Literature review: 2

‘Starting drama teaching’ Mike Fleming 2003

I decided to review this literature to see if it had any controversial or thought provoking opinions on boundaries to conflict that of the other literature I reviewed ‘How to survive your first year in teaching Sue Cowley 2003’ and to also see if it conflicted with my practitioner interview with a social worker. I was also interested in this literature as it is focused specifically on Drama teaching.

Fleming starts off the book by recommending using literacy sources to deal with or confront contemporary issues. For example ‘The pied piper’. I think this is a good idea as it can make students aware of social situations without them realising in the first instance and is suitable for all ages. It could also make it fun or relevant for their age. This is all on page 9.

On Page 11 Fleming explores the question ‘What is successful Drama?’ Which is a question I ask myself almost daily. Successful Drama in education is an improvement in confidence, emotional recall, self awareness, social awareness and contextual studies for me at a basic level, anything else is beyond successful, it is breaking boundaries which is rare in comprehensive schools.

Page 12 Fleming quotes 1967 ‘Theatre is largely concerned with communication between actors and an audience, drama is largely concearned with experience by the participants, irrespective of any function of communication to an audience’ Way 1967;2. To me this quote sums up brilliantly a drama class, it isn’t all putting on plays, learning scripts, acting as such but more an exploration on ourselves.

‘There has been increasing recognition in recent years that acquisition of ability in Drama is important, not just learning through Drama. There is less consensus on how ability or skills in Drama should be conceived’ Page 16.

On page 17 Fleming goes on to say that in recent years Hornbrook (1991,1998) has criticised some of the widely accepted orthodoxies of drama education. There are many critics who don’t see the point in Drama teaching or that it is simply an extension of English teaching, in many schools Drama was previously taught by an English teacher. ‘Another more practical critism of Drama in education is that it is not sufficiently aware of the realities of day to day classroom teaching’. Page 19. I do belive that there is a limit to teaching Drama in a school due to the limits in our boundaries as teacher. For example it is not practical to do emotional recall during the school day and especially amongst peers.

Page 21 Fleming says ‘A more balanced perspective has emerged since the early 1990’s and there is now a far greater acceptance or varied approaches in the classroom, but that does not mean that there is no room for debate and differences in opinion’ Norman (1999:8) This is true I believe as Senior leaders seem to encourage a change of atmosphere in the classroom or a different layout to create a different learning space. I still feel there are limitations though and it’s hard to experiment but still make every second of a lesson count.

Page 21 Fleming talks about having a balanced perspective which is great advice, especially when teaching students of mixed abilities/backgrounds. I also think in terms of Drama/dance you have to understand unlike other subjects in school it’s not just black and white, there may be underlining issues to their lack of efforts.

Fleming also says that as a teacher we should ‘acknowledge that successful Drama cannot be taught in a formulaic and mechanistic way but involves creative energy and risk taking’ this to me is the basis of my inquiry, seeing what boundaries need to be put in place for safe guarding the children but what boundaries we can break down for education needs in Performing Arts.

Another quote that I would like to repeat of Flemings ‘recognise Drama as a separate subject and an educational method, as having a valuable contribution to make in other curriculum areas’ Drama is used in all subjects as he says as a method of teaching, a teacher can use Drama exercises to teach but that does not make them a Drama teacher.

‘Drama should involve taking a broad view of the subject to include work on scripted text. The value of performance, the importance of focusing on the ability to respond to Drama’ He suggests that as a teacher we put particular emphasis on certain subjects that are appropriate for certain age groups.

Page 31 is all about combining English with Drama which I touched on earlier. ‘To the uninformed, drama already existed as a genre within English alongside poetry and the novel, in the same way that Dance should be seen as a niche within P.E’I  don’t agree with this, Dance is a performance based skill, no other subject in P.E, badminton, football etc needs an emotional understanding and performance level to that degree. ‘To argue that Drama should be placed on an already overcrowded curriculum would be likened by some to the claim that algebra should exist as a subject away from Maths.’ This is an interesting perspective, to see that Performing Arts is not alone in its fight for more curriculum time. However Maths and algebra needs the same state of mind, unlike English and Drama.

‘Those who advocate that Drama should exist as a separate subject in the national curriculum are faced with a dilemma…If Drama is conceived less as a traditional subject with a body of knowledge and skills and more as a teaching and learning methodology then it’s claim to separate subject status is likely to fall on deaf ears in this climate which is all about outcomes’. This is a strong minded quote and one that I could talk about for ages. However as its not strictly on the subject of boundaries I feel I should stick to my inquiry. I did want to post it though as I believe it is thought provoking.

Fleming clearly had a great understanding of Drama teaching, he not only expresses his knowledge but his passion and opinion. I believe this literature may be a good source of information to conflict with my practitioner interview. ‘Despite narrow approach-there has been a huge change in teachers understanding to Drama from the 1980’s onwards…..’