drama - a tese original
TRANSCRIPT
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..4
The aims of the study
1.1 Problem analysis
1.2 Fundamental theories and authors
1.3 A note on Methods
CHAPTER I .11
A Brief historical overview
2.2 Key Stage One education during the Dictatorship period
2.3 Drama in Key Stage One Schools
CHAPTER II..25
Making a case for Drama as a Complementary Form of Pedagogy in elementary
schools, key stage one
3.1 Analysis of different learning methods, defending meaningful experiences
3.2 Aims of Drama in Key Stage One Schools
3.3The nature of Drama in education
CHAPTER III 41
Drama as a Complementary Form of Pedagogy
4.1 Terminology of Drama in education
4.2 Structuring Drama - a model for any age group
CONCLUSION..78
BIBLIOGRAPHY81
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DRAMA USED AS A COMPLEMENTARY FORM OF PEDAGOGY IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS - KEY STAGE ONE. MAKING A CASE FOR
DRAMA IN PORTUGUESE CLASSROOMS
Abstract:
Teachers in elementary schools, Key Stage One, are often faced with classes of
students from very different backgrounds, from many cultures and with varied
learning abilities. As such, the learning environment is both very rich and
remarkably diverse. Therefore, a primary concern must surely be to apply a form of
pedagogy that respects not only the various cultures encountered, but also the way we
start to get to know the world.
We all bring to schools different perspectives, behaviours, and cultures, and we are
all, to a greater or lesser extent, bound by constraints imposed by different people. It
Is thus imperative, that teachers have the capacity to recognise that not all students
have the same motivation to learn, or learn in the same way, and that they can
understand what they learn rather then memorize concepts.
The aim of this study is to make a case for the application of drama in key stage one
classrooms, as a complementary form of work within other areas of the curriculum.
The theories put forward are rooted in and based on education and drama with the
aim of proposing a pedagogical method, which allows teachers to work through
drama in any age group. As such, this study will not present a fixed set of instructions
for how to use drama for particular age groups - rather it aims to suggest a model of
principles intended to give elementary school teachers a set of tools for using drama
as a significant method of helping children both to learn and to understand what they
learn.
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Objectives include: Argue for the importance of drama during our lifetime, analyse
why it should be preserved in key stage one, and present a model of how to use drama
as a pedagogical method.
As we grow and progressively understand the world, we all tend to make use of
symbols and roles to give and receive meaning, in a particular context. Therefore, in
key stage one, the use of drama should facilitate learning and understanding, which
preserves and respects that particular world.
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INTRODUCTION
The aim of the study
This is a study of the nature of drama teaching and learning within elementary schools -
key stage one, i.e. 6-10-year-olds - in a Portuguese context.
The primary focus of the study is to give to teachers a complementary form of pedagogy
to work within other areas of the curriculum.
Secondarily, it aims to devise a method for teachers to use in their classrooms, a method
applicable to any area of the curriculum.
Not long after I joined the Faculty of Education in Faro, I began to develop an interest
in this particular approach. The difficulties encountered by the student teachers I was
teaching seemed to indicate that it would perhaps be possible and indeed beneficial, to
change preconceived notions about the use of drama in the classroom.
The intention of the following approach is to help teachers understand the process of
drama, and to appreciate the fact that the product is much more than the creation of
plays for exhibition on a festive occasion - an attitude which is often prevalent in some
classrooms. Or, as Cecily O'Neill states in Drama Worlds, an activity that can be
seen as a mere rehearsal device, a display of skills without context or brief
entertainment.(O'Neill 1995, p. 15.).
Underlying this idea is the notion that drama is commonly reserved exclusively for
entertainment, because it is considered to be difficult to use as a learning medium. For
example, many of my students have stated that they are afraid to lose control of the
class. It is only possible to accept this statement if they consider the use of drama in a
classroom as a brief entertainment, and if we realise that the reason why children often
get out of control is because they are not used to working in drama in a constructed
way on a daily basis.
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This study intends to promote a particular form of pedagogy in the context of a very
rich learning environment, and to highlight its importance as clearly as possible for
teachers.
The tasks children carry out still seem to place stress on thinking as private
individuals - silent a lot of time - and responding to the stimulus provided by the
teacher.
(Bond, Heathcote, 1989, p. 23)
This study aims to demonstrate the validity of this statement, firstly through a brief
overview of Portuguese education, during the dictatorship, secondly from my
observations of the system currently in place in schools and thirdly from theories about
learning methods which indicates that learning is mostly dependent on information
provided by the teacher.
In addition, the study proposes that, through drama, children have the chance to develop
and to experiment creatively and imaginatively within their daily routine:
When I entered the educational system, I brought curiosity and imagination and
creativity with me. Thanks to the system, I have left all these behind.
(Lipman, Sharp, Oscanyan, 1980, p. 5)
The teacher in this quotation expresses his/her disappointment about a suffocating class
environment, which gives no room for creativity and imagination. Therefore the need
for a changing environment neatly defines the premise of this study concerning the
importance of drama in key stage one. Child play is the very foundation of the way we
start to learn about the world:
Children learn through play; it helps them to make sense of their experiences.
Drama, at its simplest, is structured play. As we get older we tend to forget how to
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play. We pay others to do it for us. For some of us being a shepherd or (if we are
really lucky) the Virgin Mary is just about the only memory we have of dramatic
playing. If that is the case, we've missed out a lot.
(Ball, Airs, 1995, p.1).
Throughout this study, the concepts of imagination, creativity, questioning,
communication and group work are repeatedly referred to, in support of what drama has
to offer in a classroom. The reason for this is that they make up what is generally
considered to be the nature of drama in Key Stage One. In fact, these are the very
concepts that assist teachers in engaging children in their learning without treating them
as actors.
Drama in education need not and in most cases, does not, have performance as a
goal although performance may result from drama work it would be quite
misleading to suggest or imply that it was its goal. Nevertheless drama does have a
sense of destination but that destination is not in the first place a performance and it is
often not a performance at all.
(In Schools Council Drama Teaching Project, 1977, p. 19)
The complementary form of pedagogy proposed in this study is drawn from a variety of
sources. Firstly, it is based on my experience as a drama teacher with students on a Key
Stage One Teacher Training Course. Secondly, it is drawn from analysis of several
practitioners in the field of Drama in Education. Thirdly, it contains perspectives put
forward by leading experts from the field of education.
The theories analysed in this study are drawn from English and American authors, for
the simple reason that Portuguese equivalents are yet hard to find.
Problem Analysis
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Questions raised by this study stem from my work as a drama teacher in key stage one
teaching practice at the Faculty of Education in Faro, Portugal. This consisted of two
semesters of subject-based drama: four hours per week in the first semester, second
year, and one hour per week in the second semester, third year.
The fundamental questions throughout the study are:
Why is it important to argue for the importance of drama during our lifetime?
Why it should be preserved in Key Stage One?
What is the nature of drama as a pedagogical method?
To begin to tackle the questions listed above, it is necessary to discuss learning and
understanding in education, and to define why it is considered important to relate those
concepts to drama, and place them in the context of Key Stage One. In addition, it is
necessary to know the terminology connected to drama while using it, to understand
concepts such as process and product, and form and content.
The study is divided in three chapters:
Chapter One presents a brief historical overview.
This chapter outlines the influence of the period of dictatorship on education in
elementary schools, and briefly presents the changes subsequent to the revolution with
regard to curriculum, school population, methods of education, and drama in education.
