Drama
Drama as an academic discipline has been a remarkable success story in the UK Higher Education sector. When the first Drama provision was established at Bristol University back in 1947, there was some discussion over whether the subject should be included within the sciences or the arts. The concept of the laboratory has underpinned the academic development of the discipline over the past sixty years, with the studio operating as the primary locus for the generation and dissemination of knowledge through a vital combination of critical reflection and practical analysis.
University courses now offer an extensive and varied range of courses in drama, theatre and performance studies. Some include recorded media (film, television and digital performance) while others specialise in aspects of practice (devising, musical theatre, scenography, for example). Some courses take a historical perspective while others focus on contemporary material, with many programmes now shifting their emphasis from the traditional study of plays and dramatic texts to the broader study of performance as a social and cultural phenomenon.
The Standing Conference of University Drama Departments (SCUDD) currently has seventy-two member departments [i], and PALATINE has identified no fewer than 181 institutions offering HE courses in Drama and Theatre in the UK [ii]. The number of undergraduates studying Drama has doubled between 2000/01 and 2005/06, when the total student population in Drama reached almost 20,000 [iii], with a further 1760 students registered for taught postgraduate courses in the subject area. There is no doubt that the subject is flourishing more than ever before, although it is equally clear that the rapid expansion in student numbers in the subject has placed serious pressure on resources.
Historically the sector consisted of two significant and distinct groupings: alongside academic provision in universities, drama schools traditionally offered vocational training for actors and occasionally directors, stage managers and other theatre professionals. Nowadays the organisation of provision across the sector is more complex and diverse. Although it is still true that most university courses offer a research-led learning experience, which aims to integrate theory and practice, while most drama schools prioritise the development of professional skills, infrastructural changes in the sector have meant that most of the major drama schools now offer BA programmes validated by universities, while many university departments are offering vocationally oriented programmes. With so much to choose from, potential candidates are best advised to do some careful research about what’s available before making an application. The Conference of Drama Schools comprises 22 institutions (there are many more who are not members) and produces a joint prospectus [iv]. Some drama school courses are eligible for state funding while others remain independent and charge fees at their own rates; some operate through the UCAS system whereas others operate an independent admissions process.
At postgraduate level there is a wide range of taught Masters programmes on offer [v], and the generalist MA in Theatre Studies has been replaced in many instances with more specialist provision, as the pool of graduates qualified with a degree in Drama or Theatre has expanded. The growth in the subject continues right through to doctoral level. According to the 2005 report of the AHRB working group on doctoral research in the arts and humanities,
There has been a steep rise in the number of UK doctoral researchers in the arts and humanities in the last ten years. HESA statistics indicate an aggregate increase of 118% in completed doctorates in the broad subject domain between 1994 and 2004, with individual subject increases ranging from 62% to 242%. […]
The increase in demand has been strongest in the area of the creative and performing arts. This compares with an increase of 88% in the total number of completed doctorates in the UK for all disciplines. [vi]
It is at the level of doctoral research that one of the most important debates has been developed, with implications for research and pedagogy in the subject at all levels. The integration of theory and practice has been axiomatic within drama research and pedagogy in the UK since its inception, and has been further realised over the past decade or so in the development of practice-as-research (PaR) and the widespread introduction of practice-based doctorates in this and other creative arts disciplines. Useful pedagogic debates have opened up around the notion of creativity and its assessment in an educational context, and more philosophical considerations around the status of writing as the traditional site of academic knowledge. Innovative research projects are integrated into undergraduate programmes, and often involve interdisciplinary paradigms and cutting-edge technologies. The traditional dissertation has now been replaced or complemented in many degree programmes with an independent research-led practical project.
The discipline has had to develop expertise in tackling a range of pedagogic challenges, for example, the assessment of groupwork, disability issues in practical work, health and safety, collaborative and work-based learning. Experiential learning and reflective practice are common features of courses in drama, alongside more traditional academic modes of learning such as historical and critical analysis of primary and secondary texts and performance. As well as specialist and professional skills, generic skills such as time and project management and communication skills are core throughout the subject [vii], and perhaps account for the great success of drama graduates in terms of employability across a wide range of careers. One study, for example, recorded 70.7% of drama graduates from 2002 surveyed as entering employment, well above the average for all first degree subjects of 66.9% and in the top ten subjects for employability [viii].
Of the 74 Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning that were approved by HEFCE in 2005, no fewer than six involve drama, theatre and performance. Creative Arts and Design collectively was the subject area with the highest presence within the whole CETL scheme [ix].
With the recent proliferation of drama courses at all levels in the sector, academics entering the profession today are usually qualified with first and higher degrees in the subject itself, often as well as experience of professional practice. In terms of learning and teaching, the subject has come of age.
[i] See www.scudd.org.uk/
[ii] www.palatine.ac.uk/about/he_drama/
[iii] Source: The Higher Education Statistics Agency [online]. Undergraduate population sorted by JACS code W4 (Drama) in 2005/06 totalled 18035, compared to 12035 in 2000/01.
[iv] See www.drama.ac.uk/
[v] For listing of institutions offering MA programmes in the discipline, see www.scudd.org.uk/
[vi] Available online at www.ahrc.ac.uk/
[vii] See www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/honours/dance.pdf
[viii] See What Do Graduates Do? Available online.