Developing Drama Teachers' Body Awareness and Holistic Interactions Using Theatre Based Methods

Abstract

The challenges of pedagogical interaction in drama are related to the teacher-student interaction. The aim of our research is to develop theatre based training programmes designed to take advantage of teachers’ holistic, especially nonverbal communication interaction skills; presence and the use of bodies and space in educational settings. Our research questions are: 1) what theatre based tools can be used to teach body awareness? And 2) is it possible to use those practiced body messages consciously in teaching-studying-learning situations? The aim of this paper is to present the background and some aspects of the theory based practical training program we have developed to teach holistic interaction to professional teachers and teacher students in Helsinki University´s teacher education “Challenge of the Empty space -research project”. We also present the preliminary results of the effectiveness of the training programme. Preliminary data collection was carried out between 2014 and 2016. Two groups of teacher students (N=36) and one group of qualified teachers (N=16) took the basic studies of drama education course (25 ECTS credits). Holistic interaction skills were especially studied in the theatre education course (7 ECTS credits). After the course the participants reflected on their learning by answering a questionnaire. All the respondents felt that they have learnt something new about teacher‒student interaction and about the importance interactions during teaching. They mentioned that they had been paying close attention to their own supplementary communication. All the qualified teachers (N=16) described concrete situations where they have used “new holistic interaction” skills consciously. The results of the preliminary study reinforced our view. They give indications that teachers’ body awareness in teaching situations can be developed with these methods. The results will help us to develop the theatre based training programme further.