The research method applied in this chapter is firstly documental and primarily targeted
at describing the existing situation. Its purpose is to describe events and concepts; this
description follows a chronological order. The aim is to give an historical insight. Along
with this factual description of a particular situation and arguments about the evolution
of drama in key stage one, according to Berg, L. Bruce( 1989), a semistructured
interview was conducted, with supervisors of the practical teaching course at the Faculty
of Education, in Faro. The purpose of this interview was to allow the respondents to
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express their opinions and experiences about changes in teaching practices, classrooms,
school population, and methods of education, with regard to the application of drama to
other areas of the curriculum. The interviews were also designed to allow the
respondents to express their views on the changes that have taken place in the
Portuguese education system during two very different periods of history. Even with
special topics, in the semistructured interview, the intention is to provide the
respondents with the opportunity to express their points of view about this specific area
without any prior categorisation:
These questions are typically asked of each interviewee in a systematic and consistent
order, but the interviewers are permitted (in fact expected) to probe far beyond the
answers to their prepared and standardized questions.
( Berg, L. Bruc, 1989,p61)
The wording of the interview follows Bruce suggestion that the questions must use
familiar words to the interviewee and the appropriate professional language was used
based on the fact that both interviewer and interviewee are professional teachers. The
study group seemed appropriate, as it comprised former elementary school teachers, key
stage one, who had graduated and were actively teaching during the dictatorship. As
such, these teachers, who are now supervisors in the Faculty of Education, are well
qualified to compare the previous situation in schools with current conditions. In
addition, they are familiar with most of the schools in the Algarve region, and they
regularly act as non-participating observers examining the competencies and behaviour
of the students.
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The data of the interviews is analysed according to particular categories to intersperse
different views and similar views, relevant to support the documental description and to
support the arguments of this study.
In this chapter, a questionnaire was handed to seven teachers in key stage one in the
Algarve region, to characterize how teachers teach, through drama, other areas of the
curriculum.It will also be presented as a table, and the analysis of the content is both
quantitative and qualitative. The sample of this questionnaire was a Purposive
Sampling, the sample was considered representative of a particular group, and it served
the purpose of this study.
Chapter Two reviews the theories about learning methods - regarding changes in
education - that are supported by theories concerning the use of drama. The content
analysis in this chapter is firstly inductive for it identifies the, dimensions or themes
that seem meaningful to the producers of each message. ( Bergen, L. .Bruce, 1989, p
230). The paragraphs are drawn from learning methods, arts philosophy, philosophy and
drama in education, form the content unit in this chapter. The analysis provides insight
into what the application of drama has to offer education at that specific stage, also
stresses the difference between learning, and learning and understanding, to propose the
use of drama as a complementary pedagogical method in key stage one environments.
Chapter Three is devoted to the presentation of a method formed from what has been
learnt so far, as regards the specific language of drama. It should be stressed that the
purpose here is not to provide set recipes and procedures, but rather to define a
method for drama that can be applied to any content and age group. The method is
presented in sections designed to provide a thorough explanation of the aims and
learning opportunities inherent in each concept, as well as highlighting the importance
of structuring drama work over a specific period. The intention is to convey the idea that
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drama, as a complementary form of pedagogy can be a very useful tool for both teacher
and children, to teach and learn the contents of the curriculum in key stage one. An
important time for development and acquisition of knowledge, which provides children,
with tools to be prepared for the uncertainties of the future that await them in the
context of society:
The `self-dramatisation' of children is really the process by which they're inducted
into society; drama becomes their medium of knowledge and of self.
(Bond, Heathcote, 1989, p. 21)
CHAPTER I
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A Brief historical overview
This chapter intends to present an overview of elementary school teaching within the
New State (1926 - 1974), to analyse the future consequences of that teaching specially
concerning working through drama and highlighting the distinctive features of the
evolution that has been taking place in Portugal since the revolution
In this chapter, the criteria of selection for the documental analysis is the relevant
facts about the characteristics of elementary school teaching, during the dictatorship
regime.
The categories that emerge in the course of developing these criteria should reflect
relevant aspects of the messages and retain, as much as possible, the exact wording
used in the statements
( Berg, L. Bruce,1989,p224)
The distinguishing features of elementary school teaching under the New State are
examined in detail by Filomena Monica in her Education and Society in the Portugal
of Salazar (Elementary Schools under Salazar, 1926-1939). However, in the context of
this study, this documental analysis will only focus on teachers' pedagogical approach,
the behaviour of students with regard to the learning process, and the distinctive aspects
of the classrooms and curriculum.
One of the aspects that are covered in this chapter is how drama and almost any artistic
expression are treated in our education. Pursuant to the Portuguese Educational System
Act 310/83, 1 July (1983), artistic expression has been integrated into schools at Key
Stage Two and high school level all over the country, primarily in the form of music
and dance. The XIII Portuguese government tabled a motion to open up an area of
knowledge in artistic expression in high schools, but it was only in 2002 , that a bill was
passed for the reorganisation of artistic expression, in key stages two and three. This
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reorganisation was to take place in phases: 2002/03 for 11-12-year-olds; 2003/04, for
12-13-year-olds; and 2004/05 for 13-14-year-olds. However, the document from the
Educational System states that schools must take into account both human resources and
facilities, when dealing with the matter of artistic education.
According to the Reorganisation of the Artistic Education prepared by the Department
of Education, only three intermediate schools teach Theatre, and only two higher
education institutions offer the subject. This means that it is still not possible to take a
graduate course in Drama in Education, which differs greatly from Theatre courses
per se, primarily as regards terminology, pedagogy and practical application in schools.
This brief introduction to the drama courses on offer within various teaching degrees
suggests that Portugal still fails to recognise the fact that drama differs greatly from
theatre, and that drama teachers are teachers who specialise in theatre or in other
subjects and therefore have great difficulty in finding reliable sources of drama theories
and practice. Therefore elementary school teachers will find the same difficulty added
to the fact that they are not subject based teachers, who will of course rely more on
other areas with many sources of research, leaving behind artistic expression.
It is essential that non- Portuguese readers give due weight to the fact that the
asymmetries mentioned here will surely have a significant effect on educational.
Faro is the regional capital of the Sotavento area. In the region, there are many areas
that are still very poor - especially those closest to the border with Spain. The
population of this area is also diminishing, largely on account of people being drawn
towards the coast. For a long time, the County of Faro was the only region in the
Algarve where levels of secondary and higher education were in line with the national
average, as this was the only county in the area with an institute of secondary education.
The people of the Algarve, who completed courses of higher education naturally
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belonged to the social elite, as higher education was only available outside the
surrounding areas and only the upper classes could afford the related costs. In the
Algarve, as in other areas of Portugal, great differences exist between coastal regions
and those further inland. These differences pertain to job availability, academic and
professional qualifications, industrial modernisation, living conditions and well-being.
In all these fields, the coastal regions fared better, while the inland regions were
distinguished by an ageing population, low levels of educations and low income, on
account of the diminishing importance of the primary sector and the general
desertification of the interior. In fact, in 1991 the interior area of the Algarve still had a
level of illiteracy comparable to that of the 1960s, (Mendona, 2001). Because of this
geographical, demographic and economic asymmetries prevalent in Portugal today,
there is an urgent need for a thorough restructuring and qualification of primary
education, key stage one. In 2003, the XIV government has launched PER.EB1
(Special Programme for the Reorganisation of the Network of Elementary Schools, Key
Stage One), a programme intended to improve teaching conditions in the interior
regions of the country, close down schools with fewer than 11 students and integrate
them into other, better equipped schools - and even to build brand new schools for that
purpose.
