Across the country, 55 Drama Teachers responded to EnsembleImpact’s Professional Need(s) survey. Some had Drama Departments with as few as as 10 students; others were part of a team that taught nearly 600 students per year.

We are pleased to report that 87.3% of the teachers surveyed made “viewing a professional production” a requirement of their drama curriculum. We were even more pleased to see that over and above that number – 96.4% of teachers surveyed – said they took their students to more than one professional production per year.

(How often) do you take your students to professional productions outside the school?

One – 13.2%

Two – 37.7%

Three – 24.5%

Four – 24.5%

Yet (interestingly enough) the same survey showed that only 24% of the respondents had an “arts fee” in place at their school – 61% said “no” they didn’t have an “arts fee” in place and 14.9% didn’t know if their school had one.

Is there an “arts fee” in your school that allows for professional viewing?

24% said yes

61% said no

14.9% said they didn’t know.

Moreover, 72.7% of those teachers did not use special fund-raisers for those out-of-school visits.

Are there any drama-specific fund-raisers to boost resources in your department?

27.3% said yes

72.7% said no

73.6% of all respondents were members of Drama New Zealand and nearly 62% of those teachers surveyed used Drama Net on a weekly basis.

We’re left – after thanking those who did respond – with one unanswered question:

Who funds the arts at your school?

EnsembleImpact

www.ensembleimpact.com