ABSTRACT
Drama's potential contribution to learning and to the life of schools is diverse and enriching. It is a means of enhancing learning in a range of curriculum subjects and areas. Drama is a prominent feature of a school's extra-curricular cultural life. Educational drama has a long theoretical history. During the second half of the twentieth century, expert thinkers extended our understanding of drama as a mode of learning and showed how this understanding can bear fruit in effective classroom work. Numerous worthwhile efforts have been made since 1989 to deal with the problem of drama's Cinderella status in the National Curriculum. Drama is included as a discrete subject and as a strand in the Arts in the National Curricula of a growing number of other national education systems. Learning through drama and learning about drama are equally valid approaches. There will be occasions when the one or the other approach predominates. There will be occasions when both are in play.
