Exploring, Sharing, Connecting and Affecting

As a new Secondary school teacher of Drama, I created The Sequential Learning Model in September of 2014. It was a Drama curriculum that introduced key stage 3 students to the study of Drama; the model was a reaction to the disappointing GCSE results our centre received in 2013, which I felt this was partly due to an ineffective key stage 3 Drama Curriculum that was created long before I joined the school.

Whilst the Sequential Learning Model went some way to promote consistency and cohesion in my department, and contributed to the rapid increase in the GCSE results: 97% A*-C for the July 2015 cohort (a 34% gain on the 2014 results), it was clear that the model would require extensive refining in order to prepare students for the demands of the reformed GCSE examinations in Drama, grades 9-1 (first teaching September 2016). One of the changes to the Devising exam was for students to work without direction from their teachers.

This study examines the extent to which the revised version of The Sequential Learning Model entitled 'Exploring, Sharing, Connecting and Affecting' (E.S.C.A and beyond), promotes progress for eight students as they embark on their study of Drama. Exploring, Sharing, Connecting and Affecting are essentially the core values that underpinned my existing teaching practice and curriculum, and will be examined in part 2 of the Literature review and forms part of the Methodology.

This study will address the following question: to what extent have the Exploring, Sharing, Connecting and Affecting (E.S.C.A and Beyond) scaffolds that I have created promoted the skills, progress, and self-directed readiness that is required for success in the new GCSE Drama examination for devising?

Since 'progress' is rather a broad term, and could present itself in a myriad of ways within a classroom setting, this study will focus solely on progress specific to the devising aspect of Component One from the Edexcel GCSE Drama (9-1). Moreover, this study will only report on the progress of the aforementioned eight case study students. These case studies represent a broad spectrum of students and follows their journey as they learn using the Exploring, Sharing, Connecting and Affecting model; details about the case study selection process will be explained in chapter 5 (Methodology).