ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an apparently radical view of drama per se and its function in the curriculum of the school. It is, Watkins argues, explicitly concerned with celebrating and challenging social values, and so promoting social change which, the author believes, is necessary to the health of the community. Watkins suggests that authority in the drama lesson must be vested in the individual pupil, that drama should be both provocative and child-centred. He claims that drama represents ‘a truly democratic model’ of learning which is consensual. The chapter thus raises issues of teacher and student role. Watkins criticizes teacher-directed drama work, extols the virtues of ‘contract’ drama, and finally offers a set of criteria to assist teachers in their decision-making as the drama progresses. So far, then we have identified the third major issue for drama teachers. Robinson’s chapter was presented as a critical overview of the status of drama in relation to the broad social context; O’Neill argued for drama itself as a unique mode of learning; and Watkins claims that the prime function of drama is to promote social change. He brings the reader to the door of the classroom in asserting that the relationships between teacher and pupils and attitudes to knowledge and control must inevitably be different from those which exist in the normal curriculum of a school.
