Australian Curriculum: Drama
This section provides direct access to the complete Australian Curriculum: Drama.
Understand how Drama works
Rationale
This rationale complements and extends the rationale for The Arts learning area.
Drama is the expression and exploration of personal, cultural and social worlds through role and situation that engages, entertains and challenges.
Aims
In addition to the overarching aims of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts, drama knowledge, understanding and skills ensure that, individually and collaboratively, students develop:
- confidence and self-esteem to explore, depict and celebrate human experience, take risks and challenge their own creativity through drama
Structure
Learning in Drama involves students making, performing, analysing and responding to drama, drawing on human experience as a source of ideas. Students engage with the knowledge of drama, develop skills, techniques and processes, and use materials as they explore a range of forms, styles and contexts.
Example of knowledge and skills
Filters
Year levels:
Curriculum elements
Foundation to Year 2
Foundation to Year 2 Band Description
In Foundation to Year 2, learning in The Arts builds on the Early Years Learning Framework. Students are engaged through purposeful and creative play in structured activities, fostering a strong sense of wellbeing and developing their connection with and contribution to the world.
In the Foundation Year, students undertake The Arts appropriate for their level of development.
They explore the arts and learn how artworks can represent the world and that they can make artworks to represent their ideas about the world. They share their artworks with peers and experience being an audience to respond to others' art making.
As they experience the arts, students draw on artworks from a range of cultures, times and locations. They explore the arts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and of the Asia region and learn that they are used for different purposes. While the arts in the local community should be the initial focus for learning, students are also aware of and interested in the arts from more distant locations and the curriculum provides opportunities to build on this curiosity.
As they make and respond to artworks, students explore meaning and interpretation, forms and processes, and social and cultural contexts of the arts. They make early evaluations of artworks expressing what they like and why.
Students learn about safe practices in the arts through making and responding safely in the different arts subjects.
They experience the role of artist and they respond to feedback in their art making. As an audience, they learn to focus their attention on artworks presented and to respond to artworks appropriately. In Foundation to Year 2, students learn to be an audience for different arts experiences within the classroom.
In Drama, students:
- become aware of role and situation as they listen and respond as fictional characters
- explore voice and movement to create role
- learn about focus and identifying the main idea of the drama
- learn how their ideas can be expressed through role and story.
Foundation to Year 2 Content Descriptions
Content Descriptions
Foundation to Year 2 Achievement Standards
Learning Area Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 2, students describe artworks they make and those to which they respond. They consider where and why people make artworks.
Students use the elements and processes of arts subjects to make and share artworks that represent ideas.
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 2, students describe what happens in drama they make, perform and view. They identify some elements in drama and describe where and why there is drama.
Students make and present drama using the elements of role, situation and focus in dramatic play and improvisation.
Foundation to Year 2 Work Sample Portfolios
Years 3 and 4
Years 3 and 4 Band Description
In Years 3 and 4, learning in The Arts builds on the experience of the previous band. It involves students making and responding to artworks independently and collaboratively with their classmates and teachers.
As they experience The Arts, students draw on artworks from a range of cultures, times and locations. They explore the arts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and of the Asia region and learn that they are used for different purposes. While the arts in the local community should be the initial focus for learning, students are also aware of and interested in the arts from more distant locations and the curriculum provides opportunities to build on this curiosity.
As they make and respond to artworks, students explore meaning and interpretation, elements and forms, and social and cultural contexts of the arts. They make personal evaluations of their own and others' artworks, making connections between their own artistic intentions and those of other artists.
Students continue to learn about safe practices in the arts and in their interactions with other artists. Their understanding of the role of the artist and the audience builds on their experience from the previous band. As an audience, students focus their attention on the artwork and respond to it. They consider why and how audiences respond to artworks.
In Years 3 and 4, students' awareness of themselves and others as audiences is extended beyond the classroom to the broader school context.
In Drama, students:
- extend their understanding of role and situation as they offer, accept and extend their ideas in improvisation
- vary voice and movement to create role when devising drama
- learn about focus, tension, space and time in their own and others' drama
- explore meaning and interpretation, forms and elements including voice, movement, situation, time and place, and tension as they make and respond to drama
- use language and ideas to shape dramatic action
- use story structures to shape drama for audiences.
Years 3 and 4 Content Descriptions
Content Descriptions
Years 3 and 4 Achievement Standards
Learning Area Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 4, students describe and discuss similarities and differences between artworks they make and those to which they respond. They discuss how they and others organise the elements and processes in artworks.
Students collaborate to plan and make artworks that communicate ideas.
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 4, students describe and discuss similarities and differences between drama they make, perform and view. They discuss how they and others organise the elements of drama in their drama.
Students use relationships, tension, time and place and narrative structure when improvising and performing devised and scripted drama. They collaborate to plan, make and perform drama that communicates ideas.
Years 3 and 4 Work Sample Portfolios
Years 5 and 6
Years 5 and 6 Band Description
In Years 5 and 6, students draw on artworks from a range of cultures, times and locations. They explore the arts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and of the Asia region and learn that they are used for different purposes. While the arts in the local community should be the initial focus for learning, students are also aware of and interested in the arts from more distant locations and the curriculum provides opportunities to build on this curiosity.
