EQ963-30 Drama, Theatre and Performance in Education

Department Education Studies

Level Taught Postgraduate Level

Module leader Rachel Turner-King

Credit value 30

Module duration 10 weeks

Assessment 100% coursework

Study location University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introduction

Drama, Theatre and Performance in Education is a foundational module focussing on the different definitions of these fields of study. We investigate the distinctions between these fields to gain insight into how they have been studied in schools and other education systems. This module examines drama and theatre as artistic subjects with histories, conventions and codes, asking: how does drama/theatre communicate its meanings? How do we read and decode a wide range of performance genres? What are the alternative historical and avant-garde connections between theatre and in drama education? The second part of the module focusses on the development of drama and theatre as pedagogical tools to activate learning and social development. To this end, the module also offers students insight into the broader field of educational theory by engaging with relevant literature on ‘play’, ‘participatory pedagogy’ and ‘creative learning’.

Principle Module Aims and Outcomes

To enhance and renew students' existing practical and theoretical knowledge of drama, theatre and performance.
To explore the differences between traditional teaching and creative learning.
To question and critique debates in education about learning in/through/about the arts.
To consider a range of historical and contemporary theoretical and practical perspectives that will inform the teaching of drama and theatre studies in schools and colleges.
To identify methodologies of performance analysis which are inclusive of a wide range of cultural and historical traditions in drama, theatre and performance.
To critically examine contemporary approaches to the teaching of drama and theatre studies in schools and colleges including post-colonial and multicultural perspectives.

Syllabus

Week 1 - Play, participation, and power.
Week 2 - Troubling the binary: traditional teaching vs creative learning.
Week 3 - Learning in/through/about the arts.
Week 4 – Semiotics and meaning-making.
Week 5 – Exploring theatrical conventions in practice.
Week 6 - Learning through imagined experience - Voices in the Park.
Week 7 - Active and playful approaches to Shakespeare.
Week 8 - Devising performance - creative and social learning.
Week 9 – Key influences in theatre and education .
Week 10 - Reflection and essay preparation.

Study

Type	Required
Lectures	10 sessions of 3 hours (10%)
Practical classes	1 session of 5 hours (2%)
Private study	265 hours (88%)
Total	300 hours

Assessment

	Weighting
Coursework	100%

Module Information

This is a core module for MA Drama and Theatre Education, and an optional module on MA Childhood in Society, MA Education, MA Educational Innovation, MA Educational Leadership and Management, MA Islamic Education: Theory and Practice, MA Global Education and International Development, and MA Psychology and Education.