TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..

4
The aims of the study 1.1 Problem analysis 1.2 Fundamental theories and authors 1.3 A note on Methods

CHAPTER I .11
A Brief historical overview 2.2 Key Stage One education during the Dictatorship period 2.3 Drama in Key Stage One Schools

CHAPTER II..25
Making a case for Drama as a Complementary Form of Pedagogy in elementary schools, key stage one 3.1 Analysis of different learning methods, defending meaningful experiences 3.2 Aims of Drama in Key Stage One Schools 3.3The nature of Drama in education

CHAPTER III 41
Drama as a Complementary Form of Pedagogy 4.1 Terminology of Drama in education 4.2 Structuring Drama - a model for any age group

CONCLUSION..78 BIBLIOGRAPHY81

DRAMA USED AS A COMPLEMENTARY FORM OF PEDAGOGY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS - KEY STAGE ONE. MAKING A CASE FOR DRAMA IN PORTUGUESE CLASSROOMS
Abstract: Teachers in elementary schools, Key Stage One, are often faced with classes of students from very different backgrounds, from many cultures and with varied learning abilities. As such, the learning environment is both very rich and remarkably diverse. Therefore, a primary concern must surely be to apply a form of pedagogy that respects not only the various cultures encountered, but also the way we start to get to know the world. We all bring to schools different perspectives, behaviours, and cultures, and we are all, to a greater or lesser extent, bound by constraints imposed by different people. It Is thus imperative, that teachers have the capacity to recognise that not all students have the same motivation to learn, or learn in the same way, and that they can understand what they learn rather then memorize concepts. The aim of this study is to make a case for the application of drama in key stage one classrooms, as a complementary form of work within other areas of the curriculum. The theories put forward are rooted in and based on education and drama with the aim of proposing a pedagogical method, which allows teachers to work through drama in any age group. As such, this study will not present a fixed set of instructions for how to use drama for particular age groups - rather it aims to suggest a model of principles intended to give elementary school teachers a set of tools for using drama as a significant method of helping children both to learn and to understand what they learn.

Objectives include: Argue for the importance of drama during our lifetime, analyse why it should be preserved in key stage one, and present a model of how to use drama as a pedagogical method. As we grow and progressively understand the world, we all tend to make use of symbols and roles to give and receive meaning, in a particular context. Therefore, in key stage one, the use of drama should facilitate learning and understanding, which preserves and respects that particular world.

INTRODUCTION
The aim of the study This is a study of the nature of drama teaching and learning within elementary schools key stage one, i.e. 6-10-year-olds - in a Portuguese context. The primary focus of the study is to give to teachers a complementary form of pedagogy to work within other areas of the curriculum. Secondarily, it aims to devise a method for teachers to use in their classrooms, a method applicable to any area of the curriculum. Not long after I joined the Faculty of Education in Faro, I began to develop an interest in this particular approach. The difficulties encountered by the student teachers I was teaching seemed to indicate that it would perhaps be possible and indeed beneficial, to change preconceived notions about the use of drama in the classroom. The intention of the following approach is to help teachers understand the process of drama, and to appreciate the fact that the product is much more than the creation of plays for exhibition on a festive occasion - an attitude which is often prevalent in some classrooms. Or, as Cecily O'Neill states in Drama Worlds, an activity that can be seen as a mere rehearsal device, a display of skills without context or brief entertainment.(O'Neill 1995, p. 15.). Underlying this idea is the notion that drama is commonly reserved exclusively for entertainment, because it is considered to be difficult to use as a learning medium. For example, many of my students have stated that they are afraid to lose control of the class. It is only possible to accept this statement if they consider the use of drama in a classroom as a brief entertainment, and if we realise that the reason why children often get out of control is because they are not used to working in drama in a constructed way on a daily basis.

This study intends to promote a particular form of pedagogy in the context of a very rich learning environment, and to highlight its importance as clearly as possible for teachers. The tasks children carry out still seem to place stress on thinking as private individuals - silent a lot of time - and responding to the stimulus provided by the teacher. (Bond, Heathcote, 1989, p. 23)

This study aims to demonstrate the validity of this statement, firstly through a brief overview of Portuguese education, during the dictatorship, secondly from my observations of the system currently in place in schools and thirdly from theories about learning methods which indicates that learning is mostly dependent on information provided by the teacher. In addition, the study proposes that, through drama, children have the chance to develop and to experiment creatively and imaginatively within their daily routine: When I entered the educational system, I brought curiosity and imagination and creativity with me. Thanks to the system, I have left all these behind. (Lipman, Sharp, Oscanyan, 1980, p. 5) The teacher in this quotation expresses his/her disappointment about a suffocating class environment, which gives no room for creativity and imagination. Therefore the need for a changing environment neatly defines the premise of this study concerning the importance of drama in key stage one. Child play is the very foundation of the way we start to learn about the world: Children learn through play; it helps them to make sense of their experiences. Drama, at its simplest, is structured play. As we get older we tend to forget how to

play. We pay others to do it for us. For some of us being a shepherd or (if we are really lucky) the Virgin Mary is just about the only memory we have of dramatic playing. If that is the case, we've missed out a lot. (Ball, Airs, 1995, p.1).

Throughout this study, the concepts of imagination, creativity, questioning, communication and group work are repeatedly referred to, in support of what drama has to offer in a classroom. The reason for this is that they make up what is generally considered to be the nature of drama in Key Stage One. In fact, these are the very concepts that assist teachers in engaging children in their learning without treating them as actors. Drama in education need not and in most cases, does not, have performance as a goal although performance may result from drama work it would be quite misleading to suggest or imply that it was its goal. Nevertheless drama does have a sense of destination but that destination is not in the first place a performance and it is often not a performance at all. (In Schools Council Drama Teaching Project, 1977, p. 19) The complementary form of pedagogy proposed in this study is drawn from a variety of sources. Firstly, it is based on my experience as a drama teacher with students on a Key Stage One Teacher Training Course. Secondly, it is drawn from analysis of several practitioners in the field of Drama in Education. Thirdly, it contains perspectives put forward by leading experts from the field of education. The theories analysed in this study are drawn from English and American authors, for the simple reason that Portuguese equivalents are yet hard to find. Problem Analysis

Questions raised by this study stem from my work as a drama teacher in key stage one teaching practice at the Faculty of Education in Faro, Portugal. This consisted of two semesters of subject-based drama: four hours per week in the first semester, second year, and one hour per week in the second semester, third year. The fundamental questions throughout the study are: Why is it important to argue for the importance of drama during our lifetime? Why it should be preserved in Key Stage One? What is the nature of drama as a pedagogical method? To begin to tackle the questions listed above, it is necessary to discuss learning and understanding in education, and to define why it is considered important to relate those concepts to drama, and place them in the context of Key Stage One. In addition, it is necessary to know the terminology connected to drama while using it, to understand concepts such as process and product, and form and content. The study is divided in three chapters: Chapter One presents a brief historical overview. This chapter outlines the influence of the period of dictatorship on education in elementary schools, and briefly presents the changes subsequent to the revolution with regard to curriculum, school population, methods of education, and drama in education. The research method applied in this chapter is firstly documental and primarily targeted at describing the existing situation. Its purpose is to describe events and concepts; this description follows a chronological order. The aim is to give an historical insight. Along with this factual description of a particular situation and arguments about the evolution of drama in key stage one, according to Berg, L. Bruce( 1989), a semistructured interview was conducted, with supervisors of the practical teaching course at the Faculty of Education, in Faro. The purpose of this interview was to allow the respondents to

express their opinions and experiences about changes in teaching practices, classrooms, school population, and methods of education, with regard to the application of drama to other areas of the curriculum. The interviews were also designed to allow the respondents to express their views on the changes that have taken place in the Portuguese education system during two very different periods of history. Even with special topics, in the semistructured interview, the intention is to provide the respondents with the opportunity to express their points of view about this specific area without any prior categorisation: These questions are typically asked of each interviewee in a systematic and consistent order, but the interviewers are permitted (in fact expected) to probe far beyond the answers to their prepared and standardized questions. ( Berg, L. Bruc, 1989,p61)

The wording of the interview follows Bruce suggestion that the questions must use familiar words to the interviewee and the appropriate professional language was used based on the fact that both interviewer and interviewee are professional teachers. The study group seemed appropriate, as it comprised former elementary school teachers, key stage one, who had graduated and were actively teaching during the dictatorship. As such, these teachers, who are now supervisors in the Faculty of Education, are well qualified to compare the previous situation in schools with current conditions. In addition, they are familiar with most of the schools in the Algarve region, and they regularly act as non-participating observers examining the competencies and behaviour of the students.

The data of the interviews is analysed according to particular categories to intersperse different views and similar views, relevant to support the documental description and to support the arguments of this study. In this chapter, a questionnaire was handed to seven teachers in key stage one in the Algarve region, to characterize how teachers teach, through drama, other areas of the curriculum. It will also be presented as a table, and the analysis of the content is both quantitative and qualitative. The sample of this questionnaire was a Purposive Sampling, the sample was considered representative of a particular group, and it served the purpose of this study. Chapter Two reviews the theories about learning methods - regarding changes in education - that are supported by theories concerning the use of drama. The content analysis in this chapter is firstly inductive for it identifies the, dimensions or themes that seem meaningful to the producers of each message. ( Bergen, L. .Bruce, 1989, p 230). The paragraphs are drawn from learning methods, arts philosophy, philosophy and drama in education, form the content unit in this chapter. The analysis provides insight into what the application of drama has to offer education at that specific stage, also stresses the difference between learning, and learning and understanding, to propose the use of drama as a complementary pedagogical method in key stage one environments. Chapter Three is devoted to the presentation of a method formed from what has been learnt so far, as regards the specific language of drama. It should be stressed that the purpose here is not to provide set recipes and procedures, but rather to define a method for drama that can be applied to any content and age group. The method is presented in sections designed to provide a thorough explanation of the aims and learning opportunities inherent in each concept, as well as highlighting the importance of structuring drama work over a specific period. The intention is to convey the idea that

drama, as a complementary form of pedagogy can be a very useful tool for both teacher and children, to teach and learn the contents of the curriculum in key stage one. An important time for development and acquisition of knowledge, which provides children, with tools to be prepared for the uncertainties of the future that await them in the context of society: The `self-dramatisation' of children is really the process by which they're inducted into society; drama becomes their medium of knowledge and of self. (Bond, Heathcote, 1989, p. 21)

CHAPTER I

10

A Brief historical overview This chapter intends to present an overview of elementary school teaching within the New State (1926 - 1974), to analyse the future consequences of that teaching specially concerning working through drama and highlighting the distinctive features of the evolution that has been taking place in Portugal since the revolution In this chapter, the criteria of selection for the documental analysis is the relevant facts about the characteristics of elementary school teaching, during the dictatorship regime. The categories that emerge in the course of developing these criteria should reflect relevant aspects of the messages and retain, as much as possible, the exact wording used in the statements ( Berg, L. Bruce,1989,p224) The distinguishing features of elementary school teaching under the New State are examined in detail by Filomena Monica in her Education and Society in the Portugal of Salazar (Elementary Schools under Salazar, 1926-1939). However, in the context of this study, this documental analysis will only focus on teachers' pedagogical approach, the behaviour of students with regard to the learning process, and the distinctive aspects of the classrooms and curriculum. One of the aspects that are covered in this chapter is how drama and almost any artistic expression are treated in our education. Pursuant to the Portuguese Educational System Act 310/83, 1 July (1983), artistic expression has been integrated into schools at Key Stage Two and high school level all over the country, primarily in the form of music and dance. The XIII Portuguese government tabled a motion to open up an area of knowledge in artistic expression in high schools, but it was only in 2002, that a bill was passed for the reorganisation of artistic expression, in key stages two and three. This

