isn't about devaluing drama; it's about raising its currency across the board. To me, Drama is as important as Maths or English.

There is never a good time to talk about prospective change, particularly when teachers feel constantly under attack. To teachers who feel distanced or angered by the misinterpretation of my efforts to bring Drama into the core of the curriculum in schools, I offer a sincere and unconditional apology. I am only here because a teacher took me to see a theatre production as a teen and it changed my life. And I see, daily, the great impact Drama teachers have in the young people that we meet each year at the NYT, as I advocated in my speech. But simply reiterating the value of drama could be interpreted as just preaching to the converted.

I feel we must preach to the non-converted - in government and elsewhere - who will remain deaf to the value of Drama if our collective response is solely on the defensive without the hard option of informing exciting new creative ideas. There must be room for a sharpening of the debate in the arts community otherwise we run the risk of failing to grow, and therefore of being ignored.

I will continue to champion the value of theatre at the core of all our lives. My observation of the way Drama is perceived is cultural not personal. Some may consider my ideas as unrealistic, but I have always sought to be as ambitious as the young people we serve.'

Paul Roseby