The examination is in three sections:
Part A – Written, Part B – Recital, and Part C – Portfolio & Reflective Journal
Candidates must gain at least 75 marks out of a maximum 100 in each part of the examination in order to pass.

Part A – Written Examination (100 marks)
There are 4 sections on this paper. Section 1 has one question, which is compulsory. Candidates must then answer one question from each of Sections 2, 3 and 4. Three hours are allowed for working this paper.

Section 1: Literature- Poetry, Prose and Drama: (25 marks)
(criteria of assessment: sensitivity to and literacy in the genre presented)
Each year a poetic or narrative or dramatic text will be presented. Candidates will be expected to respond to the text and be familiar with the following: theme, form, style, context, tone, setting and so on as appropriate to the genre.

Section 2: Drama/Theatre Criticism and Pedagogy (25 marks)
(criteria of assessment: an understanding of the theories in question and of their application in practice)
Two questions will be set as follows:
Question 1: theories of theatre practice (for example, those of Brecht, Meyerhold, Michael Chekhov, Stanislaviski, Brook, Lecoq or other significant contemporary or modern theorists)
Question 2: Drama in Education or Theatre in Education theories and praxis, the teaching of Movement, Mime and Improvisation. Section 3: Drama/Theatre History (25 marks) (criteria of assessment: an understanding of the history of Drama and Theatre and its impact on current practice) Two questions will be set from the following areas: Greek, Elizabethan, Restoration, Modern Drama, Playwrights.

Section 4: Voice Production and Dynamics (25 marks)
(criteria of assessment: an understanding of all aspects of vocal work and their application in teaching practice)
Two questions will be set from the following topics: Contemporary Theories of Voice, Voice Production, Listening to Language, Developing Accent and Dialect.

Part B – Recital (100 marks)
The candidate is required to:
Present a programme of drama, poetry and prose lasting a maximum of 20 minutes. The programme should be based on a theme of the candidate’s choice and should show evidence of careful selection and preparation.
Attention should be paid to structure, balance, contrast, linking material and methods of presentation. Music, mime and movement may be included.

Part C – Portfolio & Reflective Journal (100 marks)
This part of the syllabus seeks to take into account the individual teaching/practice site and personal experience of each candidate.

Portfolio Guidelines:
" A teaching portfolio is the structured, documentary history of a set of coached or mentored acts of teaching, substantiated by samples of student portfolios/work and fully realised only through reflective writing, deliberation and conversation."[1]

Portfolios have a long and valued tradition in the arts and the professions and can be used to keep drafts of work, records of how the work has developed over time and samples of good/best practice. In the case of the teaching portfolio, you will have the opportunity to document your teaching practice over time, in relation to a specific question or concern on which you wish to focus. The portfolio process will invite you not just to collect samples of your work and that of your students, but to select from and reflect on these in the light of your key questions and concerns. Hence, the teaching portfolio is much more than an album or receptacle of your work; it is a systematic documentation of it and reflection on it, so that it is also a process of inquiry.

Draft portfolio may be presented at the practical exam-the completed portfolio (a hard copy and bound) must be presented by 1st August. Completed portfolios should be between 10,000 and 12,000 words together with evidence to support the research.

Your Teaching Portfolio will be divided into three sections as follows:

Section 1: Introduction to the work:
This should provide a context for the portfolio entries developed in Section 2 and should contain the following:

• A key question/concern/genre which you wish to focus on in your portfolio
• An outline of the module/unit/course (8-10 weeks) which you are exploring
• A description of your teaching practice site and its space, including the number, age and level of your students
• A Teaching Philosophy statement. (This is a brief statement that explores your own personal beliefs regarding the nature and role of the speech and drama/theatre teacher/director. It might focus also on any influences and experiences that have moulded your thinking and assumptions).

Section 2: The Portfolio Entries
Each portfolio will consist of three entries and their evidence/artifacts and will contain the following elements:

• A Title: This will help you to name or label your entry and to focus your thinking. (For example: Exploring the Visual in the Teaching of Poetry).
• A Context: This provides the setting for and description of any details necessary for the entry. (For example: There may be an anecdote that is central to the entry).
• A Rationale: This answers the question "Why am I including this entry?" It will help to give direction and coherence to your entry.
• A Reflection: This is the heart of the entry and explores what the teacher has learnt about teaching and learning from this particular entry. It deals with the questions "How has this entry changed the way I think about teaching this aspect of Speech/Drama/Theatre? What have my students learned/not learned from this encounter?"
• Implications for future practice: This answers the following types of question: If I were teaching this lesson again what would I do differently? What do I need to change about my approach? How can I develop student learning in the future?

In crafting the entry you will provide Evidence that will support your thinking throughout. You should use captions to label this evidence and locate it within the entry. [For example, your evidence might consist of student responses- a picture that a student drew regarding a poem, or a diary entry that the student wrote in the role of a fictional character. Your evidence might be photographic or filmic (it might contain a brief transcript of some key moment of a class video) and so on].

Section 3: Overall Reflection and Conclusion
This will draw the strands of the three portfolio entries together and end with key questions/implications for your future practice.

Reflective Thinking:
"The kind of thinking that consists in turning a subject over in the mind and giving it serious and consecutive consideration".[2]
"Each portfolio entry carries a crucial element; that is a reflection. Through reflection, a teacher revisits and inquires into his/her own teaching and learning, assessing what succeeded or failed and why. In this process, teachers uncover the meanings and interpretations they make of their own practices. Through a portfolio they can make this knowledge public and open to scrutiny. Thus, the portfolio can be both the means of inquiring into teaching and a way of recording the results of that process"[3]

Reflective Journal Guidelines:
The journal must be kept over time and is a work in progress. It is at all times a draft and a spontaneous and informal exploration of issues emerging in the teaching of the unit in question. The journal should be used as a resource for devising each portfolio entry. Candidates should bear in mind that this reflective journal is a public document, since it is focusing on thinking about teaching practice.
Instead of reading from the portfolio students will read from the Journal during the exam. Time will be allocated for examiner to read the Journal at the end of the exam and then return it to the candidate.