There are a variety of approaches to drama and these are realised through different methodologies. It is quite usual that these different approaches appear within the same country’s educational settings. 

Drama, as the study of theatre: The GCSE curriculum for Drama and Theatre Studies in UK schools for example focus on making students of drama familiar with the artform itself, different genres and techniques of theatre, various authors and theories, which usually comes together with a focus on creating performance or reflecting on it in writing. These processes often start out from specific drama texts but devising performances or writing exercises can also be starting points. In both Hungary and the UK drama is often merged into Hungarian or English classes – in the UK drama sits within the English (language) National Curriculum formally as well and not as a separate subject – and so the focus is on how the work of dramatists is communicated effectively through performance, or teachers often work with drama in order to generate and discuss language use and meaning, relying heavily on voice and movement tasks. 

Other approaches aim for young people to explore social or individual problems and situations using theatre.

Drama, as the application of drama conventions/forms: The Conventions Approach is one of these methodologies, as it offers dramatic forms for engaging students based on a variety of theatre practices. Forms like hot seating or thought tracking are widely used, but dozens of other forms are on offer for teachers to structure drama lessons or incorporate them individually within learning activities. 

Drama, as a Living Through process: Process drama, lately used as a synonym for Drama in Education also uses forms described as ‘conventions’ by Neelands, but the emphasis in this case is much more on underlying dramaturgical structures and the process of ‘making’ drama together, not for an audience but for the participating group itself. 

The dichotomy that has dominated discourse about the role of young people in drama has been centred on the concepts of experiencing and performing. Performance remains in the focus traditionally for the Drama and Theatre Studies curriculum, which places emphasis on developing opportunities for creating, performing and responding, with lately a shift towards ‘performance skills’, as they are easier to measure and evaluate. Process drama lessons would traditionally emphasize experiencing or the ‘living through’ aspect of drama lessons, where students have the chance of engaging with fictional situations from within the fictional contexts. The Conventions approach would place emphasis on creating understanding and reflecting on situation. Gavin Bolton (1998) argues that Drama in Education incorporates presenting and performance as well, but mainly aims for the participants to be aware of themselves as ‘makers’ of the drama at the same time as ‘living through’ the fictional situations that they take part in creating, at least in the case of the genre defined as Process drama.