Democracy Through Drama in Education – Demo:Dram
Drama in Education (DiE) is a pedagogical process that seeks to balance both the form and content of drama. Drama in Education can engage participants with an element of living through the drama, whereby they bring themselves to the dramatic experience to learn about issues and concepts raised in the drama and through drama.
Importantly Drama in Education relies on engaging participants in fiction – fiction that they are creating themselves – and this provides a form of protection, which offers an educational, rather than a therapeutic perspective. Drama in Education in this sense creates a space for participants to understand the world in which they live.
We believe that this approach lends itself to enabling an exploration of content from other subject disciplines, such as the humanities or languages. This is particularly useful for making difficult, or controversial issues, meaningful and accessible to young people.
“Being involved in an advisory capacity for the Democracy through Drama initiative was really interesting and useful to my PhD, publication and practice where I am researching identity and positioning through drama. It is wonderful to witness the inclusive drama pedagogy that is being applied in practice with a wide range of colleagues, including teachers of other subjects as well as drama practitioners and students. The work of the Demo:Dram team in the positioning of their participants empowered and engaged us, and we were able to identify features we could draw on in our particular subject areas. We were able to bring in our own expertise, and find new ways we could provide spaces for reflection on democracy for the young people we work with.”
Iona Towler Evans"As a Drama teacher, finding new and innovative ways to improve my pedagogy practice is invaluable. Being involved in the Demo:Dram project proved very helpful and insightful - so much so that I have incorporated elements of the pedagogical strategies into my own Drama lessons and practice with much success. These strategies allow my pupils to explore many subject areas across the curriculum in an exciting and unique way, even when dealing with difficult topics and new perspectives. Not only are these strategies exciting, they are also accessible for a wide range of teachers to use."
Jordana Wilson
Why the need for Demo:Dram?
The Demo:Dram project is important as it is seeking to explore how we might create…
Demo:Dram - Partners’ Perspectives
The Demo:Dram project sees partners from various European countries collaborating…
Demo:Dram - In Action
See the latest footage from our Summer School in Athens 2018. The aim of the summer…
What is Demo:Dram?
The Demo:Dram workshops outline and present practical exercises for teachers of humanities, languages and drama in education practitioners to use in their specific fields, and offer a detailed evidence-informed description of the drama process and content.
What We Do
Our Drama in Education (DiE) Demo:Dram workshop ideas have been created in partnership with various experts, teachers and educationalists across Europe. Our Demo:Dram workshop ideas aim to provide teachers with inspiration, support and innovative ways to approach the creation of democratic classrooms and democratic spaces for young people.
Democratic Classrooms
We define democratic classrooms as a space for creativity and imagination where the child’s experience is acknowledged, valued, nurtured, encouraged and developed. As part of this, the child is recognised as an individual human being in their own right.
Democratic Awareness
Democratic awareness is gained in situations and experiences when children and young people recognise themselves as equal citizens in their own right. Democratic awareness stresses the importance of the democratic quality of the processes and practices in daily life that determine the shaping of democratic citizens.
Student Civic Engagement
Student civic engagement is central to the Demo:Dram project. Through our project, we aim to develop student civic engagement by tackling a commonly held view that young people can be disconnected from wider society. Student civic engagement attempts to interest young people in the values of community, motivate them politically, and heighten awareness of others.
The Role of Democracy
Democracy literally means “rule by the people”. The term is derived from the Greek words “demos’’ (people) and “kratos” (rule) and it refers to the system, where people themselves rule and they rule themselves.
Demo:Dram UK Project Leaders
Want to know more or if we can support you and your school with drama class exercises?
For more information please use the contact form below and we’ll be in contact with you.
Dr Eleni Kanira - Project lead
Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies / Childhood courses Research Co-ordinator / Birmingham City University
BEd./PGCE in Early Childhood Education
MA (Drama Education) & PhD (Education)
PGDip. In Psychoanalytic Infant Observation
FHEA
Christopher Bolton - Drama lead
Senior Lecturer in Drama Education / Subject Route Leader PGCE Secondary Drama / Research Co-ordinator Secondary & PCET / Birmingham City University
BA (Hons) Drama and Theatre Studies with English Literature
MA Performance Analysis
PGCE Secondary Drama
PGCert
FHEA
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Contact us
Want to know more or if we can support you and your school with drama class exercises? For more information please use the contact form and we’ll be in contact with you.
BCU, City South Campus
Westbourne Road
Birmingham B15 3TN UK
+44 (0)121 331 5000
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Demo:Dram European Partners
All images from the Budapest Summer School were kindly provided by Gabriella Csoszó who is a freelance photographer, artist, teacher and activist based in Budapest, Hungary.