The distinguishing features of interior of the country - north and south - are very similar
in relation to social, economic and demographic profiles. These are regions heavily
affected by desertification, with ageing population and great poverty, and these factors
result in low levels of both literacy and cultural development. In these regions, a great
exodus has taken place, with whole populations moving to the cities and abandoning
whole villages.
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Portugal has undergone a period of major changes at all levels since 1974, changes that
have come to accentuate the regional differences, which increasingly differentiate the
country.
Even today, these changes continue to highlight the asymmetries that exist in Portugal -
a country that remains remarkably centralised and marked by areas of minor
significance. This profile is very similar to that which existed in the time of Salazar. The
changes that have taken place have emphasised the divide, not on account of non-
development, but rather due to the structural differences that development inevitably
creates.
Before characterising the dictatorship regime, it is useful to say that, elementary
education in Portugal is only Key Stage One, 6 10 years old, so that will be the
expression used through out this study.
From the military coup that brought Salazar to power until the revolution of 1974, all
regions of Portugal were clearly marked by stagnation and zero development in areas
such as education and economy. This situation only served to accentuate the existing
asymmetries between urban and rural Portugal, between the highest and the lowest
classes.
In an economy that was still predominantly rural with a highly hierarchical
structure, the advantages of reading did not impress anybody in rural areas -
where approximately 80% of the population lived, a simple and routine existence
was the norm and communication was largely still carried out orally
(Mnica, 1978, p. 62).
As we can see, these differences between the populations of various regions were
instrumental in fanning the flames of poverty, which, in turn, proved to have a
significant effect on levels of education and illiteracy, especially in rural zones.
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The schools of the New State served as instruments for instructing children in the
Salazar doctrine. Portuguese schools of the 1930s were comparable to those of
nineteenth century England as regards indoctrination, discipline inside the classroom
and matters of social differences in the schools:
in this country, there is no shortage of schools founded on atheism and betrayal;
schools where lower class children's minds are illuminated, i.e. where children
are taught to despise religion and to abide by the laws of subordination .
(Mnica, 1978, p. 4)
Elementary school teaching in the New State was a chaotic practice. For example, one
of the fundamental factors was the number of students per room. It was quite common
to have classes of 70-80, with ages ranging from 7 to 13 or 14. Classes were
characterized by a wide spread of ages and a mix of different mental capacities, and by
various forms of discrimination applied. For instance, more attention was devoted to the
oldest students, as they would soon be taking their examinations. As a result, lessons for
the younger age groups were often cancelled or ignored. Moreover, students from the
upper classes were given a variety of privileges and were usually forgiven unacceptable
behaviour.
Under the New State, education was repressive in all aspects and was distinguished by
excessive physical punishment.
Education had to be repressive for two fundamental reasons: firstly, because the
children were born with original sin; and secondly because some of them revealed a
greater need for `trimming down', as they came from particularly `bad' environments.
In such cases, the origin of Evil was twofold: innate and environmental.
(Mnica, 1978, p. 31).
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Teachers became little more than vehicles of this political-ideological force.
Classrooms were ruled with order and obedience, fear and repression. They totally
lacked pedagogical methods designed to help students learn, to stimulate innovation or
encourage individuality. In classrooms, learning was exclusively an exercise of the
ability to read, write and count.
The learning process in the classrooms of the 1930s was distinguished by simple
memorisation of what was in schoolbooks and by students' passivity in their evaluation
of contents. Students were required to be able to repeat quickly and accurately facts,
such as the names of the rivers and mountains in Portugal. Teachers were allowed to use
only one book and were prevented from so much as attempting to experiment with
innovative pedagogical practices.
In England, in 1880, teachers were fighting for a strong union to dignify their
occupation, and, at the same time, to push for a critical evaluation of what was
transmitted in the classroom. It is relevant to note that at the end of nineteenth century
in England, two pioneers of drama in schools - Harriet Finlay Johnson and Henry
Caldwell Cook - were already concerned with innovating lesson format, students'
attitudes in the classroom and innovative concepts about education in schools. This
attitude contributed to the practice of experimentation with different pedagogical
methods, which was, in a way, remarkably innovative.
It seems clear that there has been little investment in education in Portugal over the
years.
The census of 1991 revealed that 11 per cent of Portuguese were illiterate. That of
2001 showed that, despite the improvements and changes made in the field of adult
education, nine people in a hundred still cannot read or write. Alberto Melo, author
of the document that laid out the goals for the development of adult education, states: In
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this country, which has to cope with an unparalleled situation of schooling failure,
there has never been a campaign or a strong strategy `to combat the problem'.
(Journal de Noticas, (Portuguese Daily Newspaper), 15/12/2002)
Key Stage One schools, such as those dating back to the Plano dos Centenrios and
P3, (names of specific buildings with specific characteristics, Plano dos Centenrios
are schools similar to Norwegian buildings, with fireplaces and a ski-rack at the
entrance, P3 are schools following the Denmark model, buildings with open spaces
inside the school and no doors), built in the middle of the dictatorial regime.
In 2003, the Special Programme for the Reorganisation of the Network of Elementary
Schools, key stage one, implemented by the XIV government confirms that even today -
particularly in the interior regions - there are schools that do not even have the most
basic facilities. For example, many schools are without a library or cafeteria. Others
lack the equipment necessary for providing efficient teaching and for motivating
students from the interior regions, students who are typically prone to dropping out of
the education system, after Key Stage Two or Three. This propensity to drop out of
school is largely attributed to disillusionment engendered during elementary school
education and to the economic constraints, which distinguish the interior regions.
Towards the end of the 1960s, some teachers tentatively attempted to apply the natural
global method for teaching students to read and write, championed by the Movement of
the Modern School. This was only introduced into Portugal through private institutions,
founded and recognised as an official branch of the International Modern Movement in
1966. This movement made its first appearance in some public schools in Portugal,
eight years after the 1974 revolution. Regarding drama in education, however, there is
much to suggest that the stagnation has to do with the teaching courses, from the
beginning of the dictatorship until the year of the revolution. Because teachers in their
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teaching course did not have any artistic expression, numerous generations failed to
cultivate the habit of exploring drama in the classroom. Moreover, after the revolution,
drama was always the poor cousin of school teaching, and teaching in general. In the
area of teacher graduation, and at the level of practical teaching, forms of expression
during the dictatorship were manifestations that could easily be construed as
inappropriate behaviour.
According to educational authorities, recreational activities always had to be carried
out under the closest surveillance as it was precisely through such activities that
good teachers could discover the true character of their students, correct rebellious
traits and inculcate into students the `desired' norms.
(Mnica, 1978, p. 322)
Against this backdrop, it is easy to imagine that the concept of drama in education was
fated to fail, from the very start. This situation remained in effect for forty years, which
constitutes an enormous delay with regard to the exploration, theorisation and
development of drama, in Key Stage One schools. Even before Salazar dictatorship in
Portugal, England was home to at least five recognised pioneers in this field, (Bolton
1998) allowing different concepts about drama in schools, propagated by people such as
Peter Slade and Brian Way.
