Session Information
10 SES 08 C, Teacher Education: Disruption, Drama, Development
Paper Session
Contribution
In previous ECER conferences we reported on earlier stages of this project (Greenwood & Sæbø, 2010, 2011, 2012). In 2013 we reported on further case studies and developments in the last stage of the project, and theorized the key elements of the learning that took place regarding drama, creativity and critical literacy and consequences for teacher education (Greenwood & Sæbø, 2013). In this paper we will use our case studies to explore deeper into the part of this project related to democracy and further theorize and include these new key elements in our model of the total teaching and learning that takes place and its implications for teacher education.
The focusing question for this paper is: What are the core understandings and skills teachers need to acquire in order to effectively use aesthetic, creative and embodied learning strategies to improve students learning outcome regarding democracy?
Our project is a cross-national research project in which interactive, creative and aesthetic approaches to teaching and learning are applied to the development and improvement of rich literacy and to the evolving of democratic attitudes and consciousness. The democratic aspect of embodied learning strategies, like drama, will be analyzed related to how drama invites, demands and allows democratic equal participation related to the students competences and skills. Further on drama promotes aesthetic and practical learning about democracy through the mixture of individual, group and whole class work, and not at least different aspects of democracy can be explored through drama activities and reflected on theoretical.
In this paper we look more specific into our case studies to examine democratic aspects developed through collaborative and creative embodied drama learning strategies. We report on these new findings in the project and further theorize the alignment between the competencies and dispositions involved in effective teaching and learning of literacy and the processes and strategies used to develop democracy, with particular emphasis to those of applied drama.
The wider conceptual framework of this study draws on conceptualizations of:
- pragmatic and democratic aesthetic (Dewey 1934/58; Shustermann 2000) together with different UNESCO initiatives on democratic education and the social and civic competence between EU Key Competences for lifelong learning;
- learning though the aesthetic as engaging body and emotion as well as cognition (Greenwood 2010; Saebo 2009);
- the interactive strategies of process drama as rehearsal grounds for life (Boal 2006/1974; Heathcote & Bolton 1995; Greenwood & Saebo 2009; Greenwood 2005; Saebo 2010)
- literacy as a complex set of skills and understandings that are socially related and that serve a range of socio-political and economic goals (Gee 2012);
The creative and democratic approach to critical literacy and to its implications for teacher education discussed in this paper, align with the conference themes of the past, present and future of educational research in Europe. In particular how to imagine different educational models and alternatives which demand a complex understanding of changes and not at least the recent calls for interdisciplinarity in research.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Boal, A. (2006). The aesthetics of the oppressed. Oxford: Routhledge. Transl. A. Jackson. Spanish 1.ed. 1974. Dewey, J. (1934/1958). Art as experience. New York: Caprocorn Books. Gee, J. P. (2012). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourse. New York: Routledge Greenwood, J. & Sæbo, A. (2010). Creativity and Basic Skills: Competing or Complenetary Agendas in Initial Teacher Education. Paper presented at ECER Conference. Helsinki. Greenwood, J. & Sæbo, A. (2011). Creativity and Literacy: The Need for Knowledge and Artistry in Teacher Education. Paper presented at ECER Conference. Berlin. Greenwood,J & Sæbø, A. (2012). Literacy, Creativity and Democracy: Creative Strategies for Teaching Critical Literacy. Paper presented at ECER Conference, Cadiz. Greenwood,J & Sæbø, A. (2013). Creativity, Critical Literacy, and Engaged Democracy: Strategies for Classroom Teaching And Implications For Teacher Education. Paper presented at ECER Conference, Istanbul. Greenwood, J. (2010). Aesthetic learning, and learning through the aesthetic. In S.Shonmann (Ed). Key Concepts in Theatre/Drama Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Greenwood, J. (2005). Playing with Curriculum. Invercargill: Essential Resources. Heathcote, D., & Bolton, G. (1995). Drama for learning : Dorothy Heathcote's mantle of the expert approach to education. Portmouth, NH: Heinemann. OECD. (2011). Improving Lower Secondary Schools in Norway 2011. Reviews of National Policies for Education: OECD Publisher. Shustermann, R. (2000). Pragmatist Aesthetics. (2.utg.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Sæbø, A.B. (2009). Drama and student active learning. A study of how drama responds to the didactical challenges of the teaching and learning process. Trondheim: NTNU. Sæbø, A. B. (2010). Drama som estetisk læreprosess for å utvikle leseforståelse [Drama as an aesthetic learning process to develop literacy], FoU i Praksis (4) 1. 9-25. Stake, R. (2003). Case studies. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Strategies of qualitative inquiry Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
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