As they make and respond to the arts, students explore meaning and interpretation, and social and cultural contexts of the arts. They evaluate the use of forms and elements in artworks they make and observe.
Students extend their understanding of safety in the arts. In Years 5 and 6, their understanding of the roles of artists and audiences builds on previous bands. They develop their understanding and use of performance or technical skills to communicate intention for different audiences. They identify a variety of audiences for different arts experiences as they engage with more diverse artworks as artists and audiences.
In Drama, students:
- develop understanding of character through voice and movement and extend their understanding and use of situation, focus, tension, space and time
- extend their understanding and use language and ideas to create dramatic action and consider mood and atmosphere in performance
- use conventions of story and other devices such as dramatic symbol to communicate meaning and shape and sustain drama for audiences
- explore meaning and interpretation, forms and elements including voice, movement, situation, space and time, and tension as they make and respond to drama.
Years 5 and 6 Content Descriptions
Content Descriptions
Years 5 and 6 Achievement Standards
Learning Area Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 6, students explain how ideas are communicated in artworks they make and to which they respond. They describe characteristics of artworks from different social, historical and cultural contexts that influence their art making.
Students structure elements and processes of arts subjects to make artworks that communicate meaning. They work collaboratively to share artworks for audiences, demonstrating skills and techniques.
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 6, students explain how dramatic action and meaning is communicated in drama they make, perform and view. They explain how drama from different cultures, times and places influences their own drama making.
Students work collaboratively as they use the elements of drama to shape character, voice and movement in improvisation, playbuilding and performances of devised and scripted drama for audiences.
Years 5 and 6 Work Sample Portfolios
Years 7 and 8
Years 7 and 8 Band Description
In Drama, students:
- build on their understanding of role, character and relationships
- use voice and movement to sustain character and situation
- use focus, tension, space and time to enhance drama
- incorporate language and ideas and use devices such as dramatic symbol to create dramatic action and extend mood and atmosphere in performance
- shape drama for audiences using narrative and non-narrative dramatic forms and production elements
- draw on drama from a range of cultures, times and locations as they experience drama
- explore the drama and influences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and those of the Asia region
- learn that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have converted oral records to other technologies
- learn that over time there has been further development of different traditional and contemporary styles of drama, including contemporary styles developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dramatists, as they explore drama forms
- explore meaning and interpretation, forms and elements including voice, movement, situation, space and time, and tension as they make and respond to drama
- consider social, cultural and historical influences of drama
- evaluate the directors' intentions and expressive skills used by actors in drama they view and perform
- maintain safety in dramatic play and in interaction with other actors
- build on their understanding from previous bands of the roles of artists and audiences as they engage with more diverse performances.
Years 7 and 8 Content Descriptions
Content Descriptions
Years 7 and 8 Achievement Standards
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 8, students identify and analyse how the elements of drama are used, combined and manipulated in different styles. They apply this knowledge in drama they make and perform. They evaluate how they and others from different cultures, times and places communicate meaning and intent through drama.
Students collaborate to devise, interpret and perform drama. They manipulate the elements of drama, narrative and structure to control and communicate meaning. They apply different performance styles and conventions to convey status, relationships and intentions. They use performance skills and design elements to shape and focus theatrical effect for an audience.
Years 7 and 8 Work Sample Portfolios
Years 9 and 10
Years 9 and 10 Band Description
In Drama, students:
- refine and extend their understanding and use of role, character, relationships and situation
- extend the use of voice and movement to sustain belief in character
- maintain focus and manipulate space and time, language, ideas and dramatic action
- experiment with mood and atmosphere, use devices such as contrast, juxtaposition and dramatic symbol and modify production elements to suit different audiences
- draw on drama from a range of cultures, times and locations as they experience drama
- explore the drama and influences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and those of the Asia region
- learn that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have converted oral records to other technologies
- learn that over time there has been further development of different traditional and contemporary styles of drama and that dramatists can be identified through the style of their work, as they explore drama forms
- explore meaning and interpretation, forms and elements, and social, cultural and historical influences of drama as they make and respond to drama
- evaluate actors' success in expressing the directors' intentions and the use of expressive skills in drama they view and perform
- maintain safety in drama and in interaction with other actors
- build on their understanding from previous bands of the roles of artists and audiences as they engage with more diverse performances.
Years 9 and 10 Content Descriptions
Content Descriptions
Years 9 and 10 Achievement Standards
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 10, students analyse the elements of drama, forms and performance styles and evaluate meaning and aesthetic effect in drama they devise, interpret, perform and view. They use their experiences of drama practices from different cultures, places and times to evaluate drama from different viewpoints.
Students develop and sustain different roles and characters for given circumstances and intentions. They perform devised and scripted drama in different forms, styles and performance spaces. They collaborate with others to plan, direct, produce, rehearse and refine performances. They select and use the elements of drama, narrative and structure in directing and acting to engage audiences. They refine performance and expressive skills in voice and movement to convey dramatic action.
Years 9 and 10 Work Sample Portfolios
Last updated 8 August 2019
Australian Curriculum Version 8.4 in Queensland
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