How does an educational theatre and/or drama program influence adults’ empowerment level? In my dissertation I aim to introduce educational theatre and drama as a relevant method for empowerment, to prove the empowering effect of educational theatre and drama programs in adult education and to contribute to the stronger presence of adult or lifelong education programs that aim to empower and/or apply educational theatre and drama methods in Hungary. I am using the conceptual framework of psychological empowerment by Marc Zimmerman (1995, 2000). Empowerment theory has gained an exceptional 39 points out of 45 on the Theory Evaluation Scale created by Rigaud Joseph and Mark J. Macgowan. (Joseph 2019) My personal motivation for the topic came from seeing the change in participants in applied theatre programs while working as a facilitator. This presentation introduces my findings from the literature.

The OECD Learning Compass 2030 proposes to work toward the goal that the students gain self-efficacy, critical thinking, empathy, problem solving, communication and self-representation skills among others through education. (OECD 2017) Applied theatre methods contribute to establishing democratic values and citizen agency. (Boal 1979; Cziboly 2003) Paulo Freire, a forerunner of empowerment theory stresses, that dialogue and reflection are crucial to conscientization (Freire 1970), which are vital elements of educational theatre and drama. Joint decision-making and working toward a common goal creatively are empowering (Zimmerman 2000), and these are also typical for applied theatre programs. Combining the concepts of critical pedagogy and educational theatre and drama, Norman K. Denzin (2006) calls it critical performance pedagogy.

My method for this part of the research was secondary research. For the empirical research I will gather data from 75 adults participating in different 3-months-long educational theatre and drama programs, and also from 75 adults not participating in such programs – thus constituting my control group - during the same time period. The programs all last 12 weeks and consist of 3-hours-long sessions. The participants are Hungarian adults, hopefully, at least one third of the participants will be from disadvantaged groups such as Romany, permanently unemployed, or living in extreme poverty. My intended methodology is combined qualitative-quantitative, as it is suggested by Zimmerman (1995). Unfortunately, the programs were stopped in the fall of 2020, so I will begin again with collecting the data in 2021, when the pandemic allows me to do so.

The expected outcomes are to prove or disprove that educational theatre and drama methods in adult education bring about empowerment, to define empowerment as an educational goal in adult education in Hungary, to contribute to the stronger presence of applied theatre methods in adult education, and possibly, to introduce the Hungarian translation for the term empowerment.

Boal, Augusto (1979) The theatre of the oppressed. New York: Urizen Books, Cziboly Á. – Németh V. (2003) Hogyan hat a színházi nevelés a demokratikus attitűdökre? Egy négyszáz gyerekre kiterjedő hatásvizsgálat ismertetése. Drámapedagógia Magazin, 2003/2.szám, 34-40. Denzin, Norman K. (2006) The politics and ethics of performance pedagogy: Toward a pedagogy of hope. In D.S. Madison – J. Hamera (eds.) The Sage handbook of performance studies. Thousand Oaks: CA Sage Publications, 325–338 Freire, Paulo (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Joseph, Rigaud (2019) The theory of empowerment: A critical analysis with the theory evaluation scale. Journal of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment 30:2, 138-157 OECD (2017) Education at a Glance 2017: OECD Indicators, Paris: OECD Publishing. Zimmerman, M. A. (1995) Psychological Empowerment: Issues and Illustrations. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23(5), 581-599. Zimmerman, M. A. (2000) Empowerment Theory: Psychological, Organizational and Community Levels of Analysis. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (eds.) Handbook of Community Psychology. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 43-63. Zimmerman et al. (2016) Psychological Empowerment Among Urban Youth: Measurement Model and Associations with Youth Outcomes. American Journal of Community Psychology, vol. 58/3-4, 410-421.