The shape paper for the Arts covers all five arts disciplines:

• dance
• drama
• media arts
• music
• visual arts

This final version of the shape paper will be used to write the actual arts curriculum for Australian schools. Some notable changes include:

• K has been replaced with ‘F’ for Foundation (year)
• the strands of generating, realizing and responding have been replaced with making and responding
• under the previous strand of generating, the terms apprehending and comprehending have now gone
• the clunky table in the draft version no longer exists
• the large band definitions for all arts disciplines as 3-8 have now been altered to accurately reflect teaching and learning models, and are now defined in bands of 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8
• ambiguous and/or contentious terminology appears to have been largely eradicated
• the 20-definition glossary has been replaced with a broader, slimmed down 5-definition glossary

The final shape paper for the Arts is now more logical, less complicated and significantly more user-friendly. The shape paper in my opinion has been strengthened and on the whole uses terminology and concepts drama educators should readily understand. These changes are particularly crucial for non-specialist teachers of drama across the country who will be teaching a curriculum that may not be native to them or one in which they have little or no formal training.

Of course, there will still be issues and questions to be raised with the final Arts shape paper. Even though formal consultation for change no longer exists and the process of writing the Arts curriculum will soon be in process, debate is still healthy and should merely affirm the fact that we will have a robust curriculum.

Shape paper document below. Comments welcome.

Shape of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts

Draft timeline for the development of the Arts curriculum

Developed by Arts Victoria, the Victorian Government’s arts funding and policy body, Theatre Alive was established to fill a need in the market where lovers of independent theatre in and around Melbourne could find information on shows and upcoming attractions.

Most impressive on Theatre Alive’s website is a directory listing of nearly 200 independent theatre companies and artists. Each company is alphabetically sorted with an image and brief description about who they are, accompanied by relevant contact details. In case you thought that was impressive, how about another directory listing of 40 Melbourne venues for independent theatre, as well.

Most importantly, Theatre Alive’s main website section covers current and upcoming independent theatre shows in Melbourne, including necessary booking details. The average theatre goer can also publish their own review or check out links to independent theatre reviews in Melbourne’s daily press. There are also areas for news and employment, casting, training and professional development opportunities in the scene.

If you’re an independent theatre artist or company in Melbourne, your listing is free on the Theatre Alive website. As for drama and theatre teachers, whether you take the students or just visit independent theatre without them, Theatre Alive is a fantastic resource for you.

I realise many readers of The Drama Teacher may not necessarily agree with my views, but listen below for an interview I did in the last few days with Sydney radio station 2SER on this issue, as part of The Fourth Estate, a national media and communications program.

I really wanted to stress the point in this interview that due to the nature of contemporary theatre, it is becoming increasingly complex for drama teachers to book a suitable theatre show for our students in advance. But unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity.

The Fourth Estate Episode 11 April 29 – May 2 (mp3, 27.3mb)

(Relevant section starts at 15:10)

Readers of The Drama Teacher may be aware I first posted on this topic over a year ago in response to some of my senior drama students asking me “why aren’t theatre shows given ratings like films and DVDs?”. Not so long ago, video games were classification-free, but changing times and increased violence in this medium (Grand Theft Auto etc) called for new action. In Australia today, video games are given four of the six possible ratings: G, PG, M (all advisory) and MA15+ Restricted, but not R18+ Restricted or X18+ Restricted. Although it should be noted the introduction of the R18+ Restricted rating for video games is currently under consideration by the Attorney-General’s Department.

Similarly, the nature of contemporary theatre in this country is also shifting. Although this website deals mainly with theatre, in this instance one would have to consider dance and opera, also. A recent example is the current Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company co-production of Brecht’s early play Baal that contains male nudity, female nudity, cross-dressing, alcoholism, men kissing men, women kissing women, simulated sex, attempted rape, violence and murder on stage.

Theatre companies are finally getting up to speed and using their websites to give patrons advance warning of content such as adult themes and nudity. Last year I applauded the Melbourne Theatre Company for posting a parent’s guide to the appropriateness of plays in their mainstage season. But yesterday I read on the Sydney Theatre Company website that a pre-production session for high school students for Baal is included in their education program, just prior to the play’s opening with the STC in early May. High school students shouldn’t be let anywhere near the themes or content of a play such as Baal and certainly not this current production. The STC itself warns the play is not suitable for people under 18 years of age on another section of their website, yet they include it in their education program for students! Go figure?! Granted, while the discussion session in question may not include an actual performance of the play, how will they avoid some of the play’s themes and visual elements such as heavy violence against women, attempted rape, onstage murder and some fairly “full-on” nudity by all nine cast members?

