This study sets out to develop a framework for the analysis of a school subject and uses as a focal study the NAC drama syllabus developed in1994. Drawing in the main on Basil Bernstein's theory of curriculum, an analysis is made of how a syllabus is constituted through recontextualizing, using the theoretical concepts of voice and identity, classification and framing, and hierarchy. The discourses that have been recontextualized in the formation of the syllabus are identified. Two sets of discourses are identified: educational policy discourses (namely the discourses of progressivism, utilitarianism and reconstruction and development) and educational drama discourses. The specialization of voice in the syllabus marks out the academic identity, and is an indicator of educational drama discourses evident in the syllabus. The specialization of identity marks out projected social identities, indicating the recruitment of educational policy discourses in the constitution of the syllabus. The field in which the syllabus is constructed is also examined, which following Bernstein is defined as the recontextualizing field. The syllabus writers, located in this field, act selectively on the educational policy and educational drama discourses in constituting the syllabus. The rules for selection in the development of the syllabus are examined, and these are related to the syllabus writers' situation within the recontextualizing field. It is argued that the syllabus writers are positioned subordinately within the field, and that this factor to a large extent regulates the operation of educational policy discourses as rules for selection in the drawing up of the syllabus .

"It was clearly the Government (by a great section of the electorate) that brought politics into the theatre, and we, the producers, the actors, the theatre-goers must pay the price for it." Alan Paton. This thesis attempts to analyse the way South African Theatre is developing against a background of social transition within a political framework which has enforced a policy of separate development based on racial distinction and ethnicity. Signs of political reform are beginning to show - not only as a result of pressure from within and without - but also because economic interdependency between the groups is breaking down barriers as the third world sector of the population aspires to the attractions of the first world urban sector. Polemical issues in the performing arts, which have risen out of the prevailing socio-economic climate, range from global attempts at cultural isolation of South Africa to such pragmatic matters as absorbing into actor-training programmes the various sectors of the community with their particular ethnic and linguistic identities preserved in an apartheid system. The research takes into account the history of the South African people and the various modes of theatre which have evolved as a result of natural and, later, imposed segregation of the various cultural groups. It examines, too, the dominant cuItural trends imported from Europe which have formed an infra-structure for South African theatre from training programmes to theatre managements, as well as criteria for critical assessment of theatre as a codified form of dramatic performance. It analyses the politically sensitive but vital issue of arts funding where most sponsorship emanates from public sources. It looks at actor-training programmes in terms of cultural service to the community and the diverse needs of the performance industry and takes into account the changing focus in some tertiary drama departments in an effort to adapt to transitional social conditions. It also takes cognisance of the prevailing mood of social consciousness amongst those artists who sense the need to move towards a theatre which expresses the collective experience of the South African situation. Whether this is possible in a country as culturally diverse as South Africa and whether the socio-political climate and reform measures which the government has adopted are conducive to the growth of a genre of theatre uniquely South African in its synthesis of endogenous and exogenous traditions - a theatre that will have cross-cultural appeal - is one of the major thrusts of this research. