
NATIONAL DRAMA
The UK’s leading professional subject association for all teachers, educators and theatre practitioners in drama and theatre educational contexts and community settings
National Drama is dedicated to ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to learn about and through drama. Our mission is the development, promotion and support of Drama and Theatre both in the UK and Internationally. We are an open and inclusive organisation – One Forum: Many Voices – and we positively welcome as members all those who are interested in drama and theatre in educational contexts and community settings, whether in the UK or beyond.
The Drama and Theatre Education Curriculum: relevant; representative; inclusive.
The nature of the current educational context, in which we all find ourselves, is not simply the consequence of the Pandemic. It is also the result of a long legacy of reductionist policies that have seen our practice, theory and art marginalised.
ND intends to provide the membership with clear guidance concerning the learning potential of drama and theatre experiences for all children and young people.
There have been few supportive documents in recent years that have enabled teachers, in those schools where the subject is ‘under threat’, to make their case for the subject’s sustainable identity. ND will address this ‘gap’ and provide members with supportive position papers that articulate a coherent rationale for drama as a core subject.
The Executive intend to create a series of draft papers that are relevant to primary, secondary, teacher education, special educational needs and age-appropriate professional theatre experiences. These papers can be used as aids in professional conversations between teachers and curriculum policy-makers.
We celebrate the fact that we have many members who have the insight, experience, expertise and enthusiasm to contribute to our collective vision.
If you would like to be involved in this work, please send expressions of interest to:
chair@nationaldrama.org.uk or executive@nationaldrama.org.uk
This will be an exciting journey that could result in support for everyone who works in drama and theatre education.
Geoff Readman
News
New Blog Post by A. E. Abbott
In this month’s ND Blog, A. E. Abbott talks about the importance of Drama as a core subject, addressing the transformative power of Drama-Based Pedagogy in education. Through the reflections...
Read the latest issue of our Drama magazine
The new issue covers a wealth of feature and articles for drama teachers and theatre educators. ND members should have received your copy in your mailbox now. Subscriptions are available...
National Drama actively supports the continuing excellence of university PGCE Courses
Context for this Statement The re-accreditation of PGCE courses in England poses a threat to the provision of specialist drama teachers. Here is a statement from SCITED – the Standing...
National Drama’s Response to Ofqual’s Provisional Figures for Entries at GCSEs and A Levels 2023
Context for this Statement On 1 Jun 2023 Ofqual released their provisional figures regarding the number of entries for GCSE, AS and A-level qualifications in England. The data reveals a...
ND presenting at the House of Lords
Geoff Readman, Chair of ND, presenting at the House of Lords National Drama was invited to The House of Lords’ enquiry into Secondary Education on 11 May 2023 (Thursday). A...
National Drama’s Response to the Arts in Schools Review
Context for this Statement A New Direction is a review of The Arts in Schools report marking the 40th anniversary of the Gulbenkian Foundation’s first publication. When The Arts in Schools report was...
Music and Drama Expo 2024
Drama Magazine
ISSN 0967-4454
Drama is National Drama’s magazine of professional practice, ISSN 0967-4454. Published twice a year, this hard copy, print publication contains a wealth of features and articles for and by drama teachers and theatre educators in many contexts within the UK and overseas. Content focuses on practical teaching experiences and projects drawn from across educational contexts and includes classroom materials, schemes of work, interviews and reviews of books and other resources.
You can subscribe to Drama magazine and receive hard copies twice yearly, but if you become a full member you can also access Drama Research, our International Journal of Drama in Education, and receive discounts on our CPD events.

Summer 2023 issue
The Case for Disengagement
- Drama Really Matters
- Young Voices
- Seize the Day!
- Áine Lark Drama Inspires Bursary
- The Remembered Earth
- The Body as a Place of Knowing
- Dramatic Recovery
- Original Drama in an Adolescent Mental Health Setting
- Using TiE to Explore Themes of Migration and Heritage
- Staging Brecht

International Journal of Drama in Education
ISSN 2040-2228
An innovative international refereed e journal that provides a forum for practitioners and researchers across the spectrum of drama in educational settings. We encourage, gather and publish research-based articles from established and new writers to promote knowledge, understanding and dialogue about drama in learning contexts.
By subscribing to Drama Research you will have immediate access to the current issue, and after the first year you will be able to access the entire archive. However if you join National Drama as a full member you will have immediate access to the latest issue and the entire archive, as well as free copies of Drama Magazine and discounts on CPD events.
Vol 14. No.1: April 2023
Welcome to the fourteenth issue of Drama Research! This is the second issue in our new format, and it has a truly international dynamic, featuring articles from Colombia, Greece, Norway and the USA as well as the UK.
One thing that all these countries have in common through recent experience is, of course, the global pandemic, and two of the research projects featured in this issue were conducted through this period of threat and social disruption.
Articles:
- Exploring National Identity through Drama in Education
- From a Theatrical Play to the Play of Life
- Intimacy Direction Best Practices for School Theatre
- Reflections on ‘living through’ and ‘distancing’: a critical essay related to Heathcote’s and Brecht’s poetics
- Speech Bubbles and the Teaching Assistant: investigating the impact of a drama intervention on school support staff.