Theatre Arts Technology in the Scottish Primary Drama Classroom: The Sum of Unequal P‘arts’

While the Expressive Arts curriculum aims for a holistic approach to drama, the weight given to its individual components is skewed. Since the implementation of the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) this research is the first to focus on primary teachers’ perspectives on theatre arts technology (lighting, set, sound, props, make-up and hair, and costume), as both a pedagogic tool and component of performance. Exploring the unequal p‘arts’ of the drama curriculum, the study identifies a significant curricular imbalance: the single mention of theatre arts technology in the primary level drama descriptors stands in direct contrast to the nine collective mentions of performance-based skills (voice, movement, and role play). Drawing from a larger mixed-methods study the research surveyed 83 teachers across diverse primary demographics using a 32-item questionnaire which was analysed via descriptive statistics and inductive content analysis.