What is Drama about?
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Drama
- Description: Drama Subject Expert Group members discuss their experiences in the Review of Achievement Standards
- Video Duration: 5 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/571910480
- Transcript: In conversation with Bianca Till Kim Bonnington James Wenley Transcript below: I guess one of the big things people will notice is that we are moving to the four standards. That's across all subjects. Particularly in Drama
In conversation with
Bianca Till
Kim Bonnington
James Wenley
Transcript below:
I guess one of the big things people will notice is that we are moving to the four standards. That's across all subjects.
Particularly in Drama, that's given us the challenging opportunity to think about what is the essential learning that we want to cover in Drama. What's the best assessment that's going to support that with flexibility for what teachers want to choose to do in their classrooms.
I totally agree.
When you look at the external exams in the past in Drama, they've been written exams. We recognise that's a step away from what happens in terms of the performance aspect of our subject.
While students may choose to write in order to show their knowledge about different aspects of our curriculum that particular assessment is assessing, it allows us some other modes of assessment to put together a digital portfolio for students to respond to Drama.
The significant learning we do in the classroom, having the assessments fall out naturally from what we're doing. Being able to assess the kids in the way that they work.
The learning matrix was one of the things we had to start with in our group. Think about what are the big ideas of our subject, if we have to get to the essence of what Drama is and what's special about it. I thought that was a nice place for us to start, and then have the provocation of what is the essential learning that can't be left to chance.
At the end of Level 1, what is it that we want our students to have experience and know about Drama? That's a great starting place.
From the beginning, how does mātauranga Māori fit in that. Because it does really well.
We've tried to have every student be able to feel connected to who they are, where they are from and where they stand. I think we've tried really hard.
We've also explored for teachers how it is that that happens in the processes and the kaupapa of the way that we operate within the pedagogy in a real way.
For some teachers it will mean some learning about how to make those connections. For others it will be about doing a little bit of extra reading, discussions, and maybe some PLD, and then making some small shifts.
We really want to be able to engage with mātauranga Māori. There's so much knowledge and wisdom that we can draw from, which I think is going to enrich the experience for all of our learners.
The great thing about being on a SEG is that I love talking pedagogy. I love talking about teaching, learning, and assessment. You're all laughing, but it's true. Because it's close to all our hearts.
Not only that. I've spent all this time talking with other people who love talking about that, and I'm not weird. It's been great.
It's been an opportunity to have high level conversations with other people who are passionate about what we do every day. Being really student centred, and the students are at the centre of everything that we've been doing. Being able to look at why we do this. It's been great.
A lot of responsibility having to think about different critical perspectives. Different lenses of how we're looking at the work that we are producing.
It's been really interesting for me coming from the university space. I've enjoyed being able to immerse myself in what's happening in secondary. Hopefully bring some of those connections closer.
Don't feel like you have to do it all now, or like you even have to be doing anything that's specifically about the standards that's coming.
Think about what it is about your current practice that incorporates te ao Māori, and principles of mātauranga Māori into your teaching. Place-based pedagogy, authentic teaching and learning context. How assessment can fall out of those. If you're working with those principles, those teachers are gonna find the changes a lot easier.
It's a big journey ahead, but everyone's going to be in it. To keep up that conversation as to what's happening, how you're finding it, and share the knowledge.
It's going to be huge.
We're attempting to decolonise our education system. It's going to be huge shifts, but I think there'll be the support, and the networks to help us.
Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.
Connections: Who is drama for?
Drama is for everyone.
We all have kōrero pūrākau and stories to share.
Drama helps us to understand cultural perspectives and worldviews and connect with our community. It celebrates and explores te ao Māori, Pacific, and European whakapapa and helps us to prepare for the future by challenging us to explore the attitudes and beliefs of characters in drama from Aotearoa New Zealand and globally.
Through drama, learners explore the lives and worlds of others and develop a deeper understanding of themselves and empathy for others. They will engage with the ways in which drama can uplift and sustain the mana of communities, groups and individuals.
Drama is for the learners of today who will be the adults of tomorrow — adults with an appreciation of who they are in relation to others, where they come from, and what kind of world they would like to live in.
Purpose: Why study drama?
Drama explores who we are, where we have come from, and where we could go.