11

reorganisation was to take place in phases: 2002/03 for 11-12-year-olds; 2003/04, for 12-13-year-olds; and 2004/05 for 13-14-year-olds. However, the document from the Educational System states that schools must take into account both human resources and facilities, when dealing with the matter of artistic education. According to the Reorganisation of the Artistic Education prepared by the Department of Education, only three intermediate schools teach Theatre, and only two higher education institutions offer the subject. This means that it is still not possible to take a graduate course in Drama in Education, which differs greatly from Theatre courses per se, primarily as regards terminology, pedagogy and practical application in schools. This brief introduction to the drama courses on offer within various teaching degrees suggests that Portugal still fails to recognise the fact that drama differs greatly from theatre, and that drama teachers are teachers who specialise in theatre or in other subjects and therefore have great difficulty in finding reliable sources of drama theories and practice. Therefore elementary school teachers will find the same difficulty added to the fact that they are not subject based teachers, who will of course rely more on other areas with many sources of research, leaving behind artistic expression. It is essential that non- Portuguese readers give due weight to the fact that the asymmetries mentioned here will surely have a significant effect on educational. Faro is the regional capital of the Sotavento area. In the region, there are many areas that are still very poor - especially those closest to the border with Spain. The population of this area is also diminishing, largely on account of people being drawn towards the coast. For a long time, the County of Faro was the only region in the Algarve where levels of secondary and higher education were in line with the national average, as this was the only county in the area with an institute of secondary education. The people of the Algarve, who completed courses of higher education naturally

12

belonged to the social elite, as higher education was only available outside the surrounding areas and only the upper classes could afford the related costs. In the Algarve, as in other areas of Portugal, great differences exist between coastal regions and those further inland. These differences pertain to job availability, academic and professional qualifications, industrial modernisation, living conditions and well-being. In all these fields, the coastal regions fared better, while the inland regions were distinguished by an ageing population, low levels of educations and low income, on account of the diminishing importance of the primary sector and the general desertification of the interior. In fact, in 1991 the interior area of the Algarve still had a level of illiteracy comparable to that of the 1960s, (Mendona, 2001). Because of this geographical, demographic and economic asymmetries prevalent in Portugal today, there is an urgent need for a thorough restructuring and qualification of primary education, key stage one. In 2003, the XIV government has launched PER.EB1 (Special Programme for the Reorganisation of the Network of Elementary Schools, Key Stage One), a programme intended to improve teaching conditions in the interior regions of the country, close down schools with fewer than 11 students and integrate them into other, better equipped schools - and even to build brand new schools for that purpose. The distinguishing features of interior of the country - north and south - are very similar in relation to social, economic and demographic profiles. These are regions heavily affected by desertification, with ageing population and great poverty, and these factors result in low levels of both literacy and cultural development. In these regions, a great exodus has taken place, with whole populations moving to the cities and abandoning whole villages.

13

Portugal has undergone a period of major changes at all levels since 1974, changes that have come to accentuate the regional differences, which increasingly differentiate the country. Even today, these changes continue to highlight the asymmetries that exist in Portugal a country that remains remarkably centralised and marked by areas of minor significance. This profile is very similar to that which existed in the time of Salazar. The changes that have taken place have emphasised the divide, not on account of nondevelopment, but rather due to the structural differences that development inevitably creates. Before characterising the dictatorship regime, it is useful to say that, elementary education in Portugal is only Key Stage One, 6 10 years old, so that will be the expression used through out this study. From the military coup that brought Salazar to power until the revolution of 1974, all regions of Portugal were clearly marked by stagnation and zero development in areas such as education and economy. This situation only served to accentuate the existing asymmetries between urban and rural Portugal, between the highest and the lowest classes. In an economy that was still predominantly rural with a highly hierarchical structure, the advantages of reading did not impress anybody in rural areas where approximately 80% of the population lived, a simple and routine existence was the norm and communication was largely still carried out orally (Mnica, 1978, p. 62). As we can see, these differences between the populations of various regions were instrumental in fanning the flames of poverty, which, in turn, proved to have a significant effect on levels of education and illiteracy, especially in rural zones.

14

The schools of the New State served as instruments for instructing children in the Salazar doctrine. Portuguese schools of the 1930s were comparable to those of nineteenth century England as regards indoctrination, discipline inside the classroom and matters of social differences in the schools: in this country, there is no shortage of schools founded on atheism and betrayal; schools where lower class children's minds are illuminated, i.e. where children are taught to despise religion and to abide by the laws of subordination . (Mnica, 1978, p. 4) Elementary school teaching in the New State was a chaotic practice. For example, one of the fundamental factors was the number of students per room. It was quite common to have classes of 70-80, with ages ranging from 7 to 13 or 14. Classes were characterized by a wide spread of ages and a mix of different mental capacities, and by various forms of discrimination applied. For instance, more attention was devoted to the oldest students, as they would soon be taking their examinations. As a result, lessons for the younger age groups were often cancelled or ignored. Moreover, students from the upper classes were given a variety of privileges and were usually forgiven unacceptable behaviour. Under the New State, education was repressive in all aspects and was distinguished by excessive physical punishment. Education had to be repressive for two fundamental reasons: firstly, because the children were born with original sin; and secondly because some of them revealed a greater need for `trimming down', as they came from particularly `bad' environments. In such cases, the origin of Evil was twofold: innate and environmental. (Mnica, 1978, p. 31).

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Teachers became little more than vehicles of this political-ideological force. Classrooms were ruled with order and obedience, fear and repression. They totally lacked pedagogical methods designed to help students learn, to stimulate innovation or encourage individuality. In classrooms, learning was exclusively an exercise of the ability to read, write and count. The learning process in the classrooms of the 1930s was distinguished by simple memorisation of what was in schoolbooks and by students' passivity in their evaluation of contents. Students were required to be able to repeat quickly and accurately facts, such as the names of the rivers and mountains in Portugal. Teachers were allowed to use only one book and were prevented from so much as attempting to experiment with innovative pedagogical practices. In England, in 1880, teachers were fighting for a strong union to dignify their occupation, and, at the same time, to push for a critical evaluation of what was transmitted in the classroom. It is relevant to note that at the end of nineteenth century in England, two pioneers of drama in schools - Harriet Finlay Johnson and Henry Caldwell Cook - were already concerned with innovating lesson format, students' attitudes in the classroom and innovative concepts about education in schools. This attitude contributed to the practice of experimentation with different pedagogical methods, which was, in a way, remarkably innovative. It seems clear that there has been little investment in education in Portugal over the years. The census of 1991 revealed that 11 per cent of Portuguese were illiterate. That of 2001 showed that, despite the improvements and changes made in the field of adult education, nine people in a hundred still cannot read or write. Alberto Melo, author of the document that laid out the goals for the development of adult education, states: In

16

this country, which has to cope with an unparalleled situation of schooling failure, there has never been a campaign or a strong strategy `to combat the problem'. (Journal de Noticas, (Portuguese Daily Newspaper), 15/12/2002) Key Stage One schools, such as those dating back to the Plano dos Centenrios and P3, (names of specific buildings with specific characteristics, Plano dos Centenrios are schools similar to Norwegian buildings, with fireplaces and a ski-rack at the entrance, P3 are schools following the Denmark model, buildings with open spaces inside the school and no doors), built in the middle of the dictatorial regime. In 2003, the Special Programme for the Reorganisation of the Network of Elementary Schools, key stage one, implemented by the XIV government confirms that even today particularly in the interior regions - there are schools that do not even have the most basic facilities. For example, many schools are without a library or cafeteria. Others lack the equipment necessary for providing efficient teaching and for motivating students from the interior regions, students who are typically prone to dropping out of the education system, after Key Stage Two or Three. This propensity to drop out of school is largely attributed to disillusionment engendered during elementary school education and to the economic constraints, which distinguish the interior regions. Towards the end of the 1960s, some teachers tentatively attempted to apply the natural global method for teaching students to read and write, championed by the Movement of the Modern School. This was only introduced into Portugal through private institutions, founded and recognised as an official branch of the International Modern Movement in 1966. This movement made its first appearance in some public schools in Portugal, eight years after the 1974 revolution. Regarding drama in education, however, there is much to suggest that the stagnation has to do with the teaching courses, from the beginning of the dictatorship until the year of the revolution. Because teachers in their

17

teaching course did not have any artistic expression, numerous generations failed to cultivate the habit of exploring drama in the classroom. Moreover, after the revolution, drama was always the poor cousin of school teaching, and teaching in general. In the area of teacher graduation, and at the level of practical teaching, forms of expression during the dictatorship were manifestations that could easily be construed as inappropriate behaviour. According to educational authorities, recreational activities always had to be carried out under the closest surveillance as it was precisely through such activities that good teachers could discover the true character of their students, correct rebellious traits and inculcate into students the `desired' norms. (Mnica, 1978, p. 322) Against this backdrop, it is easy to imagine that the concept of drama in education was fated to fail, from the very start. This situation remained in effect for forty years, which constitutes an enormous delay with regard to the exploration, theorisation and development of drama, in Key Stage One schools. Even before Salazar dictatorship in Portugal, England was home to at least five recognised pioneers in this field, (Bolton 1998) allowing different concepts about drama in schools, propagated by people such as Peter Slade and Brian Way. It is from a perspective of evolution and transformation that have taken place in the context of key stage one, that this study viewed and analysed the content of the interviews. The first of these took as a starting point the conditions under the dictatorship, in relation to the following parameters: features of the schools in the Algarve, where teaching was carried out, teacher- pupil relationship in the classroom and students' attitudes; curriculum used; situation of drama in schools, in the Algarve region; and the equipment and support materials available to teachers and students in

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the schools. The second aspect involved the same parameters, but viewed from the perspective of the supervisors in relation to teachers practice today. Teachers who belong to a different generation from their supervisors, who have experienced 30 years of democracy. In relation to the first parameter, regarding teacher -pupil relationship the respondent stated that classes still had many pupils and made it plain that the relationship between the teacher and the pupils was still unilateral and that the pupils' attitude was still distinctively passive. As regards classroom layout, the conventional pattern of the pupils sitting in rows and facing the teacher at the front of the class, by the blackboard, still applies. Moreover, the dynamics of schoolroom work are still largely unchanged, with pupils sitting alone at their desks doing exercises from a book. As to the second parameter, curriculum used, respondents stated that in many classrooms, they still found the same method of working, reading and writing as they themselves experienced in their Key Stage One schools. They also added that this is still the model that student teachers of today tend to reproduce, as they naturally consider it a safe approach - even though they had the opportunity to study several different methods, while in training. In relation to the situation of drama in school practice, some respondents clearly stated that it did not exist and when they wanted to work it in their classroom, it was considered strange, by other teachers. A respondent belonging to the Movement of Modern School referred a different attitude concerning the use of drama in schools. In the experience of the respondent, drama was always part of the practice. This Movement mentioned in this chapter, has a different concept of education. Still there are few schools with teachers belonging to the Movement, which require commitment in the many workshops teachers attend. In relation to their practice as students, concerning drama, they see there is lack of will to take any risks and use drama in teaching, on a

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daily basis. Respondents recognised that drama is used largely under language content, and that students still see the use of drama as great performances for an audience. The characterization could only be complete, after presenting the questionnaire referring to the actual practice of teachers in key Stage One. The table below shows quantitative data. QUESTIONS ANSWERS 2 -first grade 1 - first and second grade 1 what ages are you teaching? 2- third grade 1-second grade 1- fourth grade 2 Do you use drama strategies and conventions to explore 6 -yes other areas of the curriculum? 3 How many times in a semester you use to work through 2- every week drama: 1 - once a week 4 Are you familiar with different authors and theories of 3- yes drama to work in the classroom? 4- no 5- did not answer 1- answered three names 1- did not remember any 1- no 4- once a month

5 If you answered yes, who and which? If you answered no go to question number 8

name 6 when work through drama which of these conventions 4- did not answer you use to structure your work for learning opportunities 1 improvisation, role on the wall, forum - theatre 1 - improvisation, teacher in role

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7 If you answered others, which ones?