So now we come to drama teachers and their involvement in this increasingly tricky issue. It is our responsibility as educators taking students to the theatre to seek out whether the work is appropriate in advance. Not as easy as it seems when you are normally enquiring with the theatre company weeks (sometimes months) ahead of its first performance, the education officer understandably may not know all the answers to your questions about nudity on stage or profanities etc, it is often the first performance of a new work so there is little or no background to research or script to read before booking, and then there’s the challenge of matching all this up with your school’s internal policies regarding suitability of content on student excursions. To be frank, this process can be an absolute nightmare and as many of you reading this post know, we are the very people receiving the phone calls at school the following morning from angry parents whose son or daughter experienced unsuitable material in a school-approved excursion to the theatre.

Wouldn’t it be a lot easier for everyone concerned if the play you wanted to see had the PG or MA15+ rating on the theatre company’s promotional material and website? The Australian Classification Board‘s symbols and their interpretations are well known across Australia and generally understood. The problem in this case, however, will be the difficulty of approving a live event and the time frames involved with its production. How will a play get a classification rating before opening night when one would assume its final version would need to be seen first in order to be classified? Then there’s the fact that you can’t take the play to the Australian Classification Board, unless they accept a taped DVD version, which is always a possibility.

If we can’t get a solution for live theatre like the Australian Classification Board’s rating classifications, then at least we must be able to get a greater consistency among professional theatre companies in different states. Even an increased awareness by theatre companies, large and small, for a mandatory publication of descriptors regarding suitability of content, would be helpful.

This issue is now gathering momentum in the press. Today in Melbourne’s The Age newspaper, Elissa Blake examines this topic, saying

recently these (hazards) have expanded to include all manner of potentially objectionable content as a new generation of theatre makers push the boundaries (The Age, 22 April, 2011. Lifestyle p.18.)

Right now, I know some of you out there think I’m crazy. My example of Baal, above, is just one of many theatre works in recent months I could list in this post that would prove my case for the need for rating classifications in Australian professional theatre. Another example is the Melbourne Theatre Company’s current production of Sarah Ruhl’s In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play).

Is contemporary theatre-making in Australia pushing the envelope of suitability and acceptability too much? Or are audiences so used to it now the case is mute, because we are becoming desensitised to it all? Should professional theatre companies across Australia meet to create their own agreed code of conduct for content appropriateness and then publish it? Or should theatre join the big boys and have the same rating classifications already used in other mediums by the Australian Classifications Board?

I encourage readers of The Drama Teacher to comment below with your own thoughts on this issue.

The Arts Council of England, the body that distributes funding to a wide variety of artists and arts projects, has already received a 21% cut in funding, but the government is demanding another 50% cut within the ACE over coming months.

The arts are a universal language, reminding us that the factors that unite us are huge, wonderful and exciting, and that what divides us is small and mean. In the arts, Britain is still a superpower. The whole world flocks to visit the Tate, the National Theatre or the Sage. This government should realise what it has got and stop bashing culture.

The Guardian

Arts Cuts Are Like Ripping Up The Magna Carta

Don’t Let The Arts Council Suffer Death By A Thousand Cuts

Effectively published as a “working document”, ministers voted to allow ACARA to further improve the achievement standards of Phase 1 studies in 2011, validating these by October next year. Phase 1 studies include English, Mathematics, Science and History. The implementation of this curriculum in Years F-10 (F is for Foundation <year> and replaces the old K) will be state-based decisions across the country, likely rolling out between 2012 and 2014.

The new national curriculum marks a milestone in Australian education. One of the few developed western countries in the world without a national curriculum, Australia has opted to implement a unique version that is approved by each state, as opposed to being nationally mandated. Assessment of students studying the national curriculum will not be nationally controlled, either, but left up to individual states. The end result? One that may well be more democratic, but in the process is time-consuming, complex and diverse.

Federal Education Minister, Peter Garrett, turned on the spin for the media today, claiming a victory for all. While it was definitely a win that all education ministers approved the documents, the fact that Phase 1 implementation will be rolled out at different times across the country instead of at the beginning of 2012 seems a bit of a farce, and the curriculum being published today as a work in progress, isn’t any better, either.

Australian Curriculum Phase 1 (English, Mathematics, Science, History)

In attendance were about 100 educators representing all five of the published art forms for The Arts curriculum: Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and the Visual Arts, covering government, Catholic and independent schools, primary and secondary. Other interested parties included Visual Communication and Design teachers and arts industry educators.

