The Routledge Companion to Drama in Education

611 Pages·2022·10.78 MB·English

by  Mary McAvoy (editor), Peter O'Connor (editor)

THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION
TO DRAMA IN EDUCATION
The Routledge Companion to Drama in Education is a comprehensive reference guide to this
unique performance discipline, focusing on its process-oriented theatrical techniques, en-
gagement of a broad spectrum of learners, its historical roots as a feld of inquiry and its
transdisciplinary pedagogical practices.
The book approaches drama in education (DE) from a wide range of perspectives, from
leading scholars to teaching artists and school educators who specialise in DE teaching. It
presents the central disciplinary conversations around key issues, including best practice in
DE, aesthetics and artistry in teaching, the histories of DE, ideologies in drama and educa-
tion, and concerns around access, inclusivity and justice.
Including refections, lesson plans, programme designs, case studies and provocations
from scholars, educators and community arts workers, this is the most robust and compre-
hensive resource for those interested in DE’s past, present and future.
Mary McAvoy is an Associate Professor of Theatre Education and Theatre for Youth at
Arizona State University, USA.
Peter O’Connor is Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Arts and Social
Transformation at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

THE ROUTLEDGE
COMPANION TO DRAMA
IN EDUCATION
Edited by Mary McAvoy and Peter O’Connor
Cover Image: Photo by James Kulapohaku Spray
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Mary McAvoy and
Peter O’Connor; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Mary McAvoy and Peter O’Connor to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-43045-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-19736-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-00091-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003000914
Typeset in Bembo
by codeMantra
We have both been sustained through the editing of this book during the
COVID-19 pandemic through the joy of the children in our lives: Marley
Graciela Perez, Zephyr Pedro-Luis Perez, Analise Marie Hunt, Amelia June
Hunt, Andrew James Hunt and Maisie Jane McAvoy.
We dedicate this book to them in the hope that their schooling and lives are
full of the wonder of drama.

CONTENTS
List of fgures xiii
List of contributors xv
Acknowledgements xix
Forewords xx
We contain multitudes: an introduction 1
Mary McAvoy and Peter O’Connor
PART I
Boundaries and contours 7
1 A personal genealogy of the idea of drama education as a force for change 9
Kelly Freebody
2 Distancing as topos in process drama 18
Stig A. Eriksson
3 Pedagogical assemblages exploring social justice issues through drama
education 32
Mindy R. Carter
4 Drama in education and the value of process 45
Eva Hallgren
5 “Creating conditions for the emergence of the as-yet-unimagined”:
drama in education as artistic pedagogy 53
Juliana Saxton and Carole Miller
vii
Contents
6 Whose enlightened pedagogy? A historical mini-tour of the
educating process of  drama 65
John O’Toole
7 Reimagining drama in education: towards a postdramatic pedagogy 80
Moema Gregorzewski
8 The infuence of the “conventions approach” on the practice of
drama in diferent cultures 94
Adam Cziboly, Mette Bøe Lyngstad and Sisi Zheng
9 In the spaces for play: learning in Mantle of the Expert 110
Priya Gain and Viv Aitken
10 Critical process drama framework 117
Claire Coleman
11 Humanizing education with dramatic inquiry: in dialogue with
Dorothy Heathcote’s radical and transformative pedagogy 122
Brian Edmiston and Iona Towler-Evans
12 Assessment in drama education 137
Rachael Jacobs
PART II
Methods, programmes, and partnerships 151
13 Drama as a pedagogy of connection: using Heathcote’s rolling role
system to activate the ethical imagination 153
Christine Hatton
14 Ecological education of preschool children using process drama 166
Branka Bajić Jovanov
15 Drama for climate change education 172
Anna Lehtonen
16 Storytelling theatre and education 175
Joe Winston
17 An imagined cultural identity: refections on a classroom drama
How  Wang-fo Was Saved 185
Cleo Xiaodi Wang
viii
Contents
18 Action (re)call in the theatre classroom, Sweden 189
Pernilla Ahlstrand
19 ‘Do Something Diferent…’: a teaching inquiry into the use of
Mantle of the Expert to support struggling writers 194
Sue Bleaken and Viv Aitken
20 A dramatic approach to teaching tough topics: using children’s
literature and drama to explore the refugee and migrant experience 201
Larry Swartz
21 “Freeze!” – building refective and analytical skills in children
through drama 214
Jennifer Wong
22 Theater for children’s dialogical specifcities 224
Viviane Juguero
23 Bodies at play: body image and the young actor 239
Elizabeth Brendel Horn
24 Little Red and the Wolf: devising with young people at
Eastlake Park 246
Dontá McGilvery and Claire K. Redfeld
25 Facilitating post-performance process drama in an Irish
primary school 250
Heidi Schoenenberger
26 Accessible for all: drama-based pedagogy in an inclusive primary school 255
Kathryn Dawson and Stephanie W. Cawthon
27 Harnessing the power of Flight: devising responsive theatre for the
very young 269
Robyn Ayles, Heather Fitzsimmons Frey and Margaret Mykietyshyn
28 A comparative case study of a DiE-inspired music and
theatre  project for linguistically and culturally diverse pupils in
Hong  Kong and London 281
Samuel Chun Sum Tsang, Chi Ying Lam and Bonnie Yuen Yan Chan
29 Mixed methods in drama education research: a project autopsy 297
Peter Dufy
ix