1 - others 1- games 2- I don't have time in the classroom to use it

8 - I'm not familiar because

1-I don't feel the need to work through drama 1- add another answer

9 In your teacher training, did you learnt about drama in 7 - yes the classroom as an approach for teaching

According to this table, the second question is the one, which triggers off the questionnaire into the focus of this study. This question provides the connection to all others. In an objective analysis, within a sample of seven teachers there are six positive answers and one negative answer, about using drama strategies and conventions to explore other areas of the curriculum. The third question, about frequency of use, four answered once a month in a semester, one answered once a week and two answered every week. The fourth question inquired whether subjects were familiar with theories and authors to work through drama. This question got three positives answers and four negative ones. Subjects who answered no to the fourth question, passed immediately on to question eight. In this question, two said they were not familiar with different authors and theories of drama in the classroom, because they didn't have time to use it in the classroom; one didn't feel the need to work through drama and one added the following: because I have the necessary knowledge to use drama without knowing about theories or authors. Amongst those three, who were familiar with theories and authors, only one identifies three names. These three subjects answered the sixth question, about identifying conventions to work through drama, in organising work for learning 21

opportunities. One subject uses improvisation and teacher in role, another also uses improvisation, role on the wall and forum-theatre and another subject uses other methods (question seven about other methods). All the subjects learnt in their teacher training about drama in the classroom, as an approach for teaching other areas of the curriculum From the systematic analysis of the interaction between questions and answers, we know that six subjects use drama strategies and conventions to explore other areas of the curriculum. One subject does not. However, this subject works through drama once a month, but is not familiar with theories or authors and does not identify any convention to work through drama. The subject recognises that it does not have time in the classroom to use it. The answers of the remaining six subjects can be interpreted as follows: all subjects use drama conventions and strategies to explore other areas of the curriculum; three use it once a month, two use it every week and one uses it once a week. From the three subjects who answered once a month, two are not familiar with theories or authors and do not use any conventions. One of these two subjects also says that it does not have time in the classroom to use them, the other one adds that it has enough knowledge to use it without authors or theories. The last subject amongst these three subjects is familiar with theories and authors, but does not mention any. However, this subject identified more than one convention, such as improvisation, role on the wall and forum-theatre. Since the focus of this study is the use of drama as a complementary form of pedagogy, the relation between the use of drama strategies and conventions to explore other areas of the curriculum, its routine use would be every day, every week, once a week, or at least once a month. From the subjects who answered every week to work through drama, there was one subject who was not familiar with authors or theories, does not identify standardised conventions or any others, and said in question

22

eight that it does not feel the need to work through drama. The other subject is familiar with authors and theories, but does not remember any and was able to identify two strategies: improvisation and teacher in role. The subject who used to work through drama once a week, is the only one who mentioned three names of authors, and identified other conventions, such as games. However, it is significant to see that all the subjects learnt in their teaching training about drama in the classroom, as an approach for teaching other areas of the curriculum. It is relevant for this study to realize that the majority of subjects use drama. On one hand it is compulsory in the Portuguese national curriculum, which includes drama under the heading of artistic education (music, visual, physical, IT, dancing), as an area of the curriculum, with its own competencies, suggesting also that work can be done to integrate it into a more general perspective with generalist teachers or with the support of experts. Nevertheless, the verification of those assumptions also shows some inconsistency in the answers and a very different practice from what is offered in teacher training courses. Even if the subjects use drama to explore other areas of the curriculum, even if some authors are identified as well as some conventions, their unclear and disorganised knowledge of theories, strategies and conventions to work through drama were significant and they concurred towards a proposal to systematize proper drama terminology; that explains the importance of using particular strategies and conventions for learning opportunities and organize work during a long period of time. The analysis of interviews and questionnaires underlines the need for a review of the current elementary education key stage one towards a redefinition of learning methods

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CHAPTER II
The Importance of drama in education Chapter One presented an overview of an attitude that is still prevalent in many schools in the Algarve, highlighting the need to redefine the position of the teacher in the classroom and stressing why drama should be considered as a complementary form of pedagogy in this redefinition. 24

This chapter will argue for the importance of drama throughout our lives, analysing the reasons why it should be preserved in key stage one environment, presenting different learning methods as meaningful to learning and understanding, comparing the nature of drama in education in key stage one. The meaningful themes are drawn from learning methods, arts philosophy, philosophy and drama in education and they will seek to provide insight into what the application of drama has to offer education in key stage one. The role of drama as part of our process of explaining the world has to do with the need we all have to interpret and give meaning to what we are experiencing. The world is an unknown place and we try to make sense of it through the application of various strategies. For example, we use imagination to relate to the world using metaphors, categories, values and contexts. Vygotsky (1979) showed how important the imagination is for the mental development of the child, and how make-believe play is very important in giving meanings to things. In fact, young children often have difficulty in separating imaginary situations from real ones. During the process of growing up, imaginary situations take on different purposes and become subject to different rules and greater demands. This study focuses on the use of imagination in our process of explaining the world, as well as the regular use of imagination through drama. Let us consider the example of students learning three basic competences reading, writing and arithmetic exclusively from exercise books. Two main suggestions arise from this; the first is that learning is somehow estranged from the pupils responsibility; the second is that working from exercises books does not require group problem solving, or imagination. Imagination is the instrument of discovery. (Rugg, 1963, p. 37).

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According to the above argument, imagination should not be separated from education, and what this study maintains is that one of the places to use imagination and create all sort of ifs to facilitate understanding and the allocation of meaning to the world is drama. Macmillan (1923) underlined that, Imagination requires room.(Macmillan, 1923,p14.). A teacher using this complementary form of pedagogy can offer this room. Through dramatic activities, children are activating imagination, raising all sort of questions to enter the makebelieve world that fulfils the child with what the real world cannot offer. According to Edward Bond (1996), children need to know about their place in the world; they need to know what their role is; they need to know through questions to which there is sometimes no easy answer, no right or wrong answer. Nevertheless, children still need to ask. In the beginning, there is perception and imagination; children map the world around them with lies i.e. without appropriate knowledge. The childs map of the world is a lie and so the child is a lie. Its descriptions of world and itself are lies. Yet rationality is the product of is confirmed by its lies. Its elders teach it to anthropomorphise the world. They tell it lying tales; and indeed, to love a child in this world is to lie to it. But if a child is not lied to, and if it does not lie to itself, its mind is incoherent and cannot bear reality The map is lie but the mapless mind is autistic. (Bond, 1996, p. 11).

A child knows nothing and the process of growing up is to fill that nothing with symbols, roles, different contexts and using language in different situations, while experiencing a changing society.

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In the context of the above argument, it is important to stress what Bruner (1991), Bond, (1996) and Vygotsky, (1979), all say about the importance of roles, actions, stories and contexts, in our process of growing up: For stories define the range of canonical characters, the settings in which they operate, the actions that are permissible and comprehensible () As we enter more actively into the life of a culture around us, as Victor Turner remarks, we come increasingly to play parts defined by the dramas of that culture. Indeed, in time the young entrant into the culture comes to define his own intentions and even his own history in terms of the characteristic cultural dramas in which he plays a part (Bruner, Haste, 1987, p. 91).

These concepts are used to present a picture of how human development is directly linked to the bricks from which drama is built: stories, roles, contexts, sets, language development in different situations, questions, symbolic systems, understanding the surrounding world, and make-believe as the source of so many meanings. According to Bruner and Haste, children were seen as isolated beings in mapping the world through the major stages of development after birth with regard to cognition. This study, however, underlines the importance of relating the cognitive and cultural aspects that place the understanding and interpretation of the world in an appropriate, shared social context ( Bruner, Haste, 1987, p. 1).

A number of researchers have demonstrated the importance of collaborative activity in enhancing problem-solving ability. They have observed the role of language and interaction in exploring possible solutions. What in fact happens in such interactions is that the childs own cognitive approach to the problem is challenged, either by peers

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directly or by parents or teachers scaffolding understanding through pacing problemsolving process. (Bruner, Haste, 1987, p. 8).

In this study, the term understanding will always be connected with drama. Therefore understanding something through the medium takes the form of an external response, which, in turn, stems wholly from social and cultural factors. Understanding something in education is normally taken to mean acquiring knowledge in relation to situations, contexts, people and attitudes. When we understand something, we are able to relate particular information to broader concepts. Understanding is, thus, always positioned in an external world and has to do with experiments based on self. The word understanding only makes sense in public context. This becomes clear when we ask how we know that someone has understood x because we can only properly answer that question by observing how they act and by listening to what they say. (Fleming, 2001, p. 61), It is the understanding which can not be abstracted from the context in which it finds expression. (Fleming, 2001, p. 62) Gardner (1995) maintains that any sort of rehearsal or performance can be illustrative of whether someone has understood something especially drama that can be considered as a response to or a reflection of any issue. Understanding something through drama where, we can view education as a constant process of refining and deepening, seeing things from new angles, making fresh connections (Fleming, 2001, p. 62).

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The above arguments sustain the importance of the use of drama as a complementary form of pedagogy. A complementary form of pedagogy that will complement and enhance the learning that actually takes place in many classrooms in the Algarve. To declare oneself against the institution of the three Rs in the schools is like being against motherhood or the flag. Beyond question, students ought to be literate and ought to reveal in their literacy () What is missing are not the decoding skills, but two other facets: the capacity to read for understanding and the desire to read at all it is not the mechanics of writing nor the algorithms for subtraction that are absent, but rather the knowledge about when to invoke these skills and the inclination to do so productively in ones own daily life (Gardner, 1995, p. 186/187)

This underlines that understanding is a basic skill that needs to be maintained and developed in cultivating the additional skills we acquire as we grow, the ones we need in our striving to cope with the world around us. It also underlines that we only understand something, if we desire to know and give meaning to knowledge. According to Bond (1996) and to Freires pedagogy, (1993) there cannot be knowledge or understanding, if people are dependent on ideology and do not take a critical position towards authority. This is not to say that rebellion or inappropriate behaviour is permissible, rather that children cannot be educated as passive citizens. Again, imagination will be in the centre of the desire to know and understand knowledge. In Chapter One, drama has traditionally been viewed in schools as something useless and trivial, something very dangerous for ideology in exactly the same way as imagination. During many years, in Portugal, imagination and drama were seen as something subversive, something that was hidden by those who never let their

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imagination die, like artists, writers, singers. Nevertheless, the majority of the people were passive, leading a routine life and wishing to live as quietly as possible.

Many adults have ceased to wonder because they feel there is no time for wondering Many adults have never had the experience of engaging in wondering and reflecting that somehow made a difference in their lives. The result is that such adults, having ceased to question and to reach for the meanings of their experience, eventually become examples of passive acceptance that children take to be models for their own conduct. (Lipman, Sharp, Oscanyan, 1980, p. 31).

According to Edward Bond, who indeed defends the imagination versus alienation, this kind of adult behaviour is the reflection of a non-regular use of imagination that allows us to continuously ask questions preserving the child inside us. Given the fact that many generations in Portugal, failed to regularly use the imagination, in schools and failed to use drama, we ended up with stagnation in respect to the usage of drama, within other areas of the curriculum. Bruner (1996) provides us with an illustration in the context of one model of pedagogy, long used in Portuguese classrooms, a model that, () presumes that the learners mind is a tabula rasa, a blank slate More important is this views assumption that the childs mind is passive, a receptacle waiting to be filled. Active interpretation or construal does not enter the picture. (Bruner, 1996, p. 56) This argument then extends into the realm of how school teachers, and how humans learn about the world. Education should not be about predetermined structures centred on the teacher as a single point of reference:

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() knowledge is not an abstract, isolated subject-based discipline, but is based in human action, interaction, commitment and responsibility (Bolton, 1998, p. 177)

In addition, it is important to note that on the basis of predetermined structures centred on the teacher as a single point of reference, it is likely that children will find it difficult to adapt to a classroom environment that clash with the luggage they bring with them, from the first years of their lives.

What will happen in school cannot be predicted exactly in any given case. Recent insights into the process however, reveal how difficult it is for most children to master the agenda of school, particularly to the extent that its mode of operation clashes with, or is irrelevant to, biases and constraints that have emerged during the first half decade of life. (Gardner, 1995, p, 104)

This seems to prompt many questions: why does the curriculum of Key Stage One so often separate children from their reality, from the world where they also learn? Why is it that academic goals that give priority to acquiring limited skills and preparing children to overcome different levels are regarded as indicators of excellence?

