Teach Secondary Issue 14.7

platforms and other forms of online communication, has reduced people’s ability to think, and to speak clearly and thoughtfully. Drama offers a path to supporting articulacy, since the subject is centred on communication in the living, human space. Drama focuses on performance skills, such as voice projection, vocal experiments and using the body to convey meaning, as well as language itself to good effect. Closely tied to that is the importance of listening effectively and responding appropriately, while not forgetting the non-verbal need to communicate via gesture and movement, and convey expression with deeper meaning. These skills can tend to be seen as ‘soft’, but are, in fact, needed across the curriculum and wider society perhaps more than ever. Articulacy becomes entwined with confidence – not just having the ability to speak, but to know, understand and ‘own’ one’s voice. Becoming the character Oral communication is a highly desirable skill among employers, and yet many students will leave school lacking confidence in their ability to speak at all, let alone compellingly – especially in front of others. By giving students reasons to express themselves in the drama space, we can embed articulacy as an integral part of selfhood. Not just as a test requirement at the end of a scheme of work, but as an essential life skill . As well as supporting resilience and articulacy, drama can nurture students’ emotional literacy in profound and distinctive ways. Every time a student steps into a role, they are invited to inhabit a perspective that’s beyond their own – an act of imagination that helps to develops compassion and understanding. It’s different to simply reading about a character in a novel; students in drama become the character, both physically and emotionally. They will get to actually live out dilemmas, rather than merely analysing them from a safe distance behind a desk. As students rehearse a scene, they will experience emotions that are visceral, yet safe, being part of a work of fiction. In doing so, however, they will build the capacity to better recognise and regulate emotions in themselves, and respond more thoughtfully to those of others. Most importantly of all, drama creates these opportunities within a community of practice . Performances are inherently collaborative processes, where meaning is made alongside others. This nurtures connectedness, helping students feel seen, valued and understood. For some, the drama space can become a sanctuary. Performative measures Other subjects can do all of this too, of course. And drama spaces, if managed badly, can have negative outcomes. But it is the living space of the drama room that makes drama different. Drama is perhaps unique in that it requires and engages the whole person. In the drama space, we practise the kinds of human capacities that will sustain students far beyond school, and which can help young people develop in ways that can’t always be calculated or neatly measured. In an age of performative measures and high stakes, end of year written exams, drama can often be at risk of yet further marginalisation – but the skills it cultivates are among those nowmost needed in the world beyond the school gates. Employers greatly value effective communication skills and capacity for empathy and resilience among their employees. The human skills drama aims to develop are inherently human . They’re important, transferable and can endure. Drama offers a counterbalance. It reminds us that education isn’t just about ‘information giving’, but about helping young people to grow and develop. Drama can exist in the drama studio – but perhaps the best classrooms generally are those that hold a little of the essence of drama within them. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Martin Matthews teaches in a secondary school in the north west of England 53 teachwire.net/secondary D R A M A