ABSTRACT
Ask a group of primary school teachers or student teachers what the word drama suggests to them and you are likely to receive a mixture of responses. Many will reply with words such as role-play, improvisation, speaking and listening, imagination, creativity, self-expression. Some – but only some – will mention performance, acting, plays. A few will mention the word fun, but a substantial minority will reply with words such as embarrassment, fear or even terror. With a little prodding, these anxieties can be seen to relate either to their experiences as children at the hands of insensitive teachers or to their current anxieties as actual or potential teachers of drama. They often centre around issues of control and around the worry that teachers sometimes have that they lack the extrovert qualities and personal dynamism they feel that drama demands. They can also reflect a deeper misgiving, a vagueness as to what drama in the primary school is actually supposed to be about and what its inclusion in the curriculum entails.