It is from a perspective of evolution and transformation that have taken place in the
context of key stage one, that this study viewed and analysed the content of the
interviews. The first of these took as a starting point the conditions under the
dictatorship, in relation to the following parameters: features of the schools in the
Algarve, where teaching was carried out, teacher- pupil relationship in the classroom
and students' attitudes; curriculum used; situation of drama in schools, in the Algarve
region; and the equipment and support materials available to teachers and students in
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the schools. The second aspect involved the same parameters, but viewed from the
perspective of the supervisors in relation to teachers practice today. Teachers who
belong to a different generation from their supervisors, who have experienced 30 years
of democracy. In relation to the first parameter, regarding teacher -pupil relationship the
respondent stated that classes still had many pupils and made it plain that the
relationship between the teacher and the pupils was still unilateral and that the pupils'
attitude was still distinctively passive. As regards classroom layout, the conventional
pattern of the pupils sitting in rows and facing the teacher at the front of the class, by the
blackboard, still applies. Moreover, the dynamics of schoolroom work are still largely
unchanged, with pupils sitting alone at their desks doing exercises from a book. As to
the second parameter, curriculum used, respondents stated that in many classrooms,
they still found the same method of working, reading and writing as they themselves
experienced in their Key Stage One schools. They also added that this is still the model
that student teachers of today tend to reproduce, as they naturally consider it a safe
approach - even though they had the opportunity to study several different methods,
while in training.
In relation to the situation of drama in school practice, some respondents clearly stated
that it did not exist and when they wanted to work it in their classroom, it was
considered strange, by other teachers. A respondent belonging to the Movement of
Modern School referred a different attitude concerning the use of drama in schools. In
the experience of the respondent, drama was always part of the practice. This
Movement mentioned in this chapter, has a different concept of education. Still there are
few schools with teachers belonging to the Movement, which require commitment in
the many workshops teachers attend. In relation to their practice as students, concerning
drama, they see there is lack of will to take any risks and use drama in teaching, on a
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daily basis. Respondents recognised that drama is used largely under language content,
and that students still see the use of drama as great performances for an audience.
The characterization could only be complete, after presenting the questionnaire referring
to the actual practice of teachers in key Stage One.
The table below shows quantitative data.
QUESTIONS ANSWERS
1 what ages are you teaching?
2 -first grade
1 - first and second grade
2- third grade
1-second grade
1- fourth grade
2 Do you use drama strategies and conventions to explore
other areas of the curriculum?
6 -yes
1- no
3 How many times in a semester you use to work through
drama:
4- once a month
2- every week
1 - once a week
4 Are you familiar with different authors and theories of
drama to work in the classroom?
3- yes
4- no
5 If you answered yes, who and which?
If you answered no go to question number 8
5- did not answer
1- answered three names
1- did not remember any
name
6 when work through drama which of these conventions
you use to structure your work for learning opportunities
4- did not answer
1 improvisation, role on the
wall, forum - theatre
1 - improvisation, teacher in
role
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1 - others
7 If you answered others, which ones? 1- games
8 - I'm not familiar because
2- I don't have time in the
classroom to use it
1-I don't feel the need to
work through drama
1- add another answer
9 In your teacher training, did you learnt about drama in
the classroom as an approach for teaching
7 - yes
According to this table, the second question is the one, which triggers off the
questionnaire into the focus of this study. This question provides the connection to all
others. In an objective analysis, within a sample of seven teachers there are six positive
answers and one negative answer, about using drama strategies and conventions to
explore other areas of the curriculum. The third question, about frequency of use, four
answered once a month in a semester, one answered once a week and two answered
every week. The fourth question inquired whether subjects were familiar with theories
and authors to work through drama. This question got three positives answers and four
negative ones.
Subjects who answered no to the fourth question, passed immediately on to question
eight. In this question, two said they were not familiar with different authors and
theories of drama in the classroom, because they didn't have time to use it in the
classroom; one didn't feel the need to work through drama and one added the following:
because I have the necessary knowledge to use drama without knowing about theories
or authors. Amongst those three, who were familiar with theories and authors, only
one identifies three names. These three subjects answered the sixth question, about
identifying conventions to work through drama, in organising work for learning
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opportunities. One subject uses improvisation and teacher in role, another also uses
improvisation, role on the wall and forum-theatre and another subject uses other
methods (question seven about other methods). All the subjects learnt in their teacher
training about drama in the classroom, as an approach for teaching other areas of the
curriculum
From the systematic analysis of the interaction between questions and answers, we
know that six subjects use drama strategies and conventions to explore other areas of the
curriculum. One subject does not. However, this subject works through drama once a
month, but is not familiar with theories or authors and does not identify any convention
to work through drama. The subject recognises that it does not have time in the
classroom to use it. The answers of the remaining six subjects can be interpreted as
follows: all subjects use drama conventions and strategies to explore other areas of the
curriculum; three use it once a month, two use it every week and one uses it once a
week. From the three subjects who answered once a month, two are not familiar with
theories or authors and do not use any conventions. One of these two subjects also says
that it does not have time in the classroom to use them, the other one adds that it has
enough knowledge to use it without authors or theories. The last subject amongst these
three subjects is familiar with theories and authors, but does not mention any. However,
this subject identified more than one convention, such as improvisation, role on the wall
and forum-theatre. Since the focus of this study is the use of drama as a complementary
form of pedagogy, the relation between the use of drama strategies and conventions to
explore other areas of the curriculum, its routine use would be every day, every week,
once a week, or at least once a month. From the subjects who answered every week to
work through drama, there was one subject who was not familiar with authors or
theories, does not identify standardised conventions or any others, and said in question
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eight that it does not feel the need to work through drama. The other subject is familiar
with authors and theories, but does not remember any and was able to identify two
strategies: improvisation and teacher in role. The subject who used to work through
drama once a week, is the only one who mentioned three names of authors, and
identified other conventions, such as games.
However, it is significant to see that all the subjects learnt in their teaching training
about drama in the classroom, as an approach for teaching other areas of the curriculum.
It is relevant for this study to realize that the majority of subjects use drama. On one
hand it is compulsory in the Portuguese national curriculum, which includes drama
under the heading of artistic education (music, visual, physical, IT, dancing), as an area
of the curriculum, with its own competencies, suggesting also that work can be done to
integrate it into a more general perspective with generalist teachers or with the support
of experts. Nevertheless, the verification of those assumptions also shows some
inconsistency in the answers and a very different practice from what is offered in
teacher training courses. Even if the subjects use drama to explore other areas of the
curriculum, even if some authors are identified as well as some conventions, their
unclear and disorganised knowledge of theories, strategies and conventions to work
through drama were significant and they concurred towards a proposal to systematize
proper drama terminology; that explains the importance of using particular strategies
and conventions for learning opportunities and organize work during a long period of
time. The analysis of interviews and questionnaires underlines the need for a review of
the current elementary education key stage one towards a redefinition of learning
methods
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CHAPTER II
The Importance of drama in education
Chapter One presented an overview of an attitude that is still prevalent in many schools
in the Algarve, highlighting the need to redefine the position of the teacher in the
classroom and stressing why drama should be considered as a complementary form of
pedagogy in this redefinition.
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This chapter will argue for the importance of drama throughout our lives, analysing the
reasons why it should be preserved in key stage one environment, presenting different
learning methods as meaningful to learning and understanding, comparing the nature of
drama in education in key stage one.
The meaningful themes are drawn from learning methods, arts philosophy, philosophy
and drama in education and they will seek to provide insight into what the application of
drama has to offer education in key stage one.
The role of drama as part of our process of explaining the world has to do with the need
we all have to interpret and give meaning to what we are experiencing.
