About National Drama CPD

National Drama CPD is part of an exciting and significant initiative, initially funded by TDA, to enable subject associations to produce online, subject-specific CPD materials. In this site you will find up-to-date and fit-for-purpose materials to support drama-specific continuing professional development for primary and secondary teachers and theatre educators.

Such a broad target audience implies a variety of entry points and this is reflected in the range of materials on offer. So, whether you are a primary generalist new to drama teaching; an NQT; a non-drama-trained secondary teacher finding yourself teaching drama; an experienced drama specialist or subject leader, you will find units of study that are right for you.

The development of the site content began with a substantial consultation process which involved experienced secondary drama teachers, drama ASTs, NQTs, theatre educators, primary teachers who use or would like to use drama in their classrooms, teacher educators, LA advisers and inspectors and others who work with drama in learning settings. This process identified a wide range of drama-specific CPD topics that fall into four broad categories. These topics have formed the basis on which units of study have been developed and as you explore the site you will find them grouped under the following category headings:

  • Subject Knowledge and Skills
  • Teaching About and Through Drama and Theatre
  • Pedagogic Resources
  • Subject Leadership

You will also see that each category includes units at three different levels of challenge to reflect the diverse experience of users and you can find out more about these by clicking on the documents below:

CPD - Possible Topics for Units

CPD - Unit Writing Framework

CPD - Unit Writing Proposal Form

CPD - Unit Style and Technical Details

Contributing Yourself
To sustain and develop the provision further, the range of units on the site will be added to and National Drama is keen to broaden their authorship. So, if you are interested in writing a CPD unit of work, please download the accompanying PDF files (above) that will provide you with a comprehensive list of topics we wish to cover, a unit proposal form, a writing framework that provides more detailed information about the scope of each unit level and a technical specification for your document.

Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection
If you intend to include still or moving images of children or vulnerable adults in your unit materials you must secure prior parental/carer permission for each identifiable person and  you must then provide us with written evidence of such permission.

National Drama CPD looks forward to hearing from you.