March 2023 Drama update
Dear colleagues,
I hope that the spring term has been going well for you and your students. Here is your March 2023 update with all the latest news on our GCSE Drama and A level Drama and Theatre qualifications.
In this update you will find:
ginny.spooner
It is with great sadness that we need to share with you that our beloved Chair for GCSE Drama, Ginny Spooner, has tragically passed away. Ginny has been part of our Pearson family for over 30 years, she touched the lives of thousands of people in her work as a drama teacher and senior examiner from Haggerston to Hong Kong. Ginny’s vivacious, spirited personality will be sorely missed.
Our thoughts are with her husband, family and close friends at this difficult time.
If you wish to express your condolences, Ginny’s family have created a tribute page on British Heart Foundation.
Component 2 update
I do hope that the Component 2 experience for you and your students has been as stress free as possible, and the performances have gone well.
The window will run until 31st March 2023.
If you do have any questions about the examination please don't hesitate to get in touch using my contact details at the bottom of the page.
For further information on Component 2 and how to use the Learner Work Transfer (LWT) platform, please refer to the Administrative Support Guides below
Admin Support Guides and forms for Component 2
The Administrative Support Guides for GCSE Drama and A level Drama and Theatre include information on:
- key dates
- administrative guidance for all three Components
- guidance on using Learner Work Transfer (LWT) platform for Components 1 and 2
- support on how to contact us
Key Extracts
We require centres to sign a declaration that all key extracts studied by students meet the requirements to be from a scene or a moment that is significant to the text as a whole and at least 10 minutes in length when performed. Centres must submit the parts of these key extracts that have been used for performance, but not the entire key extract itself. This means that if a student were performing a monologue, you would scan a copy of the one/two pages of the monologue, rather than a 10+mins extract.
If you are having a visiting examiner, you submit these before the visit. If you are recording the performances, you submit after the recording has taken place.
Please refer to the Admin Support Guide for more information about this process.
Seize the day, 2023
The Drama and Theatre Education Alliance (DTEA) has launched Seize The Day, 2023, a national initiative to raise the profile of Drama in schools and of Theatre for Young Audiences.
In the week of March 20th – 27th 2023, to coincide with World Performance Week, the DTEA iis hosting a week of events across the UK in schools and theatres, featuring performances and workshops with children and young people.
Schools, colleges, universities, theatres, arts centres, drama and theatre practitioners and theatre companies are encouraged to invite their MP, local councillors and press to experience their events, which can include drama classes, workshops led by external practitioners, and performances by, with or for children and young people.
Component 3 live theatre evaluation update
In order to retain comparability and fairness, and to keep the 500 words of notes in the exam, we are not making any changes to Component 3. This decision has been made based on feedback from the survey we shared. The response to the survey was huge, and the majority of Drama teachers voted in favour of keeping the live theatre and notes, rather than allowing streamed or recorded performances and removing the notes.
Experiencing live theatre is embedded in the subject criteria and therefore this requirement cannot be removed from the qualification. At the end of the course, and by 15 May, centres need to confirm that students have been given the opportunity to see live theatre.
In April 2023, we will send an electronic declaration form to all centres with entries for the summer 2023 exam series, in order for you to confirm that all students have been given the opportunity to see live theatre. The deadline for the declaration to be completed is 15 May 2023.
We understand that due to the current cost of living crisis, and other factors such as location, some centres face huge difficulty in trying to take students to see live theatre. If you are in this situation and it is not possible for your students to write about a live theatre production for component 3, please do get in touch with us at drama.assessment@pearson.com to ask permission to use a streamed or recorded production. We will treat each request on an individual basis. If you have already contacted us this academic year and been given permission to use a streamed or recorded live performance for the 2023 exam, you do not need to contact us again.
Subject advisor
Paul Webster
Drama, Theatre and Performing Arts