The world is an unknown place and we try to make sense of it through the application of
various strategies. For example, we use imagination to relate to the world using
metaphors, categories, values and contexts.
Vygotsky (1979) showed how important the imagination is for the mental development
of the child, and how make-believe play is very important in giving meanings to things.
In fact, young children often have difficulty in separating imaginary situations from real
ones. During the process of growing up, imaginary situations take on different purposes
and become subject to different rules and greater demands.
This study focuses on the use of imagination in our process of explaining the world, as
well as the regular use of imagination through drama. Let us consider the example of
students learning three basic competences reading, writing and arithmetic
exclusively from exercise books. Two main suggestions arise from this; the first is that
learning is somehow estranged from the pupils responsibility; the second is that
working from exercises books does not require group problem solving, or imagination.
Imagination is the instrument of discovery. (Rugg, 1963, p. 37).
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According to the above argument, imagination should not be separated from education,
and what this study maintains is that one of the places to use imagination and create
all sort of ifs to facilitate understanding and the allocation of meaning to the world
is drama. Macmillan (1923) underlined that, Imagination requires room.(Macmillan,
1923,p14.). A teacher using this complementary form of pedagogy can offer this room.
Through dramatic activities, children are activating imagination, raising all sort of
questions to enter the makebelieve world that fulfils the child with what the real world
cannot offer. According to Edward Bond (1996), children need to know about their
place in the world; they need to know what their role is; they need to know through
questions to which there is sometimes no easy answer, no right or wrong answer.
Nevertheless, children still need to ask.
In the beginning, there is perception and imagination; children map the world around
them with lies i.e. without appropriate knowledge.
The childs map of the world is a lie and so the child is a lie. Its descriptions of world
and itself are lies. Yet rationality is the product of is confirmed by its lies. Its elders
teach it to anthropomorphise the world. They tell it lying tales; and indeed, to love a
child in this world is to lie to it. But if a child is not lied to, and if it does not lie to itself,
its mind is incoherent and cannot bear reality The map is lie but themapless mind is
autistic.
(Bond, 1996, p. 11).
A child knows nothing and the process of growing up is to fill that nothing with
symbols, roles, different contexts and using language in different situations, while
experiencing a changing society.
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In the context of the above argument, it is important to stress what Bruner (1991), Bond,
(1996) and Vygotsky, (1979), all say about the importance of roles, actions, stories and
contexts, in our process of growing up:
For stories define the range of canonical characters, the settings in which they
operate, the actions that are permissible and comprehensible () As we enter more
actively into the life of a culture around us, as Victor Turner remarks, we come
increasingly to play parts defined by the dramas of that culture. Indeed, in time the
young entrant into the culture comes to define his own intentions and even his own
history in terms of the characteristic cultural dramas in which he plays a part
(Bruner, Haste, 1987, p. 91).
These concepts are used to present a picture of how human development is directly
linked to the bricks from which drama is built: stories, roles, contexts, sets, language
development in different situations, questions, symbolic systems, understanding the
surrounding world, and make-believe as the source of so many meanings.
According to Bruner and Haste, children were seen as isolated beings in mapping the
world through the major stages of development after birth with regard to cognition. This
study, however, underlines the importance of relating the cognitive and cultural aspects
that place the understanding and interpretation of the world in an appropriate,
shared social context ( Bruner, Haste, 1987, p. 1).
A number of researchers have demonstrated the importance of collaborative activity
in enhancing problem-solving ability. They have observed the role of language and
interaction in exploring possible solutions. What in fact happens in such interactions is
that the childs own cognitive approach to the problem is challenged, either by peers
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directly or by parents or teachers scaffolding understanding through pacing problem-
solving process.
(Bruner, Haste, 1987, p. 8).
In this study, the term understanding will always be connected with drama. Therefore
understanding something through the medium takes the form of an external response,
which, in turn, stems wholly from social and cultural factors. Understanding
something in education is normally taken to mean acquiring knowledge in relation to
situations, contexts, people and attitudes. When we understand something, we are able
to relate particular information to broader concepts. Understanding is, thus, always
positioned in an external world and has to do with experiments based on self.
The word understanding only makes sense in public context. This becomes clear
when we ask how we know that someone has understood x because we can only
properly answer that question by observing how they act and by listening to what they
say. (Fleming, 2001, p. 61), It is the understanding which can not be abstracted from
the context in which it finds expression.
(Fleming, 2001, p. 62)
Gardner (1995) maintains that any sort of rehearsal or performance can be illustrative
of whether someone has understood something especially drama that can be
considered as a response to or a reflection of any issue. Understanding something
through drama where, we can view education as a constant process of refining and
deepening, seeing things from new angles, making fresh connections (Fleming,
2001, p. 62).
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The above arguments sustain the importance of the use of drama as a complementary
form of pedagogy. A complementary form of pedagogy that will complement and
enhance the learning that actually takes place in many classrooms in the Algarve.
To declare oneself against the institution of the three Rs in the schools is like being
against motherhood or the flag. Beyond question, students ought to be literate and
ought to reveal in their literacy () What is missing are not the decoding skills, but
two other facets: the capacity to read for understanding and the desire to read at all
it is not the mechanics of writing nor the algorithms for subtraction that are absent, but
rather the knowledge about when to invoke these skills and the inclination to do so
productively in ones own daily life
(Gardner, 1995, p. 186/187)
This underlines that understanding is a basic skill that needs to be maintained and
developed in cultivating the additional skills we acquire as we grow, the ones we need
in our striving to cope with the world around us. It also underlines that we only
understand something, if we desire to know and give meaning to knowledge.
According to Bond (1996) and to Freires pedagogy, (1993) there cannot be knowledge
or understanding, if people are dependent on ideology and do not take a critical position
towards authority. This is not to say that rebellion or inappropriate behaviour is
permissible, rather that children cannot be educated as passive citizens. Again,
imagination will be in the centre of the desire to know and understand knowledge.
In Chapter One, drama has traditionally been viewed in schools as something useless
and trivial, something very dangerous for ideology in exactly the same way as
imagination. During many years, in Portugal, imagination and drama were seen as
something subversive, something that was hidden by those who never let their
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() knowledge is not an abstract, isolated subject-based discipline, but is based in
human action, interaction, commitment and responsibility
(Bolton, 1998, p. 177)
In addition, it is important to note that on the basis of predetermined structures centred
on the teacher as a single point of reference, it is likely that children will find it difficult
to adapt to a classroom environment that clash with the luggage they bring with them,
from the first years of their lives.
What will happen in school cannot be predicted exactly in any given case. Recent
insights into the process however, reveal how difficult it is for most children to master
the agenda of school, particularly to the extent that its mode of operation clashes with,
or is irrelevant to, biases and constraints that have emerged during the first half decade
of life.
(Gardner, 1995, p, 104)
This seems to prompt many questions: why does the curriculum of Key Stage One so
often separate children from their reality, from the world where they also learn? Why is
it that academic goals that give priority to acquiring limited skills and preparing
children to overcome different levels are regarded as indicators of excellence?
The language of school is remote from daily experience, favouring abstract terms and
concepts and entailing formulaic exchanges between teacher and student. Meanings are
often defined in technical ways and there is considerable metalanguage talk about
talk.
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(Gardner, 1995, p.134).
