An overview of current trends in drama education in the People’s Republic of China

ABSTRACT

Drama education has grown enormously over the past few years with the interest and support of the People's Republic of China. This article describes the development of drama education in China due to the change of goverment's policy on the reformation of art education. Even though an increasing number of both schools and private companies start to pay attention to drama education, the need for high-quality teacher training has become particularly pressing. However, there is still much work to do and much progress still to make.

KEYWORDS:

• Drama education
• schools
• curriculum
• teacher training
• the People’s Republic of China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Chenchen Zeng is a drama practitioner in the People’s Republic of China. She was awarded a MA degree in Drama and Theatre Education from Warwick University. Her area of interest includes drama, literacy and moral education, democratic citizenship in primary classroom, drama and theatre education and curriculum in states kindergarten. Chenchen is a partner of XunMeng Education, a private company which focuses on arts education in Guangzhou, China.

Notes

1. ⟪教育部关于加强和改进中小学艺术教育活动的意见⟫< Opinions of the Ministry of Education for Strengthening and Improving Arts Education Activities in Primary and Secondary Schools>

2. ⟪教育部关于进步一加强和改进中小学艺术教育活动的意见⟫< Ministry of Education's Opinions on Progress, Strengthening and Improving Arts Education Activities in Primary and Secondary Schools>

3. Compulsory education in China includes primary schools for children up to the age of 12 and Middle schools up to the age of 15.

4. The national college entrance examination is an elective examination for qualified high school graduates, or candidates with the same educational background, from the People's Republic of China (this excludes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan). Students who win in the mathematics competition can be granted 20 additional marks in their national college entrance score.

5. In China, moral education is taught as a discreet subject in schools, at primary, middle and junior high school level.

6. ⟪3-6岁儿童学习与发展指南⟫<Guide to learning and development for children aged 3-6>

7. 18 December 2018 < https://www.juliagabriel.com>

8. 25 December 2018 < http://www.xdf.cn/info/201511/10374488.html>