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the past drama education was an uncommon occurrence in South African schools, limited to the elective subject Speech and Drama at secondary level, which was only offered in a few schools in some of the provinces. The assumption is made that the introduction of Arts and Culture as one of the eight learning areas in Curriculum 2005 has greatly impacted on drama education at school level. This study aims to determine the state of affairs with regards to drama education within the current (2011) education system by investigating the nature, implementation and outcomes of drama curricula in South African schools. In the context of the far-reaching changes that has occurred in South African education since 1994, a historical overview of education before 1994 is given to act as a backdrop for a discussion of the process of education reform. The shift to an outcomes-based education approach is investigated by defining and discussing it in relation to the chosen South-African approach; identifying and discussing the theories and philosophies underpinning an outcomes-based approach to education; and looking at the national curriculum from its introduction as Curriculum 2005 until the recent revision of the National Curriculum Statement (Grades R-9), which will be phased into schools from 2012 as the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. A comparative evaluation of the drama curricula in the current (2011) National Curriculum Statement (Grade R-12) and the drama curricula in the revised Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement serves as the means to determine the nature, content and outcomes of the drama curricula. The Africanisation of the drama curricula is investigated and it becomes apparent that indigenous knowledge, traditions, customs and cultural practices are successfully included in the drama curricula. The comparative evaluation also leads to the conclusion that the revised national curriculum is a definite improvement on the status quo. Through the investigation of the nature and outcomes of the different drama curricula, it is possible to identify specific requirements for the successful implementation of drama curricula. With these requirements in mind possible challenges and/or problem areas with regards to the implementation of drama curricula are determined and discussed. These challenges and/or problem areas are the following: the curriculum itself, the socio-economic circumstances of schools and learners, language issues, the status of drama education at school level, time allocation and management, funding and infrastructure, and teacher training. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Drama-opleiding op skoolvlak was in die verlede ’n nie-algemene verskynsel en is hoofsaaklik beperk tot die keusevak Spraak en Drama wat slegs in sekere provinsies by ’n beperkte aantal skole op sekondêre vlak aangebied is. Die veronderstelling word gemaak dat die bekendstelling van Kuns en Kultuur as een van die agt verpligte leerareas binne Kurrikulum 2005 ’n geweldige impak op drama-opleiding op skoolvlak gehad het en steeds het. Hierdie studie stel dit gevolglik ten doel om die stand van drama-opleiding binne die huidige (2011) onderwysstelsel te bepaal deur ’n ondersoek te loods na die aard, implementering en uitkomste van dramakurrikula in Suid-Afrikaanse skole. In die lig van die ingrypende veranderinge wat sedert 1994 binne Suid-Afrikaanse onderwys plaasgevind het, bied die studie eerstens ’n historiese oorsig van onderwys voor 1994 wat as agtergrond dien vir ’n bespreking van die onderwyshervormingsproses. Die oorskakeling na ’n uitkomsgebaseerde benadering tot onderwys word in oënskou geneem deur die gekose Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysbenadering te omskryf en te bespreek; die filosofieë en teorieë onderliggend tot ’n uitkomsgebaseerde onderwysbenadering binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks te identifiseer en te bespreek; en die nasionale skoolkurrikulum in oënskou te neem vanaf die bekendstelling van Kurrikulum 2005 tot en met die voorgestelde hersienings van die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring (Grade R-12) wat vanaf 2012 in skole infaseer word en bekend staan as die Kurrikulum- en Assesseringsbeleidverklaring. Deur middel van ’n vergelykende evaluering van die dramakurrikula in die huidige (2011) Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring (Grade R-12) en die dramakurrikula in die hersiene Kurrikulum- en Assesseringsbeleidverklaring, word die omvang, inhoud en uitkomste van die dramakurrikula bepaal. Daar word ondersoek ingestel na die Afrikanisering van die dramakurrikula en dit word duidelik dat inheemse kennis, tradisies, gebruike en kultuurpraktyke op suksesvolle wyse binne die onderskeie dramakurrikula ingesluit word. Na afloop van die vergelykende evaluering word die afleiding gemaak dat die mees onlangse hersiening van die nasionale kurrikulum ’n definitiewe verbetering op die status quo is. Dit is moontlik om na aanleiding van die aard en uitkomste van die onderskeie dramakurrikula spesifieke vereistes vir die suksesvolle implementering van die dramakurrikula te identifiseer. In die lig van hierdie vereistes word moontlike uitdagings en/of probleemareas ten opsigte van die implementering van die dramakurrikula vasgestel en bespreek. Hierdie uitdagings en/of probleemareas is die volgende: die kurrikulum self, sosioekonomiese omstandighede van skole en leerders, taalkwessies, die status van dramaopleiding op skoolvlak, tydstoedeling en -bestuur, befondsing en infrastruktuur, en onderwyseropleiding.