The language of school is remote from daily experience, favouring abstract terms and concepts and entailing formulaic exchanges between teacher and student. Meanings are often defined in technical ways and there is considerable metalanguage talk about talk.

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(Gardner, 1995, p.134). Since 1990, Dorothy Heathcote has underlined that the mode of teaching practice was failing, and yet we still find this preoccupations in education methods. Many educators in the Faculty of Education in Faro use Freires pedagogy to underline the importance of a different stance of the teacher in the classroom. The elementary school teacher, key stage one, should adopt a critical position, a position centred on transformation transformation through more dialogue about complex issues, issues explored in a more collective way, a way that challenges responsibility and reflection about learning and understanding. Therefore, in the classroom, teachers should use a complementary form of pedagogy, which has to do with: () lived experiences, meaningful and useful (...) An open system will allow the students and their teacher in conversation and dialogue to create more complex orders and structures of subject matter and ideas than is possible in the closed curriculum structures of today. (Fleming, 2001, p. 28)

The principal contention of this study is that the creative mind of children is always looking for the unexpected and new, and these two aspects receive nourishment in the present moment, that drama creates. Drama is about something happening now. Children have the chance to be in a laboratory, to experience real situations, without the burden of future repercussions. (Johnson, ONeill, 1984, p. 104) The present moment is the best way to deal with many different moments of all kinds, the present moment being part of an adventure that can lead to any place, any time, any

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language, any context and any role. Moreover, adventures are, by definition, always new and uncertain. we are not born with an awareness of the future: such awareness is what adults construct out of past experiences and verifications. Children have little future to count on; they only know that the present makes sense or does not make sense, on its own terms () adventure, never free of risk and delightful uncertainty, is what the childs reveries suggest life ought to be. (Lipman, Sharp, Oscanyan, 1980, p,9 - 10)

The present moment that children create in their story of the world can be explored as well through drama and become the same laboratory of questions, doubts, hypotheses, answers and experiments. According to Freires pedagogy, (1993) we should all look for meaning in our knowledge. Meaning comes from problem posing, and education must offer more knowledge through experience than through discourse alone.

The great strength of drama as a learning medium is that it allows students to learn in the way that is most natural to them in the context of situations and stories and happenings that they recognize as lifelike. (Ball, Airs, 1995, p. 55/56)

From the beginning, we are all dealing with stories, roles, different contents and sets. From the above arguments, it could be emphasised that the use of drama as a complementary form of pedagogy must require a new stance from the teacher.

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 They may need to alter their teaching style gradually, so that pupils can adapt to new approaches, and they will no longer be able to adopt the familiar teacher stance of being the one who knows. They must be prepared to build on the knowledge and experience which pupils bring with them to the work, and they must value their pupils contributions to the lessons more than their own (ONeill, Lambert, 1982,p21)

A redefinition in education is also supported by those who criticised fragmented knowledge, which is not the case in drama as a complementary form of pedagogy. The interaction between contents (interaction between different areas of the curriculum), extended beyond a single lesson, even though the duration of the work naturally does not imply a precise outcome or a specific presentation, the constant questioning, the problemposer and problem-solver, and respect for group work, shows that children are motivated to acquire knowledge from such activity. As demonstrated in Chapter One, through the analysis of the questionnaires, the actual teaching practice, showed inconsistency, and a low level of knowledge regarding a different concept of methodology in education, which was working other areas of the curriculum through drama. In our first play, we bring together all areas of knowledge. The story has a place or several places; it contains things of different shapes and sizes. It contains a text, lines, people or animals in those places. It contains movement, gestures, and expressions. Above all, play is dependent on a context in which anything can happen. Children are responsible for their answers; they are responsible for their questions, their doubts and

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their understanding. All these aspects are naturally subject to a limited basis, but it is this very basis that will help children to acquire more knowledge. In the words of Edgar Morin, we should always maintain that the learner must be responsible for his knowledge. Learning about learning, which includes integrating the learner into his knowledge, should be recognized by educators as a basic principle and permanent necessity. (Morin, 2001, p. 27).

Learning the contents of the other areas through drama as a complementary form of pedagogy is shown by the response that children might have in the various tasks: for example, children framed as people in the Middle Ages, to explore the living conditions of that time. Through the present moment that drama offers along with the lived experience, children can be able to explore feelings, attitudes, constraints, rules, relations, thoughts and other behaviours of a distant age, comparing the evolution and changes of today. The learner enters into his knowledge, for it will no longer be exclusively learnt from a book or from the reception of the information through the teacher. The emphasis will be on discovery rather than on mere implementation of factual knowledge. ( ONeill Lambert, 1982.p17) Emphasising the need for a redefinition in education in key stage one, from the perspective of the importance of drama as a complementary form of pedagogy, this study would like to introduce an example of Freires theory about literacy, as a principle for hope. In the words of Peter Roberts (1998), from the University of Auckland:

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() Freires theoretical and practical work in the area of literacy can be understood as one dimension of a broader narrative of hope. (Roberts, 1998, Vol. 50, p. 108)

In this article, Peter Roberts looks at the importance of pedagogy of transformation in Freires theory, with regard to the importance of dialogue for those who want to be socially critical human beings. He maintains that the most important concept that must be applied in elementary school key stage one is that teaching any subject has to be based on the experiences of the participants.

This does not mean that personal experience should represent the end-point of a literacy programme () Freires point is that each person has unique access to at least one domain of knowledge the reality of their lived experience () A literacy programme (indeed any educational programme) cannot succeed if learners are unable to relate in some way to what educators or coordinators are saying. The stronger the connection with existing knowledge and experience, the better (Roberts, 1998, Vol. 50, p. 108)

The importance of dialogue as a means to encourage the learner to establish a critical comprehension of the world through discussion and using the words of the learners is one of the cornerstones needed for education to take place in the sense of learning and understanding.

The crucial bridge between existing and new forms of knowledge and experience in any educational endeavour (a literacy programme being one example) is dialogue.

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(Roberts,1998, Vol. 50, p. 108)

From the above examples, this study underlines once more the new stance of teachers in the classroom, as promoters of one important aspect in using drama to work within other areas. Dialogue is used in drama with a specific context, where children have a place to discuss their ideas. This dialogue allows teacher and students to enter into a world where they have to find the right language for the situation and where they have to understand multiple voices in a given situation. It is a dialogue that contributes towards the understanding of all participants, in relation to the issue to be explored through drama, where meaning has to function for the group as a whole. Dialogue is the means to enter into the world of both teacher and student. Dialogue is a way to create focus in any situation; dialogue with the purpose of establishing a critical stance towards that situation; dialogue with the purpose of allowing people to use their own words; dialogue loaded with questions that allow children to provide answers on the basis of what they know and help them to see beyond what they know; true dialogue to understand the meaning of that particular situation. This all has to do with communication.

With regard to education and, more specifically, pedagogy, Freire talks of dialogue as a process of communication between thinking subjects seeking to know, mediated by the object of the study, within a given social context. (Roberts,1998, Vol. 50, 1998, p. 109) Communication is about promoting the habit of asking questions; it is about decisionmaking as part of humans growing up in society; it is about letting children tackle

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situations in different ways, supported by discussion; it is about showing them the uncertainty of learning and helping them to understand different situations. Drama is essentially social and involves contact, communication and the negotiation of meaning. (O Neill, Lambert1982, p13)

Drama gives meaning to any situation explored in the same way as we play through symbols and through answering questions in order to express our understanding of a particular situation. All the analysed theories from education and drama concur to emphasise that drama, in general, belongs to our process of growing up, exists in our lives in many forms and, can serve to preserve the child inside us, because it nourishes imagination. It is

important to stress that, in this chapter, the selected reading and referencing aims to juxtapose and highlight similar elements from the theories, so as to point towards the necessity of a redefinition of the teaching practice in the Algarve, especially as regards the development of autonomous human beings, in the context of their capacity to learn and understand. From this perspective, the activities currently taking place in key stage one classrooms need to include the unique qualities drama activities bring to learning. Drama as complementary form of pedagogy is about nurturing experiences lived in the classroom. It is about respecting the world of symbolisation created and retained by all children in their growing up process, a world that accommodates differences among children in the classroom and opens up the opportunity to integrate any subject from the curriculum. It is about challenging childrens imagination in the context of any subject. It is about developing childrens capacity to interface with what they see, hear,

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read, taste, touch, smell, like or hate. It is about working with active students looking for meaning in their learning. It is about motivation through dialogism. It is about developing a critical consciousness about any matter, a consciousness fed by the process of questioning which is inseparable from drama. Furthermore, drama as a complementary form of pedagogy can provide motivation

A more convincing explanation of dramas motivational force is that it harness the inclination to play which while at its strongest in early childhood persists into adolescence and arguably into the whole of adult life (Fleming1994, p 37)

Drama as a complementary form of pedagogy can also provide: Continuous use of imagination in different problem-posing scenarios, in all sorts of contexts through many different roles. It is imagination that allows both teacher and students to devise alternative modes of action, alternative projects and solutions () ( Heathcote, Bolton,1995, p,7-8) Active participation rather than passive learning with the chance to be part of an active group with equal rights where all points of view are given credit. Time to negotiate and explore alternative solutions to situations, therefore giving children the opportunity to understand different contents of areas of the curriculum, from various perspectives.

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Time to use the make-believe world and for children to be whoever they want to be and even live an adventure, to help them to learn in an environment they are familiar with.

In a play a child deals with things having meaning

( Bolton, 1998,p176)

Finally, learning through drama in the classroom gives children the opportunity to relate real-life experiences to all educational areas of the curriculum. It has become clear that interest, motivation and learning all result when drama is employed for educational ends (Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p4)

CHAPTER III Drama as a complementary form of pedagogy to work within other areas of the curriculum

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The aim of this complementary form of pedagogy is closely linked to the way children naturally come to understand the world, and it is largely based on what this study considers necessary for making education an active process rather than a passive one. This chapter aims to define principles for structuring drama as a complementary form of pedagogy for any curriculum content. The method suggested here may be used by teachers in different ways with different age groups and in different situations. However, as shown in Chapter One, through the answers from the supervisors about the actual practice of the future teachers and through the answers from the questionnaire, this method may well prove very useful to all those who would like to use drama in the classroom on a more regular basis. Following the analysis of the importance of drama throughout our lives, and the arguments for using drama strategies in key stage one classrooms, this study will present in this chapter a method to be used in any key stage one classroom from the perspective of the framework needed to apply the principles on the basis of age group. The principles are divided in six sections, which contain full explanations of their aims and importance to the development of work. They are: project work, context, questioning, framework, techniques, strategies, and reflective and/or critical analysis. It is necessary to stress that most of the terminology used is drawn from English drama practitioners as there are no recent Portuguese books or, indeed, published theories about drama in education. This method is a proposal born from practice, but will use references of the drama practitioners considered pertinent and important to argue for some choices. These principles will help teachers to structure learning opportunities in the classroom and will help the teachers to establish the appropriate ground rules based on the age

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group in question. Students in drama projects need to gain ownership, i.e. the teacher must use the appropriate language to empower them to make decisions, to make choices, and to find different solutions. The teacher must not use a controlling tone () You are not the determiner of what happens in the drama. It isnt that you dont lead, but simply that you lead by acting as a guide, questioner participant and onlooker (Heathcote, 1985,p65 66)

In drama projects, teachers must work together with the children. The activities must be a continuous stimulus of learning and understanding. Most of the activities we ask children to participate in inside school buildings lack the urgent need to do them. All the activities tend to be introduced through the teacher power, with little to aid children to experience the urge to perform the tasks (Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p128) This complementary form of pedagogy defends as we can see in the above quotes, a fully participation of children in the tasks they perform inside of the classroom. Therefore teachers must find a balanced approach that gives children responsibility about their learning without losing nevertheless, the goals of the curriculum. The advantage of working with predetermined structures is that it is easier to identify significant content, learning outcomes, appropriate dramatic forms and assessment opportunities. The danger however is that it is all too easy to pay insufficient attention to the quality and nature of the experience of the participants in the drama. (Fleming, 2001,p27)

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It is important to remember that there is never a single right answer in drama only one that appears right for a particular group or situation. In this complementary form of pedagogy, teachers have to accept the risks involved. Nevertheless, teachers must have at their disposal different strategies in structuring drama work in key stage one for responding to the needs of different age groups. This method is reliant on working with children at a greater depth in contrast to the superficial and sometimes inconsistent demonstrated in chapter one. As such in the context of key stage one, one of the most important aspects of the use of drama to work within other areas of the curriculum is the involvement of the teacher both in and out of role.. Chapter two advocate a different stance of the teacher regards the relationship between teacher and pupil in the classroom. Therefore, it would be most useful for children to see their teacher as having the same joint commitment as they do. The way the teacher demonstrates this is entirely dependent on how the teacher defines the best way to work for a set period, in a particular situation, or with a particular age group. This method emphasise the ingredients essential for drama work, such as context, roles, framework and drama strategies. And underlines the ingredients to meaningful education and qualitative assessment by both the teacher and the children with regard to the work carried out in different areas of knowledge, such as project work, questioning, reflecting and/or critical analysis.