It is important to note the Draft Shape Paper for The Arts is not a curriculum document, but rather a paper of which the final version will inform the actual writers of The Arts studies in the upcoming Australian Curriculum. You may wish to download (pdf) the document before reading on.

For interested arts educators, particularly Drama/Theatre teachers anywhere in Australia, below are my notes from the consultation forum.

In attendance:

- David Howes, General Manager, Curriculum, VCAA

- Helen Champion, Curriculum Manager, Performing Arts, VCAA

- Michele Davies, Curriculum Manager, Visual Arts, VCAA

Introduction – David Howes, General Manager, Curriculum, VCAA

General

•   Thursday 2 December – new Victorian Education Minister will be announced (now sworn in – Martin Dixon) who needs to accept (or not accept) new AC Phase 1 subjects

•   Phase 1 achievement standards need more work in 2011

•   They will be subject to some validation next year

•   State Education Ministers will vote on Wednesday 8 December in Canberra on the validation of Phase 1 achievement standards during 2011

•   VELS will be renewed, reviewed and revised as new AC subjects come on board

•   There will be a single web portal for all Victorian schools to find a single curriculum for each study/subject

•   Phase 1 subject trials will now most likely be occurring in 2012 and implementation of these subjects pushed out from 2012 to 2013 – this will be decided upon at the meeting on Wednesday 8 December in Canberra

•   If this becomes the case, the VCAA will issue a memorandum to all Victorian schools as soon as possible

•   Senior Victorian studies will not occur until at least 2014, possibly 2015

•   State Education Ministers will decide in 2011 whether we want an Australia-wide senior certificate in education?

•   No guarantee anything beyond Phase 1 subjects will extend to senior levels across Australia

•   First year of education (Prep in Victoria, Transition and other names in various states) will now be F for Foundation (foundation year) across the country, not K

•   Therefore, AC curriculum will be F–12.

•   Victoria will not mandate timelines of AC subjects in schools

•   ACARA also are making it increasingly clear there will be no national mandating of time allocation for various subjects

•   Individual schools will still have the autonomy to allocate times per subject in their schools

The Arts

•   Draft Shape Paper for The Arts is an agreement of concepts

•   AC Arts curriculum will not be written until late 2011 or early 2012, with trialing in 2012/13

•   The importance of The Arts curriculum content and the entitlement of all Australian students to study the arts is important to promote to Principals for time allocation in schools

•   Should Visual Communication and Design become a 6th art form in The AC Arts curriculum?

•   (This was also raised at the first Arts consultation forum on 11 November)

•   The Arts Draft Shape Paper content for all art forms is divided into K-2 and 3-8, yet it states the final curriculum will be divided into bands K–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8. Which is it?

•   Howes acknowledged this inconsistency, as The Arts Draft Shape Paper does not fully reflect all curriculum bands as they will be taught

•   Howes confirmed skills and content for The Arts will be in divisions K–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8.

General Criticism of The Arts Draft Shape Paper (Multi-Disciplined Focus Group)

•   a disconnectedness between different sections of the paper

•   language inconsistencies

•   obscure terminology used instead of plain language

•   Visual Communication and Design is not represented as a 6th art form in the AC Arts curriculum

•   “generalist” and “specialist” teachers of the arts are labeled in the document – fear this may alienate certain arts teachers – better to state the curriculum will cater for teachers who possess a range of skills

•   is there a need in F–2 to state and acknowledge the five art forms, but instead focus on skills such as exploring, creating imagining etc.?

•   lack of detail in the document about students with different learning styles studying the arts

•   no focus on the multiple levels of thinking needed for practicing artists

•   no mention of links between the arts and health and well being

•   general criticism of the letter “z” in the term “realizing” both throughout the Draft Shape Paper and in the glossary

•   in the glossary, the change of letter from “s” to “z” changes the word’s definition, which was news to everyone present, who believed the context of the word’s use determines its definition, not the change from the international spelling (s) to American spelling (z) of the word

Drama Specific Criticism of The Arts Draft Shape Paper (Drama Focus Group)

•   is the term “process drama” an issue? – will all Drama teachers know how to teach it?

•   the term “applied theatre” in the document should be deleted. What does it mean? No definition offered. Will teachers be familiar with it?

