BGE (S1-S3)
What your child will learn
The first, 2nd, and 3rd year courses are divided into a variety of skills including: Mime; Movement; Voice Skills; Improvisation; Presentation skills; Role Play; Characterisation; Imaginary Community and Speech Situation’s. The vision of these units is to encourage confident and successful learners in Drama. These courses will provide pupils with learning experiences which offer challenge, personalisation and choice. They will acquire a breadth of drama terminology which will enable them to apply their learning across subjects. They will gain confidence and skills which will enable them to deal with situations in their lives and social situation’s which may arise.
How your child will learn
Drama is a subject that relies on self and peer assessment. The lesson will begin with Learning Intentions which will highlight the skills that the pupils will learn. As Drama in early years is an aesthetic subject, pupils will learn and recognise their own individual learning styles through teamwork. Through interaction with different peers, they will learn negotiating skills and self-awareness. Pupils can identify the strengths and weaknesses of behaviour and interaction with one another in their everyday lives through constructive feedback on each other’s work. A range of Active Learning Strategies (including ‘2 stars and a wish’, carouselling and viewing video footage of their work) are utilised to enable pupils to recognise skills acquired, as well as areas for further development. As such, pupils are enabled to work effectively with others, thus developing core skills for life and work.
How your child’s progress in their learning will be assessed
Pupils will be continually assessed through peer and self-evaluation, teacher observation and strategies through co-operative learning. These assessment strategies will provide an in-depth plan for improvement in their learning across the skills which include self-awareness, speech situation’s, special awareness, presentation skills and voice skills. There will be literacy experiences and outcomes that will enable pupils to analyse and comment on their work and that of others. Health and Well-being outcomes will be addressed throughout the years as pupils progress and adapt to different situations and settings.
National 3 & 4 Drama
The National 3 & 4 Drama Courses are designed to provide opportunities for learners to develop skills in creating and presenting drama. Both Courses focus on the development of basic drama skills and the using basic production skills to present drama.
The aims of the Course are to enable learners to:
¨ generate thoughts and ideas at a basic level when creating drama
¨ have an awareness of social and cultural influences on drama
¨ present drama at a basic level
¨ use basic production skills to present drama
¨ develop problem solving skills by creating and presenting drama
¨ reflect on their work and that of other learners
As learners develop practical skills in creating and presenting, they will also develop an awareness of cultural and social influences on drama. Learners will investigate and reflect on how the use of self-expression, language and movement can develop their drama ideas. Learners will develop problem-solving skills as they explore and develop a range of basic drama skills. They will also investigate the use of basic production skills to enhance drama.
National 5 Drama
The National 5 (N5) Drama course is a course that aims to develop your personal and social skills through drama and theatre arts/production activities, as well as providing a broad-based drama and theatre education.
There are two units at National 5:
• Drama Skills
• Drama: Production Skills
Methods of Learning
You will explore a wide variety of stimuli (including text-based stimuli) and themes through:
- a) Drama Skills. Techniques include: mime and movement, voice, characterisation, role-play, improvised drama, forms and conventions (structural devices),directing, script work, presenting and evaluating work of self and others.
- b) Drama: Production Skills. Exploration of: lighting, sound, set design, props, costume and make–up and hair. Others areas that may be looked at are theatre management and stage management/theatre production.
Drama Qualifications and Pathways
You may gain the National 5 qualification in S4 and progress to Higher in S5, which will then offer the possibility of Advanced Higher in S6. The NPA provides an ‘softer’ lead in to Level 6 qualification and can perhaps form a Nat 5 – NPA – Higher pathway from S4 to S6.
NPA Acting & Performance
The National Progression Award (NPA) in Acting and Performance is part of SQA’s national qualification framework in Drama. Specifically, it is one of a new suite of small NPAs which cover a range of aspects of the theatre industry. The award is also designed to meet the needs of learners who wish to develop a foundation for progression to further study and to provide skills and knowledge appropriate to the theatre industry.
The NPA in Acting and Performance (SCQF level 6) comprises two mandatory Units:
Drama: Theatre Skills in Performance: The focus of this Unit is stage craft and performance. Candidates will work towards a production and will have the flexibility to choose from a wide range of production types including text based, touring theatre, community theatre, street theatre and site specific. Candidates will apply theatre skills to the rehearsal and performance of a role to an audience and will learn about the complementary roles of the Actor and Director. The Unit also provides candidates with the opportunity to evaluate their own theatre skills within a production.
Professional Theatre in Context: In this Unit, candidates have the opportunity to experience and analyse two contrasting professional theatrical productions in different styles /genres. Candidates will explore the roles and responsibilities of the director, artistic and technical members of a production team prior to attending the productions. Candidates will consider the contrast between productions and evaluate the effectiveness of the technical and artistic aspects of each production.
The general aims of the National Progression Award in Acting and Performance at SCQF level 6 is to:
¨ prepare candidates for progression to further study at National Certificate level
¨ prepare candidates for progression into an FE environment
¨ provide candidates with the building blocks to achieve the National Certificate in Acting and Theatre Performance at SCQF level 6
¨ prepare candidates for progression to further study at Higher National and Degree level
¨ produce a flexible award that is appropriate for a variety of delivery modes
¨ provide an award that supports the development of a range of transferable generic employability and essential skills (including Core Skills)
Higher Drama
In Higher Drama pupils use the knowledge and understanding gained in the National 5 course to create original work and performance from text while gaining a depth of understanding about professional theatre and production skills.
The Higher Drama course consists of two units – Drama Skills and Production Skills.
Devising from stimulus to create an original piece of work in unit one, pupils collaborate in small groups and take responsibility for writing and directing a section of a play for performance. In unit two pupils can specialise in two production roles from the following, Acting, Lighting Design, Sound Design, Set Design, props design Costume design and Make-up design to contribute to a text based performance. In preparation for the final exam pupils choose a text and two production roles to specialise in for the practical exam.
Advanced Higher Drama
The Advanced Higher Drama course builds on the work done in National 5 and Higher Drama by engaging pupils in enhanced application of Drama and Production Skills, and by allowing students to expand study of their choice of specialism. The course also develops extensive knowledge and understanding of 20th century/contemporary theatre theory and practice and builds students’ academic research skills and theatrical repertoire to facilitate their transition into further study.
The course consists of three units – Drama Skills, Production Skills and finally Performance. In addition there is an externally marked and grade Dissertation (research) project which the students must plan and research independently.
The first two units will focus on enhancing skills developed during National 5 and Higher courses and will require the students to engage in their own independent research of theatre practitioners. Teachers will lead discussion and direction of practical work, but also allow students to use time in class to lead practical workshops and explore their ideas and research further with assistance when needed. As much of the work is self-directed and independent of the classroom environment, students will be required to demonstrate an even more mature approach to learning and initiative. They will require an enquiring, critical and problem-solving approach to their learning and build on their own experience of the Higher course. As well as this they will need to choose their own area of specialism according to their specific interest. They will be using academic research and analysis skills and complete regular written and practical assignments throughout the course.
Regular evaluative discussions will take place between teachers and students on a predominantly informal basis.