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SECTION I
Project work Project work is a principle that implies a long period to work with a specific area of knowledge. It also implies that acknowledging and understanding something in a drama project cannot be measured in a single lesson. It is a way of working with a purpose and an intention, shared participation, shared planning and innovation that will allow selfappropriation of knowledge. () many hours can be spent exploring, experimenting, selecting, shaping and sharing(Sommers, 1994, p. 60). Project work involves all the participants taking responsibility for the development of the work. Too often pupils are trained to work as individuals and to be both competitive and possessive about their achievements Drama works from the strength of the group. It draws on a common stock of experiences and in turn enriches the mind and feelings of individuals within the group. (ONeill, Lambert, 1982, p. 13).

It has to do with integrated knowledge because it will unavoidably involve different areas of the curriculum as well as different places outside the classroom and even the school. As such, projects must never be targeted towards the idea of a presentation, conclusion, end or performance. Project work must be directly connected with the curriculum as a principle for renovating pedagogical practices in the classroom. It must never be seen as a separate entity. In Portugal, projects involving drama are currently applied in schools, although most of the time they are kept separate from educational contexts. Indeed, it is usually apart from the curriculum and is often more concerned 44

with fund raising. Such projects often petered out as soon as their concrete goals had been achieved. The activities to which I refer normally correspond to responses to municipal offers, or to financing programmes sponsored by state departments, stemming from various competing sources () This consumerist manner of utilising the funds available is, however, contrary to the integrationist approach to learning, changing the direction of funding and turning it into a simple reinforcement of the primitive and atomist theories of education. (Niza, MEM, A School for Democracy. (On line in Hhttp:// margarida belchior.planetaclix.pt/mem.htm ), Retrieved in, March, 10,2004)

Working in projects focuses the group on posing and solving problems. Projects are imbued with the sense that all participants are peers, all working together and respecting different opinions and feelings. They are built on for enriched dialogues about the context and about the various roles or sets. They are dependent on the participation of everyone involved, including and especially the teacher. They are offered the opportunity to think, to feel, to talk, to act, and so to learn as they normally learn in the real world through experience and collaboration with others. ( Ball, Airs, 1995,p 56) Everyone is in the same boat and everyone has a job to do. The main feature of projects is that no matter how different people may be, they are all valuable to the project in the same way as every single piece of a jigsaw is essential to the whole. In this regard, Gardner (1995), Johnson and ONeill (1984) refer to the

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concept of the master and the apprentice, a relationship in which learning is based on observation and practice. In the same way, through the application of drama, children understand that what they are doing is sharing on equal terms with their teacher, who they very often view as the person most distant from them in the process of education. The main features of working through drama in a project is that, the importance of the teacher to take on a role, acting with the children and using the same context and conventions. As we will see later on in this chapter, being in a role can allow the teacher to guide pupils into different meanings; add information, explore other forms of communication and to reflect on decisions and opinions without being considered an authority rather a peer. According to Heathcote, (1995) the argument of children having ownership of their drama, and responsibility for their learning, can only happen over a period of time, she defends that can only happen if it is to work during several sessions. Therefore, during this period the teacher must decide which moments are important to be in or out of role. Because the project work must be worked over a long period of time, teachers will have several opportunities to be in role as an important strategy to be involved in the drama, and also to be out of role whenever necessary. The teacher can go into and out of role to help them to clarify and reflect on the situation. They may decide on what resources are required, where they can be found, what language and tone is appropriate to the situation, whether extra help is needed and, if so, how can be summoned ( Ball, Airs, 1995,p98) Project work is not about staging a play with characters, scenery, lights, sound and costumes. It is about co-operative work on any area of the curriculum, using strategies from drama to work in specific content, while constantly bearing in mind that there is

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no line of orientation imposed by the teacher and that any source material must be shared with the children.

So we need to train our teachers to structure for a learning situation to happen rather than the sharing of information in a final way to take place. (Johnson, ONeill, 1984, p. 29). According to Bolton (1971), one of the characteristics of a dramatic activity, is that Any limitations are imposed by consensus and are changeable. (Bolton, Gavin, 1971,p7) In chapter two, this study advocate the importance of redefinition in education and also a new stance of the teacher in the classroom, specially concerned with the fact that children should ought more responsibility in their learning. Therefore, in using drama as a complementary form of pedagogy, both teachers and learners have the chance to work throughout the project on a mutual basis of commitment and negotiation, concerned the structure in which the content of the project is embodied. Teachers using drama as complementary form of pedagogy have to be prepared to take some risks in the classroom. As said before in this chapter, defended by Fleming (2001), the teachers who are not willing to take risks can bring to the classroom predetermined structures to work with children. However, if they do so the students miss the chance to have a different school experience, experience different attitudes in the classroom and explore meaningful work. Project work in this study is classified as the primary principle in the important work of planning curriculum content.

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In project work, it is essential to start with a context the main theme for addressing questions and then to focus closely on the goals of learning and understanding. The main theme chosen will naturally depend largely on the age group in question as well as on different experiences, different goals and different learning areas. For example, choosing transports as the context can lead to areas of the curriculum such as geography, for example, regions, maps and cultures; but it could equally lead to areas of the curriculum such as history, professions, social classes and behaviours. In fact, it can lead almost anywhere as long as both teacher and students are committed to taking their understanding to deeper and deeper levels. The dramatic activities in Project work do not have to be carried out continuously as if it were a narrative line. It can be stopped, and must be stopped for reflection and/or critical analysis. The dramatic activities in a project work must not be explored, fast and under pressure in order to create a product. The importance of project work is that it allows both the teacher and the students to slow down the process of learning since learning is no longer seen has a transmission of information, but rather as a search for significant findings that will eventually lead to enriched communication, creative work and more meaningful experiences. Although it may be tempting for the teacher to think in terms of narrative development, drama does not work in the same way as story the teachers task is to make the present moment of the drama significant, and to work in a sense to suspend plot Each phase of the structure may be oriented towards the past, present or future, as the teacher attempts to determine the needs and interest of the class, and the demands of the material on which they are working. ( ONeil, Lambert, 1982,p28) Project work is more than simply learning about something; it is about understanding what is being taught. As it takes into account the irregularity in childrens

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comprehension, it offers the opportunity of teaching different age groups in the same classroom or teaching children with different capacities. This is because different degrees of complexity and research can be applied to the various activities and tasks required by the different age groups. According to Heathcote (1984), children should not come to the classroom with labels for it in one way or another allow teachers to close their mind to certain difficulties that children might have. () I must not be afraid to move out of my centre, and meet the children where they are () I must also have the ability to see the world through my students, and not my students through it. (Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p18) In the case of using drama as a complementary form of pedagogy, all the children are in the same boat, to work in a collaborative way and to respond to certain stimulus in a fictional world provided by drama. Heathcote (1984) defends the: () diagnostic power of dramatic methods. It can readily be used to test what information people already possess, when assessing the next stages of instruction, and can be an excellent guide for diagnosis of the conceptual maturity, as well as to reveal social sensitivity. (Johnson, O Neill, 1984,p 150). In project work, teachers must be aware of the use of language with the purpose of orienting children into a different world, the world of the imagination. Teachers have to be more sensitive to motivate children to enter that world and never lose the atmosphere. The teachers voice becomes more important than ever because it is the instrument used to create the mood. The voice is the instrument of many roles, many

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purposes, and many questions, and it is essential always to remember that the teacher is no longer simply a transmitter of information but has become a facilitator and researcher of significant information. The poetic, selective handling of language is necessary, again not the effete smoothness of accent and delivery, but the economical, selective powerful choice of words where fitness for purpose is paramount. This means a good ear, and a tonal control above the normal used or expected to be used in everyday commerce. (Johnson, ONeill, 1984, p. 33) The teacher who wants to use drama as a complementary form of pedagogy must be concerned with the constant changes in society. He or she must always be looking for something new, and must always look beyond the information provided through the training course. Such teachers must be researchers all the time, and must have at their disposal a variety of themes and questions to take into the classroom while remaining open to receiving different information and then finding out more about it. The training in the natural seeking to go beneath the outer form to the inner meanings so that the apparently dissimilar are revealed to have common areas of meaning. The great universals. This leads to the understanding of the significance of rituals, to the seeking for the nature of objects as well as the shapes of objects. It gives unity to experiences. It finds form everywhere, from the momentous form in buildings towering in space to the movements of a child in play. Given this sense no meaningless or cheap artifact will be introduced in that classroom (Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p33). It is not simply a matter of relying on exercises books or on the books officially recognised by the Portuguese Department of Education.

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SECTION II
Context In presenting this principle, this study aims to provide evidence for the contention that drama is about exploring something through roles in a fictional world with numerous questions and a considerable amount of reflection. This something, is the universal content that must lead to particular details about life, which is the raw material from which any context must be built in a drama project. The context to work through drama should be drawn from the curriculum, from the needs and requirements of the students, from the teachers observation of the needs of the class, from the age group with which the teacher is working, from any learning area. Therefore, in Key Stage One classrooms the context must be significant to children of a specific age, with specific cultural backgrounds, interests, desires and preoccupations. For example, in project work children can work with any content drawn from life that is close to their community, their language, their culture and their social concerns. Therefore, in the dramatic context, children will be themselves living out a fictional situation about life, reflecting and learning in the safe atmosphere of make-believe. As such, the children are both the participants and the audience because of the understanding that can arise from that situation. In dramatic playing the student is involved in activities which do not necessarily require him to be anyone other than himself. These activities are designed to place the student in a make-believe situation in which he can explore his reactions and actions in a spontaneous way. (Morgan, Saxton, 1987, p. 118) Having chosen a significant context, to establish the time and place of a fictional situation to develop in a drama project, it is important to achieve a consensus among all 51

the participants in the classroom. In this section, it is relevant to examine the notion of conventions. Drama is unlikely to develop successfully unless the participants are prepared to make believe to share their make-believe with others by working together, and to maintain and extend their make- believe through appropriate action, role and language. (O Neill, Lambert, 1982, p. 12) Convention is a device that will help all the interveners to accept the symbolic language used. Cecily O Neill (1995) maintains that the encounter will only take place if all participants are in the same space and time. Neelands, (1990) claims that establishing shared space and time is the principal role of a convention in facilitating the establishment of a fictional world. Conventions will help to generate that transformation of life into a context through roles in a space which is no longer the classroom a space that is, in fact, anything else. According to Peter Brooks method of working the empty space is the space in which meaningful encounters can occur. In the context of classroom drama, it is essential that meaningful experiences occur between the participants. In an empty space, we can accept that a bottle is a rocket and that it will take us to meet a real person on Venus. A fraction of a second later it can change both in time and space the actor can be on Venus, then in a supermarket, go backwards and forwards in time, return to being the narrator, take off again This is possible if we are in a free space. All conventions are imaginable, but they depend on the absence of rigid forms. (Brook, 1995, p. 33).

