Policy Paper - Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competences in Education

Norway
Explore themes
from different
perspectives
Being able to
understand other
people’s life situation
through identification
and engagement in
such situations
Increasing children’s
self-confidence and
capacity for dialogue
Framed in collective characters, writingin-role
(diaries), interviews/interrogations,
documentary (within the performance),
mantle of the expert, image-work, voices
in the head, ask questions, debate issues,
create still-images, improvise and reflect
Group games for fun, bringing the safety of
joint work in a group.
All participants are asked to add personal
and emotional elements to their characters
through stories and personal ‘luggage’ in the
imagined reality.
Work in pairs for focus on concentration and
collaboration (lengthening short-time focus)
Work in small groups improvising scenes
and/or tell stories as a collective exercise.
Evaluation and reflections of the day (out of
role)
Warm up exercises and concentration
games (stretching, mirroring, pantomime
or dance) breathing, humming or singing,
speed of reaction, brainstorming; improvising
with props, emotions or simple situations.
Students work individually, then in pairs,
small or large groups. Reflection uses a
form of structured discussion or symbolic
techniques of drama (e.g. tunnel of thoughts,
role on the wall, freeze frame with bubbles).
First, a warm-up is done including moving,
speaking, relaxing.
Everybody briefly introduces her/himself;
there is an ice-breaking group exercise,
a dynamic game to raise interest and
improve the atmosphere. We focus then on
individuals with games involving senses,
talking, concentration and imagination. After
that a competition is needed and we finish
with a group-building exercise
Introductory exercises, games, discussion.
- Students in role
- Teacher in role/Teacher as narrator
- Group presentations in role
- Movement/Walking through the space
- Freeze/Group images
- Speech and movement/Characters
- Scenes/stylised movement - following the
story of the narrator
- Chorus speech
- Final exercises, games, reflection
Ice-breaking, name learning and group
dynamic games; dramaturgical analysis
of the play; social games, knowledge
games, games of trust and games in pairs;
improvisation exercises
Sweden
Build and establish
trust; sharpen
concentration
Taking advantage of
individuals' abilities
and desires and
streng thening them;
building positive selfconception
Developing a student’s
‘felt understanding’ of
both themselves and
others with whom they
work
Different games, exercises and warm-ups;
improvisation games/theatre exercises,
movement games, co-exercises and
concentration exercises
R e s u l t s
Palestine
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovenia
Find solidarity, and
work towards a
common goal
Respect for diversity;
co-operation;
creative group work
Increase selfconfidence
and
ability to take
responsibility, be
open and tolerant to
others; co-operation
Create an
opportunity for
building new kind
of relationship
between children
and educators
Support personal
growth and positive
self-esteem; develop
imagination; learn
how to solve
problems; encourage
positive social
interaction
Confronting students’
stereotypes of roles
within the group;
challenging common
beliefs
Expressing
themselves creatively
by playing together;
showing that teams
resolve conflicts
and work more
productively than
individuals
Exploring innovative,
creative and
participatory potentials
for working on
curricular units
Memory training
exercises, logical
thinking and social
skills development
United
Kingdom
Table 13. Specific examples of main aims, focuses and methods of educational theatre and drama work by
country (based on the submitted drama descriptions)
Clusters
Help young people
establish their place
in an ever changing
society through a
creative process
of exploration and
reflection
Aim
Support co-operation, creative group work and work towards a common
goal
Develop communication skills and argumentation techniques and be
open to others’ views
Build social competences, tolerance, empathy, solidarity, encourage
positive social interaction, establish trust among children
Increase self-confidence, self-esteem, support personal growth
Be able to take responsibility, learn how to solve problems, take initiative
Result
Creative, helpful, enthusiastic
co-operators
Effective communicators
‘Agents of hope and change’,
empathic individuals
People with positive self-image
Initiators, having own ideas
All theatre and drama programme leaders were also asked to indicate what the main
purposes of their educational theatre and drama programme were, and to what extent.
Five options with a scale of 1-5 were offered.
If we statistically create groups 55 according to which programmes are similar in the stated
purposes, we find four different categories:
Average scores
Cluster 1 2 3 4
14. To create an artistic work 3 1 2 4
15. To develop the social competences of pupils 5 5 5 5
16. To teach pupils about drama 4 2 5 3
17. To learn about a specific theme or topic through drama 5 1 2 3
18. To develop pupils’ creativity and thinking skills 5 5 5 5
Table 15. Drama description clusters
The method applies a hybrid of theatre and
drama-in-education methodology. The drama
work is designed to work with one class at a
time to maximise the student/actor-teacher
ratio. All the workshop and performance
elements are totally integrated. The traditional
conventions are associated with the use of
frame, role and task alongside new Bondian
concepts such as the Site, the Centre, the
Drama Event and the Invisible Object
Table 14. Main aims appearing in nearly all drama descriptions - and the characteristics of children as described
by educational theatre and drama practitioners themselves
55 This is called “cluster analysis”, See Appendix D3.
R e s u l t s
68
69