ABSTRACT
In this chapter, McGregor deals with the difficult issue of standards in drama. She asks the questions: ‘Drama for what?’ and ‘Drama for whom?’ In attempting to answer she touches on many of the issues of purposes of drama and evaluation of drama raised in earlier chapters. Like O’Neill, she believes that it is the clusters of knowledge and skills that may be acquired in drama itself which must be evaluated; like Robinson, she is concerned that understanding of and standards in drama may be affected by examinations in drama, though she is more sanguine; and, like Day, she identifies the continuing necessity for teachers of drama to clarify their intentions and practices. The prime importance of this chapter, however, lies in the assertion by the author that criteria for judgments of drama work are governed by prevailing trends and existing knowledge about and attitudes to children and learning. They are, therefore, complex and, by implication, need to be approached with care.
