How does drama for children 3-8 support children’s play and language development? A systematic review of the literature

This review presents findings from research concerning drama education for young children in educational settings. The parameters of the review were to: 1) explore the meaning and practices of ‘drama’ in the context of settings providing education to children aged 3-8 years; 2) investigate the impact of drama education on children’s language and development; and 3) to consider the strengths and limitations of different methods and methodologies used to research drama education in early childhood settings. Participating in drama is widely perceived to advance children’s cognitive, physical, social and
emotional learning. However, drama education includes a variety of different approaches and there is a lack of understanding of the links between teaching practices and learning outcomes. In particular, there is a lack of consensus about the role adults should adopt in relation to children’s play to best
support their development. There is also limited research into how drama education impacts the learning and development of children from different socio-economic backgrounds. Whilst theoretically drama has the power to ‘humanise, politicise and disrupt’ (Hunter, 2016, p. 141) there is
a need for research to explore how a social justice agenda might be advanced in practice through the application of drama education in early childhood classrooms.