Drama draws on the richness of diverse cultures to create new dramatic works.
In drama, learners can make connections between the real world and imagined worlds. Creating characters and situations grows learners’ ability to comment on, challenge, and ultimately transform society. They can use online platforms to explore their ideas and access worldwide audiences.
Drama students demonstrate high engagement, empathy, and courage in their learning because it allows them to have fun while taking creative risks within a safe environment. They quickly learn that they are responsible for themselves and for others.
The collaborative, creative process of drama develops learners' skills in giving and receiving constructive feedback. Drama students learn to share, develop, and extend ideas to realise a shared goal and serve the intention of the drama.
Drama examines and challenges established ideas and prejudices. It encourages critical and creative thinking and innovation. It generates new ideas and reflects on trends in society.
Through participating in, and responding to, drama, learners develop confidence in expressing their ideas as they seek to communicate with a variety of audiences and thereby influence society.
Knowledge: What is valued knowledge in drama?
Drama is a collaborative art form. Through the practice of ako, learners and teachers support and develop each other’s ideas and practices.
In Drama, learners tell stories and express their identity. They discover how drama can challenge and/or reinforce the status quo. Drama provides opportunities for learners to explore and express Māori, Pacific, and other indigenous heritages. Learners explore and manipulate ideas and take creative risks. They share, rework, construct, and deconstruct work that is dynamic and evolving.
Learners investigate, explore, and practise different ways of creating and structuring drama through using:
- linear, thematic, cyclical, episodic, or non-narrative storytelling
- the elements of drama (role, place, time, situation, action, tension, mood, contrast, focus, symbol)
- a range of dramatic conventions to develop characters and deepen the audience’s engagement
- production technologies (lighting, sound/music, digital projection, properties, makeup, costumes, the set) to create and develop mood and settings (place and time)
- characters and situations brought to life in an imagined world.
In addition, drama students refine and craft the tools of the actor (drama techniques) by learning to:
- use their body (gestures, facial expression, stance and posture, movement) to create and recreate the physical representation of characters, relationships, and situation
- use their voice to communicate convincingly the thoughts and feelings of the characters they portray
- engage with the performance space to develop the audiences’ understanding of character and situation.
Learners’ progression across Levels 6 to 8 is demonstrated by increasing independence and creative vision. They grow their ability to collaborate constructively and serve the intention of the drama.
Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.
Connections: Who is drama for?
Drama is for everyone.
We all have kōrero pūrākau and stories to share.
Drama helps us to understand cultural perspectives and worldviews and connect with our community. It celebrates and explores te ao Māori, Pacific, and European whakapapa and helps us to prepare for the future by challenging us to explore the attitudes and beliefs of characters in drama from Aotearoa New Zealand and globally.
Through drama, learners explore the lives and worlds of others and develop a deeper understanding of themselves and empathy for others. They will engage with the ways in which drama can uplift and sustain the mana of communities, groups and individuals.
Drama is for the learners of today who will be the adults of tomorrow — adults with an appreciation of who they are in relation to others, where they come from, and what kind of world they would like to live in.
Purpose: Why study drama?
Drama explores who we are, where we have come from, and where we could go.
Drama draws on the richness of diverse cultures to create new dramatic works.
In drama, learners can make connections between the real world and imagined worlds. Creating characters and situations grows learners’ ability to comment on, challenge, and ultimately transform society. They can use online platforms to explore their ideas and access worldwide audiences.
Drama students demonstrate high engagement, empathy, and courage in their learning because it allows them to have fun while taking creative risks within a safe environment. They quickly learn that they are responsible for themselves and for others.
The collaborative, creative process of drama develops learners' skills in giving and receiving constructive feedback. Drama students learn to share, develop, and extend ideas to realise a shared goal and serve the intention of the drama.
Drama examines and challenges established ideas and prejudices. It encourages critical and creative thinking and innovation. It generates new ideas and reflects on trends in society.
Through participating in, and responding to, drama, learners develop confidence in expressing their ideas as they seek to communicate with a variety of audiences and thereby influence society.
Knowledge: What is valued knowledge in drama?
Drama is a collaborative art form. Through the practice of ako, learners and teachers support and develop each other’s ideas and practices.