Since 1990, Dorothy Heathcote has underlined that the mode of teaching practice was
failing, and yet we still find this preoccupations in education methods. Many educators
in the Faculty of Education in Faro use Freires pedagogy to underline the importance
of a different stance of the teacher in the classroom. The elementary school teacher, key
stage one, should adopt a critical position, a position centred on transformation
transformation through more dialogue about complex issues, issues explored in a more
collective way, a way that challenges responsibility and reflection about learning and
understanding.
Therefore, in the classroom, teachers should use a complementary form of pedagogy,
which has to do with:
() lived experiences, meaningful and useful (...) An open system will allow the
students and their teacher in conversation and dialogue to create more complex orders
and structures of subject matter and ideas than is possible in the closed curriculum
structures of today.
(Fleming, 2001, p. 28)
The principal contention of this study is that the creative mind of children is always
looking for the unexpected and new, and these two aspects receive nourishment in the
present moment, that drama creates. Drama is about something happening now.
Children have the chance to be in a laboratory, to experience real situations, without
the burden of future repercussions. (Johnson, ONeill, 1984, p. 104)
The present moment is the best way to deal with many different moments of all kinds,
the present moment being part of an adventure that can lead to any place, any time, any
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They may need to alter their teaching style gradually, so that pupils can adapt to new
approaches, and they will no longer be able to adopt the familiar teacher stance of
being the one who knows. They must be prepared to build on the knowledge and
experience which pupils bring with them to the work, and they must value their pupils
contributions to the lessons more than their own
(ONeill, Lambert, 1982,p21)
A redefinition in education is also supported by those who criticised fragmented
knowledge, which is not the case indrama as a complementary form of pedagogy. The
interaction between contents (interaction between different areas of the curriculum),
extended beyond a single lesson, even though the duration of the work naturally does
not imply a precise outcome or a specific presentation, the constant questioning, the
problemposer and problem-solver, and respect for group work, shows that children are
motivated to acquire knowledge from such activity. As demonstrated in Chapter One,
through the analysis of the questionnaires, the actual teaching practice, showed
inconsistency, and a low level of knowledge regarding a different concept of
methodology in education, which was working other areas of the curriculum through
drama.
In our first play, we bring together all areas of knowledge. The story has a place or
several places; it contains things of different shapes and sizes. It contains a text, lines,
people or animals in those places. It contains movement, gestures, and expressions.
Above all, play is dependent on a context in which anything can happen. Children are
responsible for their answers; they are responsible for their questions, their doubts and
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their understanding. All these aspects are naturally subject to a limited basis, but it is
this very basis that will help children to acquire more knowledge.
In the words of Edgar Morin, we should always maintain that the learner must be
responsible for his knowledge.
Learning about learning, which includes integrating the learner into his knowledge,
should be recognized by educators as a basic principle and permanent necessity.
(Morin, 2001, p. 27).
Learning the contents of the other areas through drama as a complementary form of
pedagogy is shown by the response that children might have in the various tasks: for
example, children framed as people in the Middle Ages, to explore the living conditions
of that time. Through the present moment that drama offers along with the lived
experience, children can be able to explore feelings, attitudes, constraints, rules,
relations, thoughts and other behaviours of a distant age, comparing the evolution and
changes of today. The learner enters into his knowledge, for it will no longer be
exclusively learnt from a book or from the reception of the information through the
teacher.
The emphasis will be on discovery rather than on mere implementation of factual
knowledge.
( ONeill Lambert, 1982.p17)
Emphasising the need for a redefinition in education in key stage one, from the
perspective of the importance of drama as a complementary form of pedagogy, this
study would like to introduce an example of Freires theory about literacy, as a principle
for hope. In the words of Peter Roberts (1998), from the University of Auckland:
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() Freires theoretical and practical work in the area of literacy can be understood
as one dimension of a broader narrative of hope.
(Roberts, 1998, Vol. 50, p. 108)
In this article, Peter Roberts looks at the importance of pedagogy of transformation in
Freires theory, with regard to the importance of dialogue for those who want to be
socially critical human beings. He maintains that the most important concept that must
be applied in elementary school key stage one is that teaching any subject has to be
based on the experiences of the participants.
This does not mean that personal experience should represent the end-point of a
literacy programme () Freires point is that each person has unique access to at least
one domain of knowledge the reality of their lived experience () A literacy
programme (indeed any educational programme) cannot succeed if learners are unable
to relate in some way to what educators or coordinators are saying. The stronger the
connection with existing knowledge and experience, the better
(Roberts, 1998, Vol. 50, p. 108)
The importance of dialogue as a means to encourage the learner to establish a critical
comprehension of the world through discussion and using the words of the learners
is one of the cornerstones needed for education to take place in the sense of learning and
understanding.
The crucial bridge between existing and new forms of knowledge and experience in
any educational endeavour (a literacy programme being one example) is dialogue.
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read, taste, touch, smell, like or hate. It is about working with active students looking
for meaning in their learning. It is about motivation through dialogism. It is about
developing a critical consciousness about any matter, a consciousness fed by the process
of questioning which is inseparable from drama.
Furthermore, drama as a complementary form of pedagogy can provide motivation
A more convincing explanation of dramas motivational force is that it harness the
inclination to play which while at its strongest in early childhood persists into
adolescence and arguably into the whole of adult life
(Fleming1994, p 37)
Drama as a complementary form of pedagogy can also provide:
Continuous use of imagination in different problem-posing scenarios, in all
sorts of contexts through many different roles.
It is imagination that allows both teacher and students to devise alternative
modes of action, alternative projects and solutions ()
( Heathcote, Bolton,1995, p,7-8)
Active participation rather than passive learning with the chance to be part of an
active group with equal rights where all points of view are given credit.
Time to negotiate and explore alternative solutions to situations, therefore
giving children the opportunity to understand different contents of areas of the
curriculum, from various perspectives.
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Time to use the make-believe world and for children to be whoever they want to
be and even live an adventure, to help them to learn in an environment they
are familiar with.
In a play a child deals with things having meaning ( Bolton, 1998,p176)
Finally, learning through drama in the classroom gives children the opportunity to
relate real-life experiences to all educational areas of the curriculum.
It has become clear that interest, motivation and learning all result when drama is
employed for educational ends
(Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p4)
CHAPTER III
Drama as a complementary form of pedagogy to work within other areas of the
curriculum
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It is important to remember that there is never a single right answer in drama only
one that appears right for a particular group or situation. In this complementary form of
pedagogy, teachers have to accept the risks involved. Nevertheless, teachers must have
at their disposal different strategies in structuring drama work in key stage one for
responding to the needs of different age groups. This method is reliant on working with
children at a greater depth in contrast to the superficial and sometimes inconsistent
demonstrated in chapter one.
As such in the context of key stage one, one of the most important aspects of the use of
drama to work within other areas of the curriculum is the involvement of the teacher
both in and out of role.. Chapter two advocate a different stance of the teacher regards
the relationship between teacher and pupil in the classroom. Therefore, it would be most
useful for children to see their teacher as having the same joint commitment as they do.
The way the teacher demonstrates this is entirely dependent on how the teacher defines
the best way to work for a set period, in a particular situation, or with a particular age
group.
This method emphasise the ingredients essential for drama work, such as context, roles,
framework and drama strategies. And underlines the ingredients to meaningful
education and qualitative assessment by both the teacher and the children with regard to
the work carried out in different areas of knowledge, such as project work, questioning,
reflecting and/or critical analysis.
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with fund raising. Such projects often petered out as soon as their concrete goals had
been achieved.
