English and Drama: The Perimeters and Parameters

Any cursory and objective appraisal of the concerns of teachers of English, and teachers of drama, will immediately reveal shared aims and shared content. When canvassed, English teachers define their subject as one which encourages and develops communication skills, self-expression, imagination and creativity 1 . These are the key terms which surface time and time again in the declared aims of practising teachers. When similarly confronted, teachers of drama reveal similar concerns,’”developing the child’s powers of self-expression,” “developing self-awareness, self-confidence, encouraging sensitivity and powers of imagination”’ 2 . So far so good, but these shared concerns are rather vague, insubstantial beings stated thus naively, for they scarcely hint at the sometimes contentious debate as to the true nature of each subject. Any inquiry into the perimeters and parameters of English, and drama, must thus back-track in order to discover the means whereby such self-expression, imagination and creativity may be revealed in each, in turn.