In Drama, learners tell stories and express their identity. They discover how drama can challenge and/or reinforce the status quo. Drama provides opportunities for learners to explore and express Māori, Pacific, and other indigenous heritages. Learners explore and manipulate ideas and take creative risks. They share, rework, construct, and deconstruct work that is dynamic and evolving.
Learners investigate, explore, and practise different ways of creating and structuring drama through using:
- linear, thematic, cyclical, episodic, or non-narrative storytelling
- the elements of drama (role, place, time, situation, action, tension, mood, contrast, focus, symbol)
- a range of dramatic conventions to develop characters and deepen the audience’s engagement
- production technologies (lighting, sound/music, digital projection, properties, makeup, costumes, the set) to create and develop mood and settings (place and time)
- characters and situations brought to life in an imagined world.
In addition, drama students refine and craft the tools of the actor (drama techniques) by learning to:
- use their body (gestures, facial expression, stance and posture, movement) to create and recreate the physical representation of characters, relationships, and situation
- use their voice to communicate convincingly the thoughts and feelings of the characters they portray
- engage with the performance space to develop the audiences’ understanding of character and situation.
Learners’ progression across Levels 6 to 8 is demonstrated by increasing independence and creative vision. They grow their ability to collaborate constructively and serve the intention of the drama.
Big Ideas and Significant Learning
This section outlines the meaning of, and connection between, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning, which together form the Learning Matrix. It then explains each Drama Big Idea.
The Arts Learning Area, including its whakataukī, inform this subject's Significant Learning – learning that is critical for students to know, understand, and do in a subject by the end of each Curriculum Level. This covers knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes. It also includes level-appropriate contexts students should encounter in their education. The Learning Area's whakataukī is:
Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.
Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.
The subject's Big Ideas and Significant Learning are collated into a Learning Matrix for Curriculum Level 6, and indicative learning for levels 7 and 8. Teachers can use the Learning Matrix as a tool to construct learning programmes that cover all the not-to-be-missed learning in a subject. There is no prescribed order to the Learning Matrix within each level. A programme of learning might begin with a context that is relevant to the local area of the school or an idea that students are particularly interested in. This context or topic must relate to at least one Big Idea and may also link to other Big Ideas.
There are four Big Ideas in Drama. The nature of this subject as a discipline means aspects of Significant Learning often cross over multiple Big Ideas, and vice versa.
This section outlines the meaning of, and connection between, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning, which together form the Learning Matrix. It then explains each Drama Big Idea.
The Arts Learning Area, including its whakataukī, inform this subject's Significant Learning – learning that is critical for students to know, understand, and do in a subject by the end of each Curriculum Level. This covers knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes. It also includes level-appropriate contexts students should encounter in their education. The Learning Area's whakataukī is:
Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.
Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.
The subject's Big Ideas and Significant Learning are collated into a Learning Matrix for Curriculum Level 6, and indicative learning for levels 7 and 8. Teachers can use the Learning Matrix as a tool to construct learning programmes that cover all the not-to-be-missed learning in a subject. There is no prescribed order to the Learning Matrix within each level. A programme of learning might begin with a context that is relevant to the local area of the school or an idea that students are particularly interested in. This context or topic must relate to at least one Big Idea and may also link to other Big Ideas.
There are four Big Ideas in Drama. The nature of this subject as a discipline means aspects of Significant Learning often cross over multiple Big Ideas, and vice versa.
Big Idea Body:
This Big Idea is about the way in which drama enables the exploration of the past and how that informs the present and future. Drama recognises theatre as a cultural connector that requires a participant to examine the experiences of themselves and others to look at how peoples' understandings are shaped by their experiences and their contexts. Through exploring characters and situations, ākonga can come to better understand their own identities.
Ākonga learn through practical embodiment of roles and situations. They explore the purpose of drama and theatre in their own, and other, communities and how it expresses culture. They consider the function of drama to heal, to educate, to transform, and to entertain society.
Learners are encouraged to engage with theatre Aotearoa New Zealand as a unique and valuable theatrical context. Te ao Māori is an integral component of theatre Aotearoa New Zealand. Māori theatre — theatre made by Māori, accessing heritage and kaupapa Māori and applying tikanga Māori — is important and valuable for all learners to have the opportunity to learn through and engage with. Theatre provides opportunity to challenge dominating cultural narratives and question the status quo.