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This is make-believe and all participants are in the same world. The conventions are signs and symbols that start the same encounter for all participants and are used to stimulate different experiences in a dramatic context. The way teachers use a convention depends only on their goals and aims. A convention achieves value through being appropriate to the moment it has been selected for (Neelands, 1990, p. 6) The context can be explored with many different signs, such as, teacher in role of other person, objects, about a certain person, that can be historical, a photograph, or a painting representing a certain space or person, clothing in a specific space, a Dairy of a person, a letter that brings news from a certain person. In this study, the purpose to underline the importance of conventions has to do with the need for authenticity in exploring the fictional context. The choices of conventions in this study are mainly drawn from Dorothy Heathcote s work. In her work, conventions can move away children from the naturalistic way of acting. the conventions allow for the point of attention to be away from the participants themselves; they and the teacher together legitimately focus on the physical presence of a visitor or on a drawing or on a costume or property or on a written or spoken message. (Heathcote, Bolton, 1995,p185) i.e. the children ought to focus on everything else instead of themselves, the effect is to make them focus on others. These are conventions that () slow down time and enable classes to get a grip on decisions and their own thinking about matters. (Johnson, O Neill, 1984, p166).

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The teacher and the learners can work using the necessary conventions, the necessary frame and the necessary roles as the activity develops to allow the children to have as much decisions as they need and to create more background about the matter in the symbolic dimension and in the real time reflect about the context. In drama, there is no situation without roles. Dramatic activity is the direct result of the ability to role play to want to know how it feels to be in someone elses shoes (Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p49). In theatre, there is no representation or text without characters. For the purposes of this study, we will differentiate between characters and roles as belonging to different realities, for the sake of using the proper terminology in a classroom. This study takes the term characters to refer to all the fictional lives that the actors present to an audience. After making sure that all participants are in the same world, teachers necessarily have to tackle the question of whom in this particular situation we are and what our roles are to be in order to experience the fictional situation. In this complementary form of pedagogy, roles have to have the same effect as the roles children adopt when playing alone or together as part of their process of growing up. In society, everyone has a different role and children start to imitate these in order to establish their place in society, and what roles they will come to play. Therefore, when they play in the classroom they are already familiar with the process and their engagement will be natural and spontaneous. Roles in key stage one environments should always be more collective than individual. A collective role means that the teacher should work more with small groups or whole group and together with the children asks questions about particular incidents of a particular role to help engage in

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the context without rush in. A collective role in key stage one can reinforce the differences amongst the group, but as a positive thing towards respect for everybody opinion, can reinforce the individuals ideas that contribute for a whole. When applied in groups it seems to have certain additional bonuses for the teacher and the class alike in that it allows group pressure to be applied in two ways; to produce differing attitudes and experiences to be available to the group and to demand adequate communication of these attitudes by the individuals in the group, to the group (Johnson, O Neill, 1984, p51) In this complementary form of pedagogy and also defended by the drama practitioners bellow, drama.( )works from the strength of the group. It draws on a common stock of experiences and in turn enriches the minds and feelings of individuals within the group ( O Neill, Lambert, 1982,p,13). Children should have the chance to think in terms of a collective response that will give them more responsibility in dealing with the experiences. Children should have the chance, to listen and to respect others ideas, to clarify ideas so that others can understand, to negotiate, and to be able to give up and change ideas and opinion. it is likely that the most valuable kinds of learning will take place when the group is working as a whole (O Neill, Lambert,1982, p. 27) A collective role moves us away from the idea that an individual role is synonymous with memorising lines. Roles in this study are not about having a text, or having an action with roles to take on. It is more about individuals in a group with a collective role that launches the participants to the same space and time contributing to the

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understanding of that role and its function in the context a role that will eventually lead to questions and opinions on which everyone has the chance, and indeed the obligation, to reflect. Some people may sometimes seem to have an awful lot more to offer than others, but their work is always only a part of our work and is always simply their contribution to what we are all learning ( Ball, Airs, 1995, p68) Through a project, children can have different roles that will help to develop, for example, their use of spoken and written language in different situations. Following the example stated in chapter two, if children are working the middle age in Europe, they can explore the three social classes (people, aristocracy, the church). They will eventually have different roles, exploring different behaviours; attitudes, spoken language, and they can explore the differences between today, of the written language. They can also explore the setting of scenarios of the different social classes which will motivate them to research work, and eventually can lead them to draw and painting tasks. An example from theatre, about the use of collective roles can be found in Augusto Boals work, the Theatre of the Oppressed (1979) and Games for Actors and NonActors (1992), as he worked a lot with people with no experience of the theatre, around the world to teach his method and specially try to give people space for debate and overcame their oppression. The use of Forum Theatre allowed people to perform and reflect about their oppression, the so called, spect actor, the active spectator. The roles were very often collective and usually represented a social class, a community, or a human condition. The philosophy of the Theatre of the Oppressed was to to move from the individual to the general, rather than vice-versa. (Boal, 1992,pxxiii).

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The intention of the above example about Boals work is to underline the aspects that this study considers useful for applying key stage one, which are, the opportunity to stimulate debate, () (in the form of action, not just words), to show alternatives, to enable people to become the protagonists of their own lives. ( Boal, 1992,xxii). The chance for children to ask questions and found their own answers as the spect actors This again is fundamental to the Theatre of the Oppressed it is never didactic to its audience, it involves a process of learning together rather than one- way teaching () (Boal, 1992,xxi.) The understanding of the philosophy of his work is useful for the teacher to apply in the classroom some techniques/strategies proposed later in this study, like Still Images and Forum Theatre. Images work across language and culture barriers and as Boal shows, frequently reveal unexpected universalities. ( Boal,1992,pxx) A powerful context requires an important element of worthwhile tension. Tension is another essential aspect of any text, play, story, and life. In the case of this study, moments of tension in drama activities. The importance of dramatic tension to explore the context through dramatic activities, will challenge the participants to overcome, a threat, a dilemma, a pressure, a stranger, a mystery, it can give to children more motivation and children can become more involved, in the action. () tensions may be invitations, or lures, to become committed and involved in the unfolding story or action. (Neelands, 1990,p68)

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A deeper level of make-believe cannot be achieved if the teacher does not bring into the exploration of the context several elements of tension, impose certain constraints, and establish the sort of tension that will continuously bring new and different elements to the dramatic activity. Teachers will need to relay on their ability to recognize the tensions implicit in the material and set up appropriate dramatic situations which invite pupils to face the challenges they present. ( Lambert, ONeill, 1982p138 )

If teachers really want to bring deeper meaning to content, they must remember that tension is crucial to achieving that goal. Most dramas, like most things of value, often start very ordinarily and grow into experiences of value. (Johnson, ONeill, 1984, p34) In a project, work teachers do not have to introduce the element of tension in the early stages of work but because they have a long period to work, tension will function as the trigger for engagement, because tension will work not only from the obvious meaning, but also from the different and subtler meanings inherent in the specific context. Tension is an element that will challenge the participants imagination, creativity and curiosity, as it is, by definition, unpredictable. The longer you have to wait to find out, the more tension you feel. So, whenever a class is in a position of waiting to see what will happen, Heathcote does all she can to keep them concentrated on the anticipated event and get them more and more worried about the possible outcome (Heathcote, 1979,p149)

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SECTION III
Questioning This principle is above all a principle that concerns education as a whole, i.e. it is not the exclusive preserve of drama. With this principle, what is being encouraged is above all a pedagogy looking for changes in the teachers stance in a key stage one classroom. A pedagogy in the fundamental fields of, learning and understanding. A pedagogy defended in chapter two using Paulo Freires (1993) assertions of communication that drives more deeply into the real meaning of education. As stated in Chapter One, there are still many classrooms in Algarve with pupils sitting in rows and facing the teacher at the front of the class by the blackboard. In the past, children in school were expected to acquire knowledge, and learning facts was an end in itself. For the student today an effective memory is not the only requirement. He must be able to react to what is being taught and must be active in seeking understanding. In other words, he must seek, find and then be able to question what he has found in order to see all the facets, so that he may defend it or understand why it is no longer defensible. ( Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p68) Within this complementary form of pedagogy, the true role of questioning has to do with communication, speculation and interpretation all in the context of active pupils who are prepared to explore, to decide, to negotiate, and to discover deeper meanings in their learning. The question is central to learning ( Morgan, Saxton, 1987,67)

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In drama the role of questions are no longer to measure how many facts the children memorise, nor to seek the correct answer. Questioning in drama will have a very different purpose from this kind of questioning. In drama, there is no right answer. The teacher is not asking questions to which there is a single appropriate answer. ( Morgan, Saxton, 1982, p141)

Teachers will have to recognise that in a work of drama, the pupils cannot be mere spectators waiting for teacher to tell them what to do and how to do it. Teachers must naturally learn how to pose many questions for children to answer, but in the context of a drama project questioning is not about measuring how much children know about a particular content, but, how children can enter the dramatic activity and how can the class be committed and involved. In drama, the teacher, as Dorothy Heathcote says, is seldom in the stance of one who knows. She is most often asking the question precisely because she does not know the answer and is dependent upon the students answer in order to move the drama on. ( Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p70)

Teachers working through drama must become facilitators of several stimuli intended to capture the attention of the pupils challenging their imagination and creativity to ensure a genuinely significant experience. The great strength of drama as a medium of learning is that it is an area in which both teacher and students are working together in the imaginative context .( Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p83)

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According to, Johnson, O Neill, (1984), Dorothy Heathcotes work defends the importance of the proper use of language, the selective and powerful language that creates, the proper environment, to explore the content. According to this point of view questioning must be about, the meaning of words, their purpose in building, understanding and commitment to what it will be explored.

All teachers need this skill of course, but the teachers using dram need it especially because, their material is so much more than the outward form, and it can only be fully revealed by the richest range of tone, volume pitch and all the immense variety of well controlled choice of modulation and vocabulary.(pp33)

Questioning is above all a principle, belonging to communication, between people, different people, people with different needs and interests. Because questioning is about communication, a drama project will necessarily underline the ability of children to ask questions, to develop independence of thoughts, to pose problems, to explore their intuitions, in their pace and time. The importance of this principle in this complementary form of pedagogy, to be used in key stage one classrooms, has to do with the redefinition in education defended through out this study. It must be said that it is more difficult to undo oppression disguised as evolution (as is the case for many of our passive pupils in the classroom), than to overthrow oppression of those who were deprived of education, or have been subjected to education rooted in a certain ideology. This was clear illustrated, in Portugal on the 25th of April our revolution against the dictatorship regime. Since then the new generations have never been forced to confront the necessity for change

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SECTION IV
Framework More often than not, viewing an event or situation from the outside or from different angles provides deeper insight into it. There is the famous anthropological example from Erich Shurmann, in his Papalagui- Discours de Touiavii ( 1988), where the chief. Touiavii of the Tiava trib in Upolu islands viewed the lives of the white man (papalagui) through a different eye, when he came to Europe for the first time. His perspective on the situation is described as frame distance. Frame is how people enter the event. In drama in education, frame is the perspective from where children will experience an event. Framework is a principle that is greatly promoted and developed in drama by Dorothy Heathcote. Frame: in any social encounter, there are two aspects present. One is the action necessary for the event to progress forward towards conclusions. The other is the perspective from which people are coming to enter the event. This is frame, and frame is the main agent in providing tension and meaning for the participants. (Johnson, O Neill, 1984, p163). In practical terms frame could be described, as following: is how different roles can present different perspectives about an event.