The activities to which I refer normally correspond to responses to municipal offers,
or to financing programmes sponsored by state departments, stemming from various
competing sources () This consumerist manner of utilising the funds available is,
however, contrary to the integrationist approach to learning, changing the direction
of funding and turning it into a simple reinforcement of the primitive and atomist
theories of education.
(Niza, MEM, A School for Democracy. (On line in Hhttp:// margarida
belchior.planetaclix.pt/mem.htm ), Retrieved in, March, 10,2004)
Working in projects focuses the group on posing and solving problems. Projects are
imbued with the sense that all participants are peers, all working together and respecting
different opinions and feelings. They are built on for enriched dialogues about the
context and about the various roles or sets. They are dependent on the participation of
everyone involved, including and especially the teacher.
They are offered the opportunity to think, to feel, to talk, to act, and so to learn as
they normally learn in the real world through experience and collaboration with
others.
( Ball, Airs, 1995,p 56)
Everyone is in the same boat and everyone has a job to do.
The main feature of projects is that no matter how different people may be, they are all
valuable to the project in the same way as every single piece of a jigsaw is essential to
the whole. In this regard, Gardner (1995), Johnson and ONeill (1984) refer to the
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concept of the master and the apprentice, a relationship in which learning is based on
observation and practice. In the same way, through the application of drama, children
understand that what they are doing is sharing on equal terms with their teacher, who
they very often view as the person most distant from them in the process of education.
The main features of working through drama in a project is that, the importance of the
teacher to take on a role, acting with the children and using the same context and
conventions. As we will see later on in this chapter, being in a role can allow the teacher
to guide pupils into different meanings; add information, explore other forms of
communication and to reflect on decisions and opinions without being considered an
authority rather a peer. According to Heathcote, (1995) the argument of children
having ownership of their drama, and responsibility for their learning, can only
happen over a period of time, she defends that can only happen if it is to work during
several sessions. Therefore, during this period the teacher must decide which moments
are important to be in or out of role. Because the project work must be worked over a
long period of time, teachers will have several opportunities to be in role as an
important strategy to be involved in the drama, and also to be out of role whenever
necessary.
The teacher can go into and out of role to help them to clarify and reflect on the
situation. They may decide on what resources are required, where they can be found,
what language and tone is appropriate to the situation, whether extra help is needed
and, if so, how can be summoned
( Ball, Airs, 1995,p98)
Project work is not about staging a play with characters, scenery, lights, sound and
costumes. It is about co-operative work on any area of the curriculum, using strategies
from drama to work in specific content, while constantly bearing in mind that there is
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no line of orientation imposed by the teacher and that any source material must be
shared with the children.
So we need to train our teachers to structure for a learning situation to happen rather
than the sharing of information in a final way to take place.
(Johnson, ONeill, 1984, p. 29).
According to Bolton (1971), one of the characteristics of a dramatic activity, is that
Any limitations are imposed by consensus and are changeable.
(Bolton, Gavin, 1971,p7)
In chapter two, this study advocate the importance of redefinition in education and also
a new stance of the teacher in the classroom, specially concerned with the fact that
children should ought more responsibility in their learning. Therefore, in using drama as
a complementary form of pedagogy, both teachers and learners have the chance to work
throughout the project on a mutual basis of commitment and negotiation, concerned the
structure in which the content of the project is embodied. Teachers using drama as
complementary form of pedagogy have to be prepared to take some risks in the
classroom. As said before in this chapter, defended by Fleming (2001), the teachers
who are not willing to take risks can bring to the classroom predetermined structures to
work with children. However, if they do so the students miss the chance to have a
different school experience, experience different attitudes in the classroom and explore
meaningful work.
Project work in this study is classified as the primary principle in the important work of
planning curriculum content.
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comprehension, it offers the opportunity of teaching different age groups in the same
classroom or teaching children with different capacities. This is because different
degrees of complexity and research can be applied to the various activities and tasks
required by the different age groups.
According to Heathcote (1984), children should not come to the classroom with labels
for it in one way or another allow teachers to close their mind to certain difficulties that
children might have.
() I must not be afraid to move out of my centre, and meet the children where they
are () I must also have the ability to see the world through my students, and not my
students through it.
(Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p18)
In the case of using drama as a complementary form of pedagogy, all the children are in
the same boat, to work in a collaborative way and to respond to certain stimulus in a
fictional world provided by drama.
Heathcote (1984) defends the:
() diagnostic power of dramatic methods. It can readily be used to test what
information people already possess, when assessing the next stages of instruction, and
can be an excellent guide for diagnosis of the conceptual maturity, as well as to reveal
social sensitivity.
(Johnson, O Neill, 1984,p 150).
In project work, teachers must be aware of the use of language with the purpose of
orienting children into a different world, the world of the imagination. Teachers have to
be more sensitive to motivate children to enter that world and never lose the
atmosphere. The teachers voice becomes more important than ever because it is the
instrument used to create the mood. The voice is the instrument of many roles, many
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purposes, and many questions, and it is essential always to remember that the teacher is
no longer simply a transmitter of information but has become a facilitator and
researcher of significant information.
The poetic, selective handling of language is necessary, again not the effete
smoothness of accent and delivery, but the economical, selective powerful choice of
words where fitness for purpose is paramount. This means a good ear, and a tonal
control above the normal used or expected to be used in everyday commerce.
(Johnson, ONeill, 1984, p. 33)
The teacher who wants to use drama as a complementary form of pedagogy must be
concerned with the constant changes in society. He or she must always be looking for
something new, and must always look beyond the information provided through the
training course. Such teachers must be researchers all the time, and must have at their
disposal a variety of themes and questions to take into the classroom while remaining
open to receiving different information and then finding out more about it.
The training in the natural seeking to go beneath the outer form to the inner meanings
so that the apparently dissimilar are revealed to have common areas of meaning. The
great universals. This leads to the understanding of the significance of rituals, to the
seeking for the nature of objects as well as the shapes of objects. It gives unity to
experiences. It finds form everywhere, from the momentous form in buildings towering
in space to the movements of a child in play. Given this sense no meaningless or
cheap artifact will be introduced in that classroom
(Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p33).
It is not simply a matter of relying on exercises books or on the books officially
recognised by the Portuguese Department of Education.
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SECTION II
Context
In presenting this principle, this study aims to provide evidence for the contention that
drama is about exploring something through roles in a fictional world with numerous
questions and a considerable amount of reflection. This something, is the universal
content that must lead to particular details about life, which is the raw material from
which any context must be built in a drama project. The context to work through drama
should be drawn from the curriculum, from the needs and requirements of the students,
from the teachers observation of the needs of the class, from the age group with which
the teacher is working, from any learning area.
Therefore, in Key Stage One classrooms the context must be significant to children of a
specific age, with specific cultural backgrounds, interests, desires and preoccupations.
For example, in project work children can work with any content drawn from life that is
close to their community, their language, their culture and their social concerns.
Therefore, in the dramatic context, children will be themselves living out a fictional
situation about life, reflecting and learning in the safe atmosphere of make-believe. As
such, the children are both the participants and the audience because of the
understanding that can arise from that situation.
In dramatic playing the student is involved in activities which do not necessarily
require him to be anyone other than himself. These activities are designed to place the
student in a make-believe situation in which he can explore his reactions and actions in
a spontaneous way.
(Morgan, Saxton, 1987, p. 118)
Having chosen a significant context, to establish the time and place of a fictional
situation to develop in a drama project, it is important to achieve a consensus among all
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This is make-believe and all participants are in the same world.