Drama can be used to explore, articulate, and contest cultural and national identities and narratives. Drama holds a mirror up to society and can encourage reflection, and challenge dominant cultural narratives and paradigms.
Drama is influenced by whakapapa and is a way to respond to and share identity, culture, and perspectives
This Big Idea is about the way in which drama enables the exploration of the past and how that informs the present and future. Drama recognises theatre as a cultural connector that requires a participant to examine the experiences of themselves and others to look at how peoples' understandings are shaped by their experiences and their contexts. Through exploring characters and situations, ākonga can come to better understand their own identities.
Ākonga learn through practical embodiment of roles and situations. They explore the purpose of drama and theatre in their own, and other, communities and how it expresses culture. They consider the function of drama to heal, to educate, to transform, and to entertain society.
Learners are encouraged to engage with theatre Aotearoa New Zealand as a unique and valuable theatrical context. Te ao Māori is an integral component of theatre Aotearoa New Zealand. Māori theatre — theatre made by Māori, accessing heritage and kaupapa Māori and applying tikanga Māori — is important and valuable for all learners to have the opportunity to learn through and engage with. Theatre provides opportunity to challenge dominating cultural narratives and question the status quo.
Drama can be used to explore, articulate, and contest cultural and national identities and narratives. Drama holds a mirror up to society and can encourage reflection, and challenge dominant cultural narratives and paradigms.
Big Idea Body:
In Drama, learners embody the creative process and are required to collaborate, whether they are rehearsing a scripted piece, or scripting or devising their own work.
Drama can challenge ways of thinking and working that privilege individualism, and promote practices that value collectivism and service, both to others and to the intention of the drama. Learners will grow in their understanding of the importance of serving the needs of the drama through the work of a group.
The process of making a drama, through collaboration, helps to develop learners' skills in listening and communicating their own ideas. In order to effectively take direction, ākonga need to listen, interpret suggestions and guidance, and incorporate that into their performance. To contribute effectively, learners must communicate their ideas in a clear and constructive way.
In group feedback situations, learners will explore incorporating feedback from multiple sources, testing and experimenting with different ideas to create interesting, effective, engaging, and purposeful drama.
Drama is a collaborative, creative process
In Drama, learners embody the creative process and are required to collaborate, whether they are rehearsing a scripted piece, or scripting or devising their own work.
Drama can challenge ways of thinking and working that privilege individualism, and promote practices that value collectivism and service, both to others and to the intention of the drama. Learners will grow in their understanding of the importance of serving the needs of the drama through the work of a group.
The process of making a drama, through collaboration, helps to develop learners' skills in listening and communicating their own ideas. In order to effectively take direction, ākonga need to listen, interpret suggestions and guidance, and incorporate that into their performance. To contribute effectively, learners must communicate their ideas in a clear and constructive way.
In group feedback situations, learners will explore incorporating feedback from multiple sources, testing and experimenting with different ideas to create interesting, effective, engaging, and purposeful drama.
Big Idea Body:
Drama is a vehicle through which we can engage in kōrero from generation to generation. Ākonga can engage with stories, kōrero pūrākau, talanoa, and ideas from our past and contribute to the stories that carry forward into the future.
Ākonga will also engage with the ways in which drama can influence and enhance wellbeing. They may explore the spiritual dimension of many drama traditions, from Māori, Pacific, and other indigenous performing arts to the religious origins of Greek theatre. Ākonga may engage with the intangible connections that performing, viewing, and experiencing drama can provide. Ākonga can explore the effect of artistic expression on wellbeing, both by taking part in, and responding to, drama.
Ākonga will explore how the stories we tell and the way we tell them shape our understanding of ourselves, our world, and our place in it. They will explore and respond to stories as a means of understanding other people and other worldviews, and they will experiment with storytelling as a means of self-expression.
Drama weaves wairuatanga through storytelling, communication, and expression
Drama is a vehicle through which we can engage in kōrero from generation to generation. Ākonga can engage with stories, kōrero pūrākau, talanoa, and ideas from our past and contribute to the stories that carry forward into the future.
