The PESB's perception that one can fold one endorsement into another is neglectfully ill-informed. Should woodshop now be taught by the science teacher? Should culinary arts now be taught by the social studies teacher? I myself have a Theatre Arts endorsement and a Math/Science endorsement. Why is there the assumption that Theatre teachers are also English-inclined?
While some Theatre teachers do also have an English endorsement, if does not follow that all English teachers know how to teach acting methods and staging procedures, direct, manage the performance process and protocol, and know how to produce a show from script selection through to strike, let alone be responsible for the technical elements, and the state mandated safety requirements. The same can be said for Dance teachers and PE teachers.
It also seems like the PESB has not considered the technical side of educational theatre. Technical Theatre is a stand-alone CTE (Career and Technical Education) endorsement – even apart from a Theatre Arts endorsement - and as such is regulated by the WACs (Washington Administrative Code). And in fact, the Department of Labor and Industries requires that all instructors in CTE subjects be vocationally certified. An English teacher is not highly qualified to teach Technical Theatre. Even many Theatre (read: acting) teachers are not necessarily highly qualified - professionally trained or certificated - in vocational technical theatre or theatre management in order to know how to correctly and safely operate the equipment in a theatre, let alone teach these skills to their students. It's akin to assuming sports teachers can teach sports medicine.
The PESB also clearly has a disconnect between education and vocation. The Entertainment Industry (comprised of performers and technicians) is the backbone of our society. How, for instance, does a Super Bowl half-time show happen? How do you turn on a TV and watch a professional newscaster? How does Cirque du Soleil travel from city to city? How does the musical background for a scene in a movie get there? High school theatre students who go on to work in the Entertainment Industry are not just "skilled labor" but are leaders, innovators, collaborators. As well as plays, TV and movies, performers, designers, managers and technicians work in almost every event that our society participates in, including political rallies, Olympic games, conferences, tradeshows, airplane and technology product roll out ceremonies, the list is endless.
Vocational subjects in other highly-skilled, high demand careers, such as auto shop, culinary, media, health industry, information technology, robotics and so on - the primary purpose of which is to provide career and technical education training and employment preparation - requires the teachers of these programs to be highly qualified, and many have had a certain amount of hours (in terms of years) of paid work in the field they are teaching. Why is this any different for Entertainment Industry vocational education? How is it ok for an English teacher to teach performance and technical Theatre and a PE teacher to teach Dance? If this is the plan, then it does not seem that the PESB is aware of the fact that the WACs prohibit children under 18 to be engaged in occupational activities, such as working with power tools, lifting heavy objects and working at heights – all the work students do in a Theatre program - except for those enrolled in an educational program with a vocationally certified instructor.
Not to mention that during a theatrical performance (full length plays to concerts to variety shows) there can simultaneously be students in the booth, students in the house, students on stage, students in the galleries, students high up in the catwalks, students back stage right, students back stage left, students in the scene shop using power tools, students in the back hallway, students in the costume shop, students in the dressing rooms, students in the classroom and students in the lobby. For a straight play the average amount of cast and crew is 25 students, for a musical the average amount of cast and crew is 55 students, for a choir or band there are 30 to 40 (to 60 in some schools), and larger numbers can certainly apply to variety shows. And more and more, these performances are happening in new multi-million dollar state-of-the-art Performing Arts Centers on high school campuses. How does the PESP expect one English teacher to supervise all of these students, simultaneously, in a variety of spaces, where physical and hazardous activities are taking place, in a content area where they have had no experience?
It's not only a huge liability in terms of student safety, but it's an educational disgrace to allow an unqualified English teacher - who may be qualified on paper by way of an endorsement, from a paper exam which they passed by 87% - to be endorsed to teach and supervise students in a content area that they themselves have failed.
And how can the PESB expect such extensive, specialized, and regulated vocational subject matter be folded into 13% of a classroom-based subject endorsement. Theatre arts must remain a stand-alone endorsement (via WEST-E or other routes), and only highly qualified teachers should be teaching performance (Drama, Dance, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music) and technical theatre.
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Beth Rand
High School Theatre Operations Coach
Next HS Theatre Management Training for Drama Teachers online course: Fall Session starts Sept. 11. Spaces still available.
Author of "High School Theatre Operations" and "High School Theatre Safety Manual" and several more books on Amazon.
www.PRESETT.orgWoodinville, WA
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