Abstract:
The field for this thesis is the practice of drama education in the primary generalist classroom. The researcher’s concern that drama’s place in the classroom had declined since its introduction to New Zealand’s national curriculum in 2002 prompted a search for characteristics marking effective practice of drama for that setting. From her background in teacher education, the researcher set out to conceptualise and describe the practice of drama education in a way that would assist student teachers or any teachers taking professional advancement courses to develop their practice in this powerful area of pedagogy for the primary classroom. The research project comprised two studies: the first seeking the views of expert drama education practitioners on what effective drama practice in the primary classroom would look like, and the second gathering a range of practising teachers’ observations and views following the viewing of a filmed exemplar of an experienced practitioner’s drama work. From the literature of the field, and the two studies, the researcher distilled the essence of effective practice in drama. First, data from the expert group together with the professional literature were explored to find the ways of knowing that characterised teaching in drama education. Data from the second study were aligned, compared and incorporated and, rather than compile a list of practices to be followed, principled guidelines were shaped that would support a base for practice that would be strong enough to sustain development towards expertise. A likely valuable direction emerging from the study has been the relevance to teacher education. An inference drawn from the study is that drama had considerable power to sustain both the practice competency and the sense of identity that a teacher needs, and that a teacher’s body of knowledge in drama can contribute to and complement the body of knowledge about teaching being acquired during the initial teacher education experience. The research data have supported a reviewed look at the potential that drama’s pedagogy holds for the practising and pre-service teachers, with the intention that drama education practice be revitalised in classrooms.