Ākonga will also engage with the ways in which drama can influence and enhance wellbeing. They may explore the spiritual dimension of many drama traditions, from Māori, Pacific, and other indigenous performing arts to the religious origins of Greek theatre. Ākonga may engage with the intangible connections that performing, viewing, and experiencing drama can provide. Ākonga can explore the effect of artistic expression on wellbeing, both by taking part in, and responding to, drama.
Ākonga will explore how the stories we tell and the way we tell them shape our understanding of ourselves, our world, and our place in it. They will explore and respond to stories as a means of understanding other people and other worldviews, and they will experiment with storytelling as a means of self-expression.
Big Idea Body:
Drama enables ākonga to actively engage in whakawhanaungatanga through creating and exploring connections, not just between themselves and those with whom they are collaborating, but also the distinctive connection between performer and audience. They can practice building and sustaining connections between performer and performer, as well as between performer and audience.
Ākonga will have opportunities to experience both sides of this relationship, exploring how performers work to evoke audience response and how that response feels as an audience member. Learners will engage with the immediate and transient nature of live drama. No experience, for performer or audience, is ever exactly the same.
Drama is an act of whakawhanaungatanga — meaning is created through the reciprocal relationship between the drama and audience
Drama enables ākonga to actively engage in whakawhanaungatanga through creating and exploring connections, not just between themselves and those with whom they are collaborating, but also the distinctive connection between performer and audience. They can practice building and sustaining connections between performer and performer, as well as between performer and audience.
Ākonga will have opportunities to experience both sides of this relationship, exploring how performers work to evoke audience response and how that response feels as an audience member. Learners will engage with the immediate and transient nature of live drama. No experience, for performer or audience, is ever exactly the same.
Key Competencies in Drama
Learning in Drama provides meaningful contexts for developing Key Competencies from The New Zealand Curriculum. These Key Competencies are woven through, and embedded in, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning. Drama provides learners with opportunities to develop insightful and collaborative practices and behaviours in practical and engaging contexts.
Thinking
Students of Drama will:
- explore ideas physically and in the moment
- respond to creative offers to advance the drama
- put their own thought into action
- respond and adapt their whakaaro (thoughts and ideas) based on mahi tahi (working collaboratively)
- reflect on work and adapt based on feedback
- develop understanding and critical thinking about the context of work; historical, social, cultural, political, and economic, in order to create meaningful drama
- develop research skills in exploring the contexts of dramatic work
- explore their own and others' ideas in work they experience and work they create
- investigate roles, worlds, contexts, attitudes, and themes in drama, using their own prior cultural knowledge.
Using language, symbols, and text
Students of Drama will:
- develop their use of language in rehearsal, scripting, and devising processes
- discuss their work and experiment with language used in performance
- understand and use discipline-specific vocabulary and develop multi-modal literacies including audio, gestural, linguistic (verbal and written), spatial, and visual
- interpret texts, stories, and direction
- engage with and explore what can be expressed through props, costume, set, technologies, motifs (recurring symbols), text, dialogue, movement, gesture, and conventions.
Relating to others
Students of Drama will:
- negotiate, cultivate, and explore a variety of relationships; the relationships between performers, the relationships between characters, the relationship between the performer and the role, and the relationship between the performer and the audience
- practice whanaungatanga and manaakitanga in working with others with care and compassion
- explore the perspectives and experiences of others, increasing their cultural awareness, responsiveness, and acceptance
- understand and play to different strengths in order to enrich the work.
Managing self
Students of Drama will:
- develop self discipline and an understanding of their role as part of the group
- practise self-management in practical contexts; arriving to rehearsals on time, learning lines, being prepared, and taking responsibility for different aspects of production (props, costume), theatre and performance protocols
- set goals
- self-review
- accept direction and feedback
- question and critique themselves and others.
Participating and contributing
Students of Drama will:
- work together to contribute their own ideas and respond to the ideas of others
- establish kotahitanga in group work, value each others' strengths, and improve the quality of the work
- explore how to adapt and work in different environments with different people and contribute to building a group dynamic that is responsive to the needs of the work and the participants
- develop courage and generosity in making offers to advance the drama and giving feedback as well as openness and humility in accepting feedback and extending the ideas of others.
Key Competencies
This section of The New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.
