Unfortunately, the reality for many teenagers is that for the want of a better phrase, school sucks. When I asked my students at various year levels what they expect their drama studies to be this year, I received a wide variety of responses. Junior students talked about wishing to receive more confidence and the need to be creative and use their imagination. Senior students spoke of hard work, homework and after school rehearsals. But the juniors reminded me drama is fun, while perhaps not surprisingly, fun never got a mention in senior drama class this week.

I told one of my classes yesterday that it’s hard enough being a teenager at the best of times, much less being a teenager at school (they didn’t need the reminder!). So if drama class stops being fun, hit me! (not literally, of course). I openly said that learning can and should be fun in all subjects, but if they’re not having fun in drama, then I’m not doing my job properly.

Sometimes we forget that academic rigour and  fun can go hand in hand. Why can’t these two happily coexist? We’ve all seen the serious and stern teachers at our school. They’re the ones who think us drama teachers are just freaks. Guess who is having fun in the classroom? Not them. Guess whose students are more engaged in their learning? Ours, of course.

So, the past few days, the part I have enjoyed most at the start of a new school year is the buzz of excitement in the drama classroom and the beaming smiles on my students faces as they begin their new drama courses. I’m sure many of you have experienced similar. What a privilege this is for us, as teachers. What a responsibility we have to live up to their expectations in drama. We wouldn’t want it any other way, yeah?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NGSU2PM9dA

But while I was there, I tried to discover if the performing arts of any kind are taught in schools on any of the many islands that make up this beautiful country?

Well, the answer is most likely no, but you’ll see below an image of a theatre building for youth. This was effectively a youth centre of sorts, with privately funded training programs for disadvantaged and/or unemployed youth. The workers were proud to show me around the centre and I discovered one of several programs included teenagers rehearsing and performing plays on a simple stage.

I also passed another building (unfortunately closed at the time) for the Vanuatu Amateur Theatrical Society.

So even though acting is not formally taught in the schools of Vanuatu, my travels indicated at least a presence of theatre performances of some kind in the capital Port Vila.

Avila College is a Catholic girls school in Melbourne, situated in Mount Waverley with a student enrolment of 1150.

The job will most likely entail teaching Years 7-10 Drama, with the extra curricular activities of contributing a Drama item or two to a Creative Arts Festival in May and coordinating a Years 7-10 festival of student-written plays in November.

The job is advertised as English/Drama, with the split being about half/half between the disciplines.

See last Saturday’s Age newspaper for advertisement or online details (including online application form) are located on the school website here.

Applications close September 12.

Justin Cash