•   confusing and inconsistent uses of the terms “drama” and “theatre” – definitions needs to be in the glossary and these terms need to be used consistently throughout the document

•   general feeling the Draft Shape Paper uses too much complex terminology, which will alienate graduate and non-specialist arts teachers

•   more plain language needs to be used

•   latter sections of the Draft Shape Paper, in particular, read more like a cross between a Masters thesis and a policy document for a political party

•   general dislike of the term “apprehending” (and to a lesser extent “comprehending”) as part of the “responding” strand

•   if the ACARA definition in the glossary defines “apprehending” as “experiencing” and “comprehending” as “understanding”, then why not simply use the terms “experiencing” and “understanding”?

•   heading for 4.7 “Arts and cross curricular priorities” is misleading as this section deals more with the arts’ connections with how students become good citizens than the arts’ connections with other curricular and disciplines in schools

•   the terms “generating” and “realizing” (strands) are confusing and used inconsistently throughout the document – is “generating” the process and “realizing” the product?

•   The above is implied in these terms’ definitions, but the paper implies otherwise elsewhere

•   the table in the draft shape paper states that in Drama rehearsing and performing are both part of “generating”

•   Drama teachers present at the consultation forum believed rehearsing is part of generating and performing is part of realizing

•   When does “generating” the art form end and “realizing” the art form begin?

•   the table itself is confusing and looks like it was a rushed inclusion in the draft Shape Paper at the last minute (??)

•   It didn’t appear anyone at the consultation forum approved of the table in the Draft Shape Paper, at least not in its current form

•   the question was raised as to who exactly is this document satisfying? – teachers? parents? students? politicians?

Finally, Gill noted, we now have an opportunity for all Australian school children to be taught all five art forms, mandated in the Australian Curriculum. One would think that would be a no brainer for an even share of the pie, yes? No! The visual arts community is apparently asking for 50% of the air time just for their discipline, with the remaining 50% to be shared among the other four art forms. Crazy, yes it is. As much as I love and respect them, there’s no way the visual arts teachers in my school are getting 50% of the arts teaching, while I hack around with the left-overs from their dinner plate teaching Drama.

The sooner we accept all art forms as equal, the better this new curriculum will be for us all. Methinks the rumblings are coming from the same visual arts consortium in New South Wales that had an hysterical response to the recent Draft Shape Paper for The Arts, instead of a considered critical response like the rest of the arts education community across Australia.

Traditionally celebrated across the world on 5th October each year, World Teachers’ Day commemorates the signing in 1996 of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers.

But in Australia (where The Drama Teacher originates), 5th October usually falls during school vacation. Instead, Australian teachers celebrate World Teachers’ Day on the last Friday in October each year.

World Teachers’ Day in 2010 celebrates teachers acorss the world who have been directly or indirectly affected by a major crisis.

This is the day, as Drama/Theatre teachers reading this blog, we should remember those teachers of ours who inspired us in our own education. At the same time, today is a day where we should also pat ourselves on the back for the work we do in this most valuable of professions.

Every World Teachers’ Day, I always spare a moment  to recall my most influential teacher at high school. My Drama teacher at school believed in me and my ability in the performing arts. He always encouraged me in my work and pushed me to do better. While other teachers often gave up on me for being the class clown, in Drama class I found a home where I belonged, thanks to my teacher. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he was truly inspirational and sadly passed away in his forties. Often, in the middle of a Drama lesson of my own, I think of how my teaching practice today is modeled on my high school Drama teacher. As the 2010 World Teachers’ Day poster (above) says “My Teacher. My Hero”, he surely was. I will never forget him.

Stupid me left a thank you card from a student in a public place at school, which my “colleague” in question discovered, colour photocopied to an inch of the likeness of the original, and then proceeded to create his own version of the card. OK, you’d think I’d learn after last week leaving a past Yr 12 Drama exam in the photocopier! Of course, he “accidentally” replaced the new card for the old and left it in the staff lounge for all to see. Here’s what it said:

Dear Cashy,

Thanks for teaching me everything about Drama and stuff. I’m really confadent now, and my spelling is unreall. Last week, I was such a good tree, that a dog came up and peed on me. Thanks for teaching me that drama can lead to really great careers, like drama teaching. I’m hoping to get into uni and study drama there, specialising in comedy (coz we didn’t cover that yet) and being the best rock I can be.

Love your Yr 12 class.

I need to seek revenge on my colleague. I’m thinking along the lines of “So You Think You Can Teach”….. or similar. Suggestions welcome!

(BTW, the “bully” in question teaches Religious Education, would you believe it!).