Learning in Drama provides meaningful contexts for developing Key Competencies from The New Zealand Curriculum. These Key Competencies are woven through, and embedded in, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning. Drama provides learners with opportunities to develop insightful and collaborative practices and behaviours in practical and engaging contexts.
Thinking
Students of Drama will:
- explore ideas physically and in the moment
- respond to creative offers to advance the drama
- put their own thought into action
- respond and adapt their whakaaro (thoughts and ideas) based on mahi tahi (working collaboratively)
- reflect on work and adapt based on feedback
- develop understanding and critical thinking about the context of work; historical, social, cultural, political, and economic, in order to create meaningful drama
- develop research skills in exploring the contexts of dramatic work
- explore their own and others' ideas in work they experience and work they create
- investigate roles, worlds, contexts, attitudes, and themes in drama, using their own prior cultural knowledge.
Using language, symbols, and text
Students of Drama will:
- develop their use of language in rehearsal, scripting, and devising processes
- discuss their work and experiment with language used in performance
- understand and use discipline-specific vocabulary and develop multi-modal literacies including audio, gestural, linguistic (verbal and written), spatial, and visual
- interpret texts, stories, and direction
- engage with and explore what can be expressed through props, costume, set, technologies, motifs (recurring symbols), text, dialogue, movement, gesture, and conventions.
Relating to others
Students of Drama will:
- negotiate, cultivate, and explore a variety of relationships; the relationships between performers, the relationships between characters, the relationship between the performer and the role, and the relationship between the performer and the audience
- practice whanaungatanga and manaakitanga in working with others with care and compassion
- explore the perspectives and experiences of others, increasing their cultural awareness, responsiveness, and acceptance
- understand and play to different strengths in order to enrich the work.
Managing self
Students of Drama will:
- develop self discipline and an understanding of their role as part of the group
- practise self-management in practical contexts; arriving to rehearsals on time, learning lines, being prepared, and taking responsibility for different aspects of production (props, costume), theatre and performance protocols
- set goals
- self-review
- accept direction and feedback
- question and critique themselves and others.
Participating and contributing
Students of Drama will:
- work together to contribute their own ideas and respond to the ideas of others
- establish kotahitanga in group work, value each others' strengths, and improve the quality of the work
- explore how to adapt and work in different environments with different people and contribute to building a group dynamic that is responsive to the needs of the work and the participants
- develop courage and generosity in making offers to advance the drama and giving feedback as well as openness and humility in accepting feedback and extending the ideas of others.
Key Competencies
This section of The New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.
Connections
The Arts strands in the New Zealand Curriculum underpin the approach of generating and refining artistic ideas through cycles of action and reflection:
- Understanding the arts in Context
- Developing Practical Knowledge in the arts
- Developing Ideas in the arts
- Communicating and Interpreting in the arts.
Drama provides a framework to provoke deep thinking, discussion, and expression about culture, identity, and society. This in turn creates a bridge between Drama and other disciplines and contexts.
Working with texts in Drama may connect to important learning in English as well as development of literacy skills. The nature of drama as an embodied art form with deep connections to wairuatanga means that it also links strongly to the Health and Physical Education learning area. Drama encourages curiosity and information seeking, key attributes and skills in the Sciences.
The Arts strands in the New Zealand Curriculum underpin the approach of generating and refining artistic ideas through cycles of action and reflection:
- Understanding the arts in Context
- Developing Practical Knowledge in the arts
- Developing Ideas in the arts
- Communicating and Interpreting in the arts.
Drama provides a framework to provoke deep thinking, discussion, and expression about culture, identity, and society. This in turn creates a bridge between Drama and other disciplines and contexts.
Working with texts in Drama may connect to important learning in English as well as development of literacy skills. The nature of drama as an embodied art form with deep connections to wairuatanga means that it also links strongly to the Health and Physical Education learning area. Drama encourages curiosity and information seeking, key attributes and skills in the Sciences.
Learning Pathway
Learners in Drama enhance their interpersonal and communication skills, which will serve them well in all areas of learning and life. The ability to work with others, understand different points of view, and communicate ideas and information effectively is highly valued in any future pathway.
Beyond school, learners in drama will have gained skills and experience that help them greatly both in tertiary education and the world of work. This includes:
- public speaking and performance skills
- idea generation and content creation
- self-reflection and analysis
- critical thinking
- identifying target audiences and promoting work to them
- technical production skills such as lighting, sound, and costume and prop design.