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DH: When you angle a camera before taking a photograph, the angle controls what is seen; it is selected view that makes the entry into the picture (in drama, entry into the dramatic fiction) meaningful and disciplined .(Heathcote, Bolton, 1995,p19) From the myriad of examples presented in real life, we could choose the example of the 11th of September, which consists of an event itself and a great many different perspectives on what happened and a great many different aspects provided by the people involved in the situation. In a classroom drama, we can find an example of how in Romeo and Juliet, there is different perspectives about, a 13 years girl, getting married with an older man a marriage arranged by her father. In key stage one, we have context and roles, and these roles automatically provide us with different perspectives (frame) on the context, because the roles are the means by which the context will be explored. In the work of Augusto Boal ( 1992), for example the concept of frame is applied to the Theatre of the Oppressed by using the dramatic/theatrical convention of Forum Theatre. Situations of social oppressions were presented to the audience, spectators who were than invited to become spec actors and change the course of events by proposing and acting out their own solution to the dramatic situation they witnessed. (pp xxi) The most important feature of frame, in the work Augusto Boal is that people with no experience of acting for the purpose of the argument here - the children - are not actually in the event, but they are coming to the event with their solutions, their opinions, their positions, which is the roles they play to explore the understanding of the event.

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As mentioned previously, framework, can help to create the proper tension, especially because, it adds a wealth of different information to the content being explored. It is not about setting dialogues about the event, but rather about putting a range of questions about the event into different perspectives. Above all the importance of framework is to encourage learners to take a critical position towards the issues they encounter in the drama work and to gradually help them to take grater control of their drama work. There are many ways of providing frames but the most important factor is that the participants have to be framed into a position of influence () I take it as a general rule that people have most power to become involved at a caring and urgently involved level if they are placed in a quite specific relationship with the action, because this brings with it inevitably the responsibility, and, more particularly, the view point which gets them into an effective involvement. (Johonson, ONeill,1984,p168)

A great many perspectives are available with a wealth of different contents. In every lesson planned, we can see the children framed as scientists, architects, villagers, newspaper reporters, and the like. So whenever children enter an event with their different roles, frame is naturally being implemented. When role is used it can set frame very quickly because the very fact that someone has enter into a full signing system, in drama time automatically places the rest of the people present into roles themselves, for they must be addressed as if they are so (Johnson, ONeill, 1984,p163)

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The different frames that exist for working in this particular proposal are presented in the list bellow. This list was an example by David Davis, in Module 2 of a Ma course taken from a course record, on the 10 of November 1997.

Event action or situation 1. Guide a role about the event 2. Agent a role showing the event through objects or photographs 3. Authority a role that answers enquiry 4. Recorder a role clarifying an obscure detail 5. Press a role that provides news about the event 6. Critic a role looking for responsibility 7. Artist a role that transforms the event With these different frames, the children and teacher can explore many roles. For teachers in the Algarve, who are basing their drama teaching mainly on improvisations within the event, the important thing is to understand that framework as a dramatic convention and a complementary form of pedagogy, advocates that the further removed the pupils are from the event, by the frame, the more they can critically learn it and understand it.

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SECTION V
Strategies Every method needs strategies, to be conveyed in the classroom. In this case, the teacher must of course be fully familiar with the strategies used to work with drama, and suited to its specific symbolic language. To explore this section, this study will consider strategies used in drama in education that have been described in a range of drama books, for it seems the strategies that this study considered useful and pertinent to work through drama. In this section, the strategies will be described, in order to illuminate their function and aim. The order of presentation will not be defined by age group, or by importance, as each will be presented in detail along with a description of how to use it and for what purposes. This section will define a number of strategies, which can be used alone or mixed together for a specific purpose. The teacher is then free to decide which aspect or combination is best suited to the needs of the pupils. That decision will form the foundations for authentic role-play. The strategies are: Games, Still Image, Thought Tracking, Objects, Board Work, Paper Work, Hot Seating, Teacher in Role, Models, Improvisation, Forum theatre, and Sound Tracking. As mentioned in other sections, the teacher must structure the work for learning opportunities, according to age, prior experience in working through drama, specific differences in the children as regards to their pace and response time. Nevertheless, whole group is always a good place to start, if the children are young and/ or if it is the first time that the teacher and children are to work through drama together. This section underlines the importance of the whole group work, for it can show the participants and 66

the teacher working on the same process. According to ONeill and Lambert (1982), the whole group work can bring the following advantages: ( ) the class is working spontaneously together and when the teacher is part of the process that participants are most likely to question, accept challenges, make decisions, realize implications, go beyond stereotypes and alter their perspective. If the class is working with belief, commitment and integrity the pupils may even achieve the kind of change in understanding which is at the art of educational drama. ( ONeill, Lambert, 1982,p27-28) Many books on drama promote the use of Games to start to define the focus of the dramatic activity. In this study the use of Games is encouraged for, analogies with content. The teacher can use different Games, with the whole group, but is important that everyone understands that these games are not only a fun situation and a chance to relax. The choice of Games should be carefully defined as having a function in the chosen context, The hand squeeze that travels around a circle can create a ritualized signal that the class is travelling through time, for example ( Ball, Airs, 1995, p84). This game is also useful as an analogy, for prejudice or a contagious disease. The usefulness of Games is also defined by the amount of reflection and dialogue that such activity can bring to enter the dramatic activity. One strategy, that is commonly used in many works of drama is, Still Image. This concept has many names, such as still picture, tableaux, depiction, freeze frame but whatever the name, the goal is the same: a non- verbal approach, that can be individual, but more usually in group. This approach allows the creation of starting point, based exclusively on body language. This starting point is very important as it is a non verbal introduction and provides a

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safe point of entry for those who are less verbally adept or simply shy. Boal stated for example. () that a picture paints a thousand words; that our over reliance on words can confuse or obfuscate central issues, rather than clarifying them (Boal, 1992, p20). This strategy can also be used as a photograph, which may contain several symbolic elements, ideally suited for further development in the work. It can be used to represent a portrait of a particular moment, a situation, a way of living, or to define a particular space and time from which to start concentrating the focus on the content. It can constitute a starting point, but as we will see, it is not the only one and it is important not to concentrate solely on this single approach, using it again and again, as the risks leading to creative stagnation. In addition, as it contains an element of silence and control, teachers might be tempted to use it as a defence. This strategy can also be linked to another one, Thought Tracking, which is used to encourage pupils to give thoughts to the roles they are watching or creating in Still Image. The combination can even be used with the Teacher in Role. Thought Tracking is intended to promote the debate with different thoughts, and the role can offer a more complex opportunity for exploration. The context can also be settled through the use numerous different objects that will create the proper focus for developing the drama work. In such cases, the teacher can bring to the classroom, objects, which will always be considered as symbols of the particular world of make - believe. Objects can also be used also as a stimulus for initiating the dramatic activity or introduced during the project as symbols of a certain space and time The Objects in question may be a painting, a newspaper, a piece of metal, or wood, or iron, an item of clothing, an audio tape, a letter written by the teacher for a specific purpose, a fossil, some jewellery, some herbs in bottle, a key, a box.

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 When examining concrete objects, the students are required to hypothesize and develop a logical and satisfactory story by questioning not only the object, but each other () Well chosen artefacts may also serve as a stimulus for explorations in drama work. (Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p85)

In fact, there is no limit to the things that can be introduced and which will eventually become symbolic of certain space and/or time. Board Work can be used to make a list through a brainstorm session to identify, for example things of importance for an expedition, or to draw a map showing the countries and routes to be used during that expedition. These elements can thus form the staring point for a theme, which both the teacher and the pupils can then explore in detail. Board Work and Paper Work can also be used, by children framed as architects or engineers, or even fireman, and asked for instance to design a brand new hospital for the community. Another strategy that can help slow down time to allow room for reflection, questioning and brainstorming is, Role- on the Wall, which is defined as a strong form for exploring human characteristics and behaviour. ( Neelands, 1990, p11). The Role on the Wall can also act as a starting point, for examining a particular person in society. In addition, this approach makes it possible to use different roles to highlight certain views on the effects and attitudes of that person in relation to a variety of other people moment at a given time. It is an appropriate way to consider specific figures, removed in time and space but still with relevance to development or changes in the world. In combination with this technique or strategy, it can also be useful, to apply the Hot Seating, questioning as these can increase the focus of the class on the, Role-

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on- the Wall, often the Teacher in Role. The children will then have the opportunity to put questions to the Role, while remaining in role of a specific and thus directly connected to the figure. The Hot Seating, strategy, is most useful for age groups, with more advanced vocabulary, and for groups that have already completed a certain amount of investigation, about both their role, and that of the figure in focus. As mentioned in the section concerning context, the Teacher in Role is the most important and powerful stance for teachers who wish to use drama as pedagogy, as it will always retain the sense of peer in a group. Handled properly is a tool that can lead both children and the teacher to many different points of learning and understanding, certain contents. From the perspective of this pedagogy, the educational goals always remain firmly fixed, most important of all the work is not fragmented as it is in many conventional classrooms. This is because the Teacher in Role, can sustain the flow of the work, always helping to focus on the points the teacher consider necessary; can challenge the pupils through questions and tension; can build belief in different moments; can guide the pupils through the content in a fiction world, where moments actually experienced are more valuable and memorable. The Teacher in Role strategy is one that through necessity will help to remove the conventional expository stance of the teacher. When teachers work in role with the class they are in position which allows them to structure the drama form within the fictional context ( ONeill, Lambert,1982,p138) Models, constitute a strategy, that can be applied in small groups where the pupils have to build others colleagues that are initially neutral for a scene for which roles have been fixed. This can form a starting point for improvisation or for writing a story

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including a number of given roles or scenes. Models can also be used to initiate and promote debate because it requires children to give their opinions about the best way to express the role through body language. As Dorothy Heathcote suggests (1984), a strategy initially move the children away from actual participation in the event straight away, while creating things that actually bring them closer to the event. With the application of the strategies mentioned above, children can start to think about their given roles and about the theme itself with its background, without stereotypes. From the very start of this study, it was clear that the importance of the learning and understanding of the content explored was more important then the dramatic form. However there are no radical positions on the question about of content versus form because drama can only be conveyed through a certain language, which will eventually with habitual usage, also be conveyed to children. Children should also become increasingly aware of the levels of superficiality and depth at which they are working so that they can become critical about the quality of their work both in terms of the content explored and whether they are satisfied with the accuracy of their forms of representation () In general, drama is one way in which groups can learn to find forms of expression in which they can explore and express their understanding of people and situations. (McGregor, Tate, Robinson, 1977,p30) The point made above also refers to Improvisation, which is the most common, strategy used in many Portuguese key stage one classrooms, by teachers and children with little or no experience in working through drama. An approach will eventually lead to a greater concern about the form and structure of the activity than about the aspects of learning and understanding the content through drama. Nevertheless, it is important to argue for the use of Improvisation, especially when children are used to working

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through drama in a daily basis. educational Improvisation.

