Policy Paper - Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competences in Education

Entrepreneurship
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We were able to make decisions. Trying to put our point of view across - it helped us.
I thought it was kind of daunting at first. Usually in school it’s like teachers lead you
along, and then when you get things like that [the TIE programme], when they ask
you – ‘well what do you think’ – it’s kind of ‘stand on your own two feet’.
R e s u l t s
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They let us bring our own ideas. They did kind of put ideas into our head, things
we wouldn’t have thought of - it lets you be able to carry on thinking more deeply. It
gives you independence to express your views […]. It was quite daunting because
you had to think about it yourself. But when you got into it, ideas started flowing, and
you started to get the gist of what was happening.
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It made me feel more independent and not depend on the teachers all the time for
the answers.
You’ve always got a set answer in most other subjects. I know this is a weird
comparison, but when you’re in here watching the thing [TIE programme] - it’s kind
of like learning to ride your bike when you’re a little kid. Because you’re going along
with your ideas, then you fall off your bike - like when you go slightly off-track; you
have one little small idea in your head (which would be the kid getting back on the
bike), and you start up again with your ideas.
Interpersonal, intercultural and social competences, civic
competence
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It helps us to think about other people, and what
situation they’re in. Now, say, if there was a
tramp on the street, you walk past and you
would think of their situation better. You
wouldn’t think ‘oh forget them’; you’d think,
‘well what’s happening there, and what are
they thinking?’ So it’s helped me be more
charitable.
“
If you’re sitting there watching the news,
and you see people with drugs and all that,
you think ‘oh they’re scumbags’ - sometimes they
are, but seeing that show you’ve got to think deeper into
it,
like maybe they can’t help it, maybe they’ve been born into a bad family or
something. It stops you with your biased views, and you start to look at both points,
and then it allows you to come to your own conclusion. […] we don’t understand
sometimes. People reject what they don’t understand.
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When you’re with your friends and you see someone with bad hair or something and
you tend to start laughing. [Now] you go ‘well hang on, that’s not right; maybe they
can’t help the way they look and maybe something’s happened’. And you just go
‘No. Stop. That isn’t right to pick on somebody.’
Cultural expression
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When you do drama it helps you create symbolism…It makes you think of things you
wouldn’t normally think of.
[Discussing a drama activity in which the children were given a torn bandage to
examine from the play] It’s like the start and the end of the life; and then the slits are
like all the gaps……. It’s like a life has been building up and building up….. It’s like
holes in the cloth represent the life hidden; the holes represent what he’s missing.
He’s missing his dad. Once his mum’s died, obviously he’s going to miss his mum.
So this represents what he’s missed in his life, what’s missing.
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She [the actor-teacher] would ask us to show to other pupils what we were thinking.
She would make us act it out so everyone could see what you mean. Then we
all would have to describe what we were doing so it would help other people to
understand. Like I said, we didn’t know [at first] what that play was about, we didn’t
really understand it. So that’s why we had to do the play and then describe it so
people would understand it.
“
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[Taking part in the drama activities] was good because you don’t want to do something
and no-one gets what you mean. Showing it and then describing it, you could tell they
knew what you meant because they would say back ‘oh yeah, that’s good’.
It helps when you’re stuck for words; when you act it out people can see what you’re
thinking. But when you’re [only] saying it they’re just going ‘mmm, OK’ - they don’t
really understand. I think people find it better to learn when they’re doing practical
stuff and not just sitting there writing or listening.
This qualitative part of the DICE research helps to illustrate the effectiveness of
educational theatre and drama in developing Key Competences. As the children
themselves said, the Theatre in Education programme had introduced them to new ways
of thinking about their learning, had increased their confidence in their own ideas and
developed their ability to conceptualise and explore new ideas. It stimulated them to view
other people with more understanding, and to see themselves and others in relation to
their surroundings. It opened their eyes to creative forms and activities, provided them
with new skills and made them alive to deeper meanings in the world around them.
R e s u l t s
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