The need for arts and drama outside of school to improve confidence in children

Many teenagers battle with confidence levels during school years, whether it’s asking out your crush, presenting work in front of class or standing at the sprint start line on sports day; it can all be daunting.

To help tackle this, a new campaign called ‘The Stage is Yours’ is being launched to shine a light on the importance of drama and arts outside of the classroom for important life skills including confidence and self-esteem.

This comes as a new YouGov study of secondary school children conducted by EE revealed that four fifths (84%) of 11-16-year-olds regularly participate in drama, music, or the arts, and those who do are more than twice as likely (32%) to feel confident in everyday life skills such as reading or presenting a project to their class compared to those who don’t (14%).

However, interest in these activities wanes as pupils get older, with 16-year-olds a third less likely (11%) to take part in drama classes and recitals compared with 11-year-olds (44%), something that is reflected in the school curriculum with enrolment in arts GCSE’s having fallen by 40% in the last three years.

Aston spoke to Musharaf Asghar from Educating Yorkshire and Phyllisia McCarthy from EE.

Photo by Gwen King on Unsplash