Learners in Drama enhance their interpersonal and communication skills, which will serve them well in all areas of learning and life. The ability to work with others, understand different points of view, and communicate ideas and information effectively is highly valued in any future pathway.
Beyond school, learners in drama will have gained skills and experience that help them greatly both in tertiary education and the world of work. This includes:
- public speaking and performance skills
- idea generation and content creation
- self-reflection and analysis
- critical thinking
- identifying target audiences and promoting work to them
- technical production skills such as lighting, sound, and costume and prop design.
Introduction to Sample Course Outlines
Sample Course Outlines are being produced to help teachers and schools understand the new NCEA Learning and Assessment Matrices. Examples of how a year-long Drama course could be constructed using the new Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards are provided here. They are indicative only and do not mandate any particular context or approach.
Sample Course Outlines are being produced to help teachers and schools understand the new NCEA Learning and Assessment Matrices. Examples of how a year-long Drama course could be constructed using the new Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards are provided here. They are indicative only and do not mandate any particular context or approach.
Assessment Matrix
Conditions of Assessment for internally assessed standards
These Conditions provide guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Achievement Standards. Guidance is provided on:
- specific requirements for all assessments against this Standard
- appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
- ensuring that evidence is authentic.
Assessors must be familiar with guidance on assessment practice in learning centres, including enforcing timeframes and deadlines. The NZQA website offers resources that would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.
The learning centre’s Assessment Policy and Conditions of Assessment must be consistent with NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess. This link includes guidance for managing internal moderation and the collection of evidence.
Gathering Evidence
Internal assessment provides considerable flexibility in the collection of evidence. Evidence can be collected in different ways to suit a range of teaching and learning styles, and a range of contexts of teaching and learning. Care needs to be taken to allow students opportunities to present their best evidence against the Standard(s) that are free from unnecessary constraints.
It is recommended that the design of assessment reflects and reinforces the ways students have been learning. Collection of evidence for the internally assessed Standards could include, but is not restricted to, an extended task, an investigation, digital evidence (such as recorded interviews, blogs, photographs, or film), or a portfolio of evidence.
It is also recommended where possible, that the collection of evidence for internally assessed Standards should not use the same method that is used for any external Standards in a programme/course, particularly if that method is using a time-bound written examination. This could unfairly disadvantage students who do not perform well under these conditions.
A separate assessment event is not needed for each Standard. Often assessment can be integrated into one activity that collects evidence towards two or three different Standards from a programme of learning. Evidence can also be collected over time from a range of linked activities (for example, in a portfolio).
Effective assessment should suit the nature of the learning being assessed, provide opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students, and be valid and fair.
Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence
Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence. This must be in line with the learning centre’s policy and NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess.
Ensure that the student’s evidence is individually identifiable and represents the student’s own work. This includes evidence submitted as part of a group assessment and evidence produced outside of class time or assessor supervision. For example, an investigation carried out over several sessions could include assessor observations, meeting with the student at a set milestone, or student’s use of a journal or photographic entries to record progress.
These Conditions provide guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Achievement Standards. Guidance is provided on:
- specific requirements for all assessments against this Standard
- appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
- ensuring that evidence is authentic.
Assessors must be familiar with guidance on assessment practice in learning centres, including enforcing timeframes and deadlines. The NZQA website offers resources that would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.
The learning centre’s Assessment Policy and Conditions of Assessment must be consistent with NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess. This link includes guidance for managing internal moderation and the collection of evidence.
Gathering Evidence
Internal assessment provides considerable flexibility in the collection of evidence. Evidence can be collected in different ways to suit a range of teaching and learning styles, and a range of contexts of teaching and learning. Care needs to be taken to allow students opportunities to present their best evidence against the Standard(s) that are free from unnecessary constraints.
It is recommended that the design of assessment reflects and reinforces the ways students have been learning. Collection of evidence for the internally assessed Standards could include, but is not restricted to, an extended task, an investigation, digital evidence (such as recorded interviews, blogs, photographs, or film), or a portfolio of evidence.
