Key aspects
The key aspects of learning are set out in the drama matrix of The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars: The Arts.
This section summarises which key aspects relate to each of the drama posters. Each key aspect also lists in brackets the related curriculum strands.
- Working in role
- Using dramatic structure
- Creating dramatic space
- Responding to drama
- Access The Arts: Drama matrix
Key aspect: Working in role
(PK, DI, CI, UC)
Poster 1: Playing, improvising, and presenting
Focus age range: years 1–8
Poster 2: Developing, rehearsing, and performing
Focus age range: years 9–13
Taking on a role and seeing how the world looks through another’s eyes is fundamental to drama. Posters 1 and 2 show students exploring role in a variety of ways and in different contexts.
Key aspect: Using dramatic structure
(PK, DI, CI, UC)
Poster 3: Conventions
Focus age range: years 1–13
Structuring drama involves choosing conventions and sequencing them. Dramatic structures allow the creators of the drama to explore, shape, and convey ideas.
As participants in a drama make meaning by using conventions, they build links between the drama and their own lives. Using dramatic structures engages students in the symbolic language of drama.
Poster 3 shows students using conventions in a process drama; it also illustrates drama conventions being used in student productions and in professional theatre.
Key aspect: Creating dramatic space
(PK, DI, CI, UC)
Poster 4: Imagined worlds
Focus age range: years 1–13
Dramatic space is the physical space in which the drama takes place, a space that our imagination converts into the time and place of our choosing. Objects around us may be incorporated into the dramatic space and transformed into the landscape of our imagination.
This poster shows both planned and improvised use of dramatic space and objects.
Key aspect: Responding to drama
(PK, CI, UC)
Poster 5: Where do we find drama in our everyday lives?
Focus age range: years 1–8
Poster 6: Theatre in Aotearoa New Zealand
Focus age range: years 9–13
As performers and as audience members, students interpret and respond to drama experiences in a variety of contexts. They investigate how people use drama to express personal and cultural values and learn to appreciate a variety of dramatic forms, styles, and traditions.
Poster 5 shows students engaging with drama in a range of settings within their everyday lives. Poster 6 illustrates how theatre has developed in Aotearoa New Zealand from the 1950s onwards.
Access The Arts: Drama matrix
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