However, it is difficult to sustain creative and

It must be stressed, though; that this strategy is useful in supporting childrens spontaneity and if used properly can be beneficial to the development of vocabulary and oral communication. It should ideally be used with other techniques, such as Teacher in Role or Models. Finally, it is important to remember that stimulates enjoyment, which in many cases can easily be channelled towards certain goals. This study however wants to stress that Improvisation, should not be considered something random, disorganised, hasty or unexpected, due to the fact that is used with a purpose and only after a certain amount of previous exploration of the content. Improvisation should not be confused with improvs and skits which suggest activities that take place without the teacher and which are generally of superficial nature, drawing upon the stereotype. (Morgan, Saxton, 1987,p120) Because Improvisation is the most theatrical term that we can find in drama in education, can be mistaken connected with something to present, to show, or to be acted out in a particular space. Improvisation must always maintain its connection with the symbolic language of drama, although it is important to remember that children are not actors and that teachers must have sufficient knowledge to preserve that aspect. For example, Neelands (1990), proposes a strategy comparable to Improvisation, which he calls Re-Enactment. The application of this strategy contains certain similarities with the use of Improvisation in that the pupils work on the basis of something that has already been devised using other techniques, re enacting the situation from their point of view or against the background of the collated data

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Another principle proposed is Forum Theatre, which is often used by drama practitioners in education with whole group working. Forum Theatre, is a strategy devised by August Boal in his Theatre of the Oppressed (1979). It arises from the popular nature of his theatre and from of his concern for giving the people a place where they can have a critical voice, even though they have no experience of acting. He called this concept the spect actor According with the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, a Forum is: 1~ ( for sth) a place where people can exchange ideas on a particular issue; a meeting organized for this purpose 2( in ancient Rome) a public place where meetings were held ( 2000, p507). Forum Theatre was used by August Boal through out South America, and in Europe, in the 1970s, the 1980s and the start of the 1990s. He himself describes Forum Theatre as follows a problem is shown in an unsolved form, to which the audience, again the spect actors, is invited to suggest and enact solutions ( Boal, 1992,p21). In a classroom can be used starting with a Still Image of a problem. It can be used to initiate a debate and can develop into an Improvisation that any of the participants can stop whenever they feel the activity is loosing direction or purpose. Naturally, the teacher must be very aware of the direction of the discussion and in such cases, negotiation is very important. In Key Stage One, this strategy should be used from the very start, to help children get used to negotiating and to assist them in developing of acute observation skills. Finally, Sound Tracking is a strategy that helps to set an environment, a specific mood. It can also be used as a stimulus for the dramatic activity. It should never be used without a purpose. It application can be compared with the use of Games - its purpose is not to encourage relaxation, nor to provide a gentle backing while working through

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drama. Correctly utilised, it can add a lot of tension to any moment and can be tremendously educational- especially if the children are familiar with multiple musical genres. Moreover, Sound Tracking can be very useful in sustaining the global knowledge because of the connections it helps the children to form with other areas and issues.

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SECTION VI
Reflective and/ Critical analysis This section is a very important principle in this complementary form of pedagogy for it also comprises the redefinition and the changes of the teachers stance in a key stage one classroom. Underlying this principle, there may be some concern about how children are to be assessed within the framework of a drama project. It is important to remember that this study has always stressed that what is being taught is, in fact, the national curriculum. Children have to learn and understand the relevant competencies of the different areas of knowledge. Nevertheless, it is essential not to forget that this study is also calling for a redefinition of education by proposing a complementary form of pedagogy. According to Fleming (2001), assessment in relation to content has to do with the capacity that pupils have to extend the understanding within the content and relate it to other contents. The same author also underlines that work through drama is not just a display of skills without meaning, but also the use of those skills to deepen the meaning of the content. One of the strategies mentioned in the V section is Forum Theatre. One of the definitions provided for Forum, is a place for debating specific subjects. Let us hope then, that through the application of drama, the classroom can actually function as a Forum, in accordance with this definition fostering the habit of reflecting about the outside world and promoting critical analysis of what is being learnt and understood. This principle has to do with the way the teacher and children actually spend time on significant reflection An essential element in drama teaching is the ability to make effective use of classroom discussion. This is likely to require as much skill as the structuring of the 75

drama itself, and will make considerable demands on the judgment and sensitivity of the teacher. (ONeill, Lambert, 1982,p142) It is also a principle that supports all the aspects maintained in this study, about how children learn and how school teaches regarding the role of the teacher in education. This is the principle of joint work. Teachers are no longer the only ones reflecting about children work and in turn, their evolution and assessment. Children must be encouraged to participate in any reflection about the development of work, with reference to their experience.

The teacher who wants to encourage decision- making in his pupils should not take this to mean that he can sit at the side of the room and expect the class to get on with it. He still has to consider his role in relation to them as a class and to any acting- out that might occur. The children might find it difficult to make any decisions for themselves. Therefore, the teacher has to find a role that will enable the to make whatever decisions are important to them (McGregor, Tate, Robinson, 1977,p, 54 ).

Time for reflection of this kind can be found whenever necessary in or out of role, at the beginning, during or after the dramatic activity. These activities must acquire meaning, through an appropriate time for reflection, clarification and analysis of the evolution of work. This may arise naturally from the necessity of helping children to refocus on a particular moment. They can also be inserted at an appropriate time for the teacher or the children to introduce new elements, motivate the group to follow different

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directions or provide the solution to specific problems concerning the group or the context This reflection and analysis can also contribute towards the making of a diary, that can take many forms and contain a good deal of information. For example, the information can be presented in pictures, photographs, and sentences written by the teacher based on what pupils say, in case of younger students. There may be also space for texts written by older pupils or materials brought in by the children to pin point a specific idea.

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CONCLUSION

From the very start, the intentions promoted by this study have constantly been imbued with the sense of change in education through a proposal of a complementary form of pedagogy. A complementary form of pedagogy that can benefit the trainee teacher and also the practicing teachers in key stage one. Therefore this study must also be

addressed to the National and Regional authorities, underlying the need for a redefinition of professional development in Drama in Education. This area of knowledge was left behind because of the lack of a proper body of knowledge and a proper terminology that can make teachers confident in its usage as has been widely demonstrated in this study. The fundamental questions were: Why is it important to argue for drama throughout our lives? Why it should be preserved in key stage one? What is the nature of drama as a complementary form of pedagogy? The separate chapters do not divide these questions, as we will see later. Nevertheless, the structure of each chapter can be used as at a glance outline for each question. Chapter One, presents a brief overview of a certain period in Portugal that influenced elementary school education key stage one, over the years and reveals that drama in education has never been considered for use on account of three factors: Firstly, for several generations, student teachers have taken training courses devoid of drama in this context. Secondly, drama in education has never been offered by Portuguese higher education institutions, nor has been backed by a proper body of knowledge and theories that could motivate elementary school teachers to attempt to apply it in the classroom. Thirdly, working through drama as a complementary form of pedagogy or working drama as an area of the curriculum in key stage one in the Algarve 78

still is confusion, inconsistency and incoherent work according to the sample used in this study. In Chapter one, from the analysis of the interviews and questionnaires, this study concludes that working through drama, or even working with drama as an area of the curriculum was considered the poor relative in key stage one contexts in many schools in the Algarve. In Chapter Two, this investigation sets out to promote a redefinition of the stance of the teacher in education, and stresses that drama has to be a part of that redefinition through the proposal of a method to work within other areas of the curriculum. In defence of the important role of play in the context of key stage one, Chapter two presents a range of different learning methods from education experts and from drama practitioners in order to substantiate the importance of drama throughout our lives and the importance of drama in key stage. The learning methods from different authors presented in this chapter all concur in their underlining of the position taken by this study with regard to the aims of drama in elementary schools, key stage one. Chapter Three presents a proposal for a complementary form of pedagogy with principles intended above all to respect the overriding premise of this study, which is not about practical procedures or recipes. Rather, it is about the principles that must be adhered to, the importance of the use of drama in the redefinition of education as mentioned in Chapter Two. In Chapter Three, this study defends that notion through the several examples based in many ways in the work of Dorothy Heathcote, one of the majors drama practitioners, who defends that, pupils must be shielded from the notion that drama is only performance

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Imagination, creativity, communication, meaningful experiences and responsibility for learning and understanding form the basis of this complementary form of pedagogy that can be implemented with the principles presented. The principles presented are to be worked from the very first time children enter key stage one environment. It is only working through drama on a regular basis that teacher and pupils can successfully and fully participate in an active process of learning and understanding. Through that regular basis of work teachers can redefine their stance in the classroom and therefore redefine education in key stage one, the major key of a good basis in our future development.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Introduction Ball, C. & Airs, J. (1995). In Taking time to act. Portsmouth: heinemann Berg, L. B. (1989). In Qualitative research methods: For the social science .3rd ed. Allyn & Bacon Bond, E. & Heathcote, D. (1989). . In. The fight for drama - The fight for education : natd,conference. printers inc ltd Lipman, M., Sharp, A. M. & Oscanyan, S. F. (1980). In Philosophy in the classroom, Philadelphia: 2nd ed. temple university press Mcgregor, L., Tate, M. & Robison, K. (1977). . In Learning through drama: Schools council drama teaching project (10-16). London: Heinemann. educational:/www.min books Mclaren, P., Leonard, P. & Freire, P. (1993). . In A critical encounter .London : Routledge. O'Neill, C., & (1995). . In Drama worlds. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Chapter I

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Berg, L. B. (1989). In Qualitative research methods: For the social science .3rd ed. Allyn & Bacon Mendona, J. C. (2001). In Polticas, prticas culturais e pblicos no Algarve: Politics, culture and publics in the Algarve. Lisboa: edies colibri. Mnica, F. M. (1978). In Educao e sociedade no portugal de salazar: Education and society in salazar's portugal. : edies presena. Reordenamento do 1 ciclo no Algarve: Reorganisation in the Algarve of elementary Schools key stage one: Retrieved in March,16, 2004, from: Fhttp://www.minedu.pt/Scripts/ASP/novidades_detasp?news=222 Portuguese education system and trends (1992): Retrieved in October, 6, 2003, from: http:www.iec.caminho.pt/telmie/EN/Educational%20system/Content/history.htm Universidade de Coimbra, (1998/99), Revista crtica social de cincias sociais: Vinte anos de teoria social. Twenty years of social theory, vol 52/53, Retrieved in October, 6, 2003 from : http://www.portcult.com/Portugal.14EDUCATION.htm

Chapter II

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Ball, C. & Airs, J. (1995). In Taking time to act. Portsmouth: Heinemann Bolton, G. (1998). In Acting in the classroom. : Trentham books Bond, E. (1996). In Notes on imagination: Foreword to coffee. : Metheuen Bruner, J. & Haste, H. (1990). In Making sense. London: Routledge Bruner, J. (1996) In The culture of education, Harvard: University press Egan, K. & Nadaner, D. (1998). In Imagination & education. London: Open university press. Fleming, M. (1994). In Staring drama teaching, London: David fulton publishers Fleming, M. (2001). In Teaching drama in primary and secondary school. London: David fulton publishers. Gardner, H. (1995). In The unschooled mind. New York: Basic books. Heathcote, D. & Bolton, G. ( 1995) In Drama for learning, Portsmouth: Heinemann Johnson, L. & O' Neill, C. (1984). In Dorothy Heathcote: Collected writings on education and drama. Stanley thornes publishers lda Lipman, M., Sharp, A. M. & Oscanyan, S. F. (1980). In Philosophy in the classroom, Philadelphia: 2nd ed. temple university press Macmillan, Margaret, (1923) In Education Through Imagination, , George Allen & Unwin Ltd Mcgregor, L., Tate, M. & Robison, K. (1977). . In educational:/www.min - books Learning through drama: Schools council drama teaching project (10-16). London: Heinemann. Morin, E. & (2001). In Seven complex lessons in education for the future. Unesco Morgan, N & Saxton, J ( 1987). In Teaching drama. Portsmouth: heinemann Rugg, H, (1963) In Imagination. Harper & row publishers Roberts, P. (1998). In Educational review. vol.50

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Chapter III Ball, C. & Airs, J. (1995). In Taking time to act. Portsmouth: Heinemann Boal, A. ( 1992). In Games for actors and non actors, London: Routledge Brook, P. (1995). In The open door, Theatre communications group Heathcote, D. ( 1979) In Drama as a learning medium, Hutchinson & co. Johnson, L. & O' Neill, C. (1984). In Dorothy Heathcote: Collected writings on education and drama. Stanley thornes publishers lda Lambert, A & O Neill, C. (1982). In Drama structures, Portsmouth, heinemann, Lipman, M., Sharp, A. M. & Oscanyan, S. F. (1980). In Philosophy in the classroom, Philadelphia: 2nd ed. temple university press Morgan, N & Saxton, J ( 1987). In Teaching drama. Portsmouth: heinemann Neelands, J ( 1990). In Structuring drama work .Cambridge: university press Niza, s.a in inovao (1977 98) Organizao social do trabalho de aprendizagem no 1 c. e. b:(the social organisation of the learning in key stage one). Retrieved in March, 10, 2004, from Hhttp:// margarida belchior.planetaclix.pt/mem.htm Somers, J. (1994). In Drama in the curriculum. Cassell educational limited

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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ENGLAND

Faculty of Education

DRAMA AS A COMPLEMENTARY FORM OF PEDAGOGY IN KEY STAGE ONE 6 10

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Birmingham 2005

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