Four perspectives in drama curriculum. A micro-ethnographic study of the practices of two drama teachers.
Author(s):
Rannveig Thorkelsdottir (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
19. Ethnography
Format:
Paper

Session Information

19 SES 10 B, Professional Skills, Policies and Practice in Education

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-24
15:30-17:00
Room:
K3.19
Chair:

Contribution

Research topic/Aim: The aim of the study is to contribute to an understanding of how drama, as part of the formal learning area in Icelandic compulsory education, is implemented by drawing up a cultural portrait of the situation. The purpose is thus to contribute to more knowledge and to an increased understanding of drama as a key learning area within the arts in education. The study is mainly focused on understanding the teacher’s perspectives, but the perspectives of the students and the principals are also included. The rationale for this study is that drama was included in the national curriculum framework in Iceland for the first time in 2013. As a result, there were considerable tensions connected with how Icelandic schools could or should embrace this newcomer to the curriculum, whether the necessary competence existed to teach the subject and what kind of status drama could achieve among the other subjects in school. The overarching research question is: How is drama as a subject implemented in Icelandic compulsory education?

Theoretical frameworks: Within a socio-cultural framework of understanding, an ethnographic study of the culture and the context for the implementation of drama was carried out. The ethnographic account is based on thick descriptions and thematic narrative analyses summed up as a cultural portrait of the drama teaching practices in Hillcrest (grade 5) and Mountain-line (grade 6) schools, respectively.

Method

Methodology/research design: The teaching practices of the drama teachers are described and interpreted from four perspectives, representing different curricular levels according to John Goodlad. The theory of practice architectures by Stephen Kemmis and Peter Grootenboer is used to interpret the findings. In this practice theory, practice is defined as a nexus of sayings, doings and relatings, dependent on the arrangements in the practice architectures. Enabling and constraining arrangements in the practice architectures connected to the implementation of drama as a subject in compulsory education are identified and discussed.

Expected Outcomes

Findings: An ecology model is suggested as a theoretical contribution and as an interpretive tool when analyzing how the classroom arena inhabited by teachers and students interacts with the different curriculum levels and the societal arena and culture. A dialectical tension is illustrated by a response loop influencing what can be achieved from the learning, including the influence of what Elliot Eisner calls an invisible curriculum. The study calls for changes in opportunities for the professional development of drama teachers. Further, it calls for a reconceptualization of how a drama teacher’s learning trajectory could be designed in order to support the drama teacher and his or her resilience and motivation to transform the teaching for the benefit of the learning of the students.

References

References Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University Press. Emerson, R., Fretz, R., & Shaw, L.L. (1995). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Fetterman, D., M. (2010). Ethnography: Step-by-step (5th ed.). London: Sage. Forsey, M. (2008). Ethnography interviewing: from conversation to published text. In G. Walford (Ed.), How to do educational ethnography (pp. 57-76). London:Tufnell Press. Goodlad, J. (1979). Curriculum inquiry. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. Goodlad, J., Richter Jr, M., N. (1966). The development of a conceptual system for dealing with problems of curriculum and instruction. Washington, DC: The Cooperative Research Program of the Office of Education. Kemmis, S. & Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situating praxis in practice. In S. Kemmis, T. Smith & J. Smith (Eds.) Enabling praxis: Challenges for education (pp. 37-62). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P. & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing practices, changing education. Dordrecht: Springer. Kemmis, S. (2014). Education, educational research and the good for humankind. In H.L.T. Heikkinen, J. Moate and M.K. Lerkkanen (Eds.) Enabling Education: Research in Educational Sciences 66 (pp. 15-67). Oulu, Finland: Finnish Educational Research Association. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. (1998). The Educational system in Iceland. Retrieved from file:skolakerfi_enska.pdf Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. (2013). National cultural policy. Reykjavík: Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. (2014). The Icelandic national curriculum guide for compulsory schools – with Subjects Areas. Reykjavík: Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. https://www.mennta malaraduneyti.is/utgefid-efni/namskrar/adalnamskra-grunnskola/ Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. (2016). Education. Retrieved from https://eng.menntamalaraduneyti.is/education-in-iceland/Educational_system/ Schatzki, T. R. (2014). Foreword. In S. Kemmis, J. Wilkingson, C. Edwards-Groves, I. Hardy, P. Grootenboer, & L. Bristol. Changing practices, changing education (pp. v-vi). Dordrecht: Springer. Wolcott, H.F. (1994). Transforming qualitative data. London: Sage. Wolcott, H.F. (1999). Ethnography: A way of seeing. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Wolcott, H.F. (2001). The art of fieldwork. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press. Young, M. (2013). Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge-based approach, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 45:2, 101-118. doi:10.1080/ 00220272.2013.764505 Österlind, E., Østern, A-L., & Thorkelsdóttir, R. B. (2016). Drama and theatre in a Nordic curriculum perspective – a challenged arts subject used as a learning medium in compulsory education. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Volume 21:1, 42-56. doi: 10.1080/13569783.2015.1126174

Author Information

Rannveig Thorkelsdottir (presenting / submitting)
University of Iceland
School of education
Reykjavík

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