The conventions are signs and symbols that start the same encounter for all participants
and are used to stimulate different experiences in a dramatic context. The way teachers
use a convention depends only on their goals and aims.
A convention achieves value through being appropriate to the moment it has been
selected for
(Neelands, 1990, p. 6)
The context can be explored with many different signs, such as, teacher in role of other
person, objects, about a certain person, that can be historical, a photograph, or a painting
representing a certain space or person, clothing in a specific space, a Dairy of a person,
a letter that brings news from a certain person. In this study, the purpose to underline
the importance of conventions has to do with the need for authenticity in exploring the
fictional context. The choices of conventions in this study are mainly drawn from
Dorothy Heathcote s work. In her work, conventions can move away children from the
naturalistic way of acting.
the conventions allow for the point of attention to be away from the participants
themselves; they and the teacher together legitimately focus on the physical presence of
a visitor or on a drawing or on a costume or property or on a written or spoken
message.
(Heathcote, Bolton, 1995,p185)
i.e. the children ought to focus on everything else instead of themselves, the effect is to
make them focus on others. These are conventions that () slow down time and
enable classes to get a grip on decisions and their own thinking about matters.
(Johnson, O Neill, 1984, p166).
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the context without rush in. A collective role in key stage one can reinforce the
differences amongst the group, but as a positive thing towards respect for everybody
opinion, can reinforce the individuals ideas that contribute for a whole.
When applied in groups it seems to have certain additional bonuses for the teacher
and the class alike in that it allows group pressure to be applied in two ways; to
produce differing attitudes and experiences to be available to the group and to demand
adequate communication of these attitudes by the individuals in the group, to the
group
(Johnson, O Neill, 1984, p51)
In this complementary form of pedagogy and also defended by the drama practitioners
bellow, drama.( )works from the strength of the group. It draws on a common stock of
experiences and in turn enriches the minds and feelings of individuals within the
group
( O Neill, Lambert, 1982,p,13).
Children should have the chance to think in terms of a collective response that will give
them more responsibility in dealing with the experiences. Children should have the
chance, to listen and to respect others ideas, to clarify ideas so that others can
understand, to negotiate, and to be able to give up and change ideas and opinion.
it is likely that the most valuable kinds of learning will take place when the group is
working as a whole
(O Neill, Lambert,1982, p. 27)
A collective role moves us away from the idea that an individual role is synonymous
with memorising lines. Roles in this study are not about having a text, or having an
action with roles to take on. It is more about individuals in a group with a collective role
that launches the participants to the same space and time contributing to the
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understanding of that role and its function in the context a role that will eventually
lead to questions and opinions on which everyone has the chance, and indeed the
obligation, to reflect.
Some people may sometimes seem to have an awful lot more to offer than others, but
their work is always only a part of our work and is always simply their contribution to
what we are all learning
( Ball, Airs, 1995, p68)
Through a project, children can have different roles that will help to develop, for
example, their use of spoken and written language in different situations. Following the
example stated in chapter two, if children are working the middle age in Europe, they
can explore the three social classes (people, aristocracy, the church). They will
eventually have different roles, exploring different behaviours; attitudes, spoken
language, and they can explore the differences between today, of the written language.
They can also explore the setting of scenarios of the different social classes which will
motivate them to research work, and eventually can lead them to draw and painting
tasks.
An example from theatre, about the use of collective roles can be found in Augusto
Boals work, the Theatre of the Oppressed (1979) and Games for Actors and Non-
Actors (1992), as he worked a lot with people with no experience of the theatre, around
the world to teach his method and specially try to give people space for debate and
overcame their oppression. The use of Forum Theatre allowed people to perform and
reflect about their oppression, the so called, spect actor, the active spectator. The
roles were very often collective and usually represented a social class, a community, or
a human condition. The philosophy of the Theatre of the Oppressed was to to move
from the individual to the general, rather than vice-versa. (Boal, 1992,pxxiii).
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The intention of the above example about Boals work is to underline the aspects that
this study considers useful for applying key stage one, which are, the opportunity to
stimulate debate, () (in the form of action, not just words), to show alternatives, to
enable people to become the protagonists of their own lives.
( Boal, 1992,xxii).
The chance for children to ask questions and found their own answers as the spect
actors
This again is fundamental to the Theatre of the Oppressed it is never didactic to its
audience, it involves a process of learning together rather than one- way teaching ()
(Boal, 1992,xxi.)
The understanding of the philosophy of his work is useful for the teacher to apply in the
classroom some techniques/strategies proposed later in this study, like Still Images and
Forum Theatre.
Images work across language and culture barriers and as Boal shows, frequently
reveal unexpected universalities.
( Boal,1992,pxx)
A powerful context requires an important element of worthwhile tension. Tension is
another essential aspect of any text, play, story, and life. In the case of this study,
moments of tension in drama activities.
The importance of dramatic tension to explore the context through dramatic activities,
will challenge the participants to overcome, a threat, a dilemma, a pressure, a stranger, a
mystery, it can give to children more motivation and children can become more
involved, in the action. () tensions may be invitations, or lures, to become committed
and involved in the unfolding story or action. (Neelands, 1990,p68)
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SECTION III
Questioning
This principle is above all a principle that concerns education as a whole, i.e. it is not
the exclusive preserve of drama. With this principle, what is being encouraged is above
all a pedagogy looking for changes in the teachers stance in a key stage one classroom.
A pedagogy in the fundamental fields of, learning and understanding. A pedagogy
defended in chapter two using Paulo Freires (1993) assertions of communication that
drives more deeply into the real meaning of education.
As stated in Chapter One, there are still many classrooms in Algarve with pupils sitting
in rows and facing the teacher at the front of the class by the blackboard.
In the past, children in school were expected to acquire knowledge, and learning facts
was an end in itself. For the student today an effective memory is not the only
requirement. He must be able to react to what is being taught and must be active in
seeking understanding. In other words, he must seek, find and then be able to question
what he has found in order to see all the facets, so that he may defend it or understand
why it is no longer defensible.
( Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p68)
Within this complementary form of pedagogy, the true role of questioning has to do
with communication, speculation and interpretation all in the context of active pupils
who are prepared to explore, to decide, to negotiate, and to discover deeper meanings in
their learning. The question is central to learning ( Morgan, Saxton, 1987,67)
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As mentioned previously, framework, can help to create the proper tension, especially
because, it adds a wealth of different information to the content being explored. It is not
about setting dialogues about the event, but rather about putting a range of questions
about the event into different perspectives.
Above all the importance offramework is to encourage learners to take a critical
position towards the issues they encounter in the drama work and to gradually help
them to take grater control of their drama work.
There are many ways of providing frames but the most important factor is that the
participants have to be framed into a position of influence () I take it as a general
rule that people have most power to become involved at a caring and urgently involved
level if they are placed in a quite specific relationship with the action, because this
brings with it inevitably the responsibility, and, more particularly, the view point which
gets them into an effective involvement.
(Johonson, ONeill,1984,p168)
A great many perspectives are available with a wealth of different contents. In every
lesson planned, we can see the children framed as scientists, architects, villagers,
newspaper reporters, and the like. So whenever children enter an event with their
different roles, frame is naturally being implemented.
When role is used it can set frame very quickly because the very fact that someone
has enter into a full signing system, in drama time automatically places the rest of the
people present into roles themselves, for they must be addressed as if they are so
(Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p163)
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