It is also recommended where possible, that the collection of evidence for internally assessed Standards should not use the same method that is used for any external Standards in a programme/course, particularly if that method is using a time-bound written examination. This could unfairly disadvantage students who do not perform well under these conditions.
A separate assessment event is not needed for each Standard. Often assessment can be integrated into one activity that collects evidence towards two or three different Standards from a programme of learning. Evidence can also be collected over time from a range of linked activities (for example, in a portfolio).
Effective assessment should suit the nature of the learning being assessed, provide opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students, and be valid and fair.
Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence
Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence. This must be in line with the learning centre’s policy and NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess.
Ensure that the student’s evidence is individually identifiable and represents the student’s own work. This includes evidence submitted as part of a group assessment and evidence produced outside of class time or assessor supervision. For example, an investigation carried out over several sessions could include assessor observations, meeting with the student at a set milestone, or student’s use of a journal or photographic entries to record progress.
Assessors should ensure student evidence at any achievement level includes consideration of manaakitanga in the context of exploring theatre Aotearoa.
Assessor involvement during the assessment event is limited to:
- providing students with theatre Aotearoa contexts to engage with at the start of the assessment
- providing observations to students. The process must be student-led, without teacher feed-forward to guide it.
Submissions should consist of:
- a student performance
- This performance may be given with or without an audience.
- The performance needs to be within a 2–4-minute timeframe.
- a reflection consisting of evidence collected over time
- The reflection may be presented in written or oral form.
- The reflection can be accompanied by physical demonstration, visual images, audio-visual recordings of student progress, written or oral statements, notes, or teacher observations.
Suggested time and word limits for the statement of reflection are:
- a written reflection (up to 700 words)
- a recorded response or self-tape on video (up to 4 mins).
Evidence must be submitted individually and must show evidence of individual participation in a group context.
Evidence may be submitted in a number of ways and must include both evidence of a performance and reflection. Evidence may be presented by the student in a range of forms, including:
- annotated visual information
- oral presentation
- physical demonstration accompanied by verbal or written explanation
- written information
- digital formats
- audio and visual recordings
- in-class presentation.
Students may not use the evidence submitted as their reflection for this Achievement Standard as evidence for Achievement Standard 1.4 (Respond to a drama performance). Students may, however, use their performance for this Achievement Standard as the context for discussion in Achievement Standard 1.4 with their teacher's approval.
Teachers should ensure the outcome is appropriate for Level 6 of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Evidence for all parts of this assessment can be in te reo Māori, English, or New Zealand Sign Language.
Evidence for this Achievement Standard will be participation in creative strategies during the devising process to create a drama.
Assessors should ensure student evidence at any achievement level includes how whanaungatanga has been promoted during the devising process.
Assessor involvement during the assessment event is limited to:
- providing students with a stimulus for devising
- providing observations to students
- The devising process must be student-led, without teacher feed-forward to guide it.
Assessors should not provide any further feed-forward advice, guidance, or instruction.
Submissions should consist of:
- the group-devised drama, which will be presented as a 2–5-minute live performance
- a portfolio of evidence collected over time, including the title and key message of the drama.
- The portfolio can include physical demonstrations, visual images, audio-visual recordings of student progress, written or oral statements, notes, or teacher observations.
- This must be student-led but can include annotations of teacher observation of the student’s participation in creative strategies in the devising process.
Suggested time and word limits for the portfolio are:
- a written reflection (up to 700 words)
- a recorded response or self-recorded video (up to 4 mins).
Evidence must be submitted individually and must show evidence of individual participation in a group context.
Evidence may be submitted in a number of ways and must include both evidence of the devised drama and accompanying portfolio. Evidence may be presented by the student in a range of forms, including:
- annotated visual information
- oral presentation
- physical demonstration accompanied by verbal or written explanation
- written information
- digital formats
- audio and visual recordings
- in-class presentation.
Students may not use the evidence submitted as their reflection for this Achievement Standard as evidence for Achievement Standard 1.4 (Respond to a drama performance). Students may, however, use their performance for this Achievement Standard as the context for discussion in Achievement Standard 1.4 with their teacher's approval.
Teachers should ensure the outcome is appropriate for Level 6 of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Evidence for all parts of this assessment can be in te reo Māori, English, or New Zealand Sign Language.