Drama Tuesday - Reflections on international drama education

First World Congress Oporto, Portugal July 1992

In July 2013 during the 8th World Congress on Drama/Theatre and Education in Paris, France, I was elected as President of the IDEA Executive Committee and re-elected in  2017 during the celebration of 25 years of IDEA held at the University of Evora in Portugal. It was fitting that this celebration was held in Portugal because in July 1992, during the First World Drama Education Conference in Porto Portugal, IDEA was founded. I was one of the lucky ones who was in Porto at the founding of IDEA and have been to all 8 of the congresses. As well I have represented Drama Australia at IDEA meetings in Montpellier, Budapest, Bergen,  Belém. 

International Collaboration in 1992

Seven years as IDEA President has been challenging. During that time two planned congresses – Ankara, Turkey (2016/2017) and Beijing, China (2020) – have been cancelled because of civil unrest in Turkey and the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic. 

During my time in this role I have visited many places and had the opportunity to learn more about the wider world of drama education. 

A short video presentation of my report can be found at https://vimeo.com/manage/461230241/general.

My final report to the IDEA General Council can be read at

https://www.ideadrama.org/Documents-for-IDEA-2020-GCM 

I have worked with a dedicated team of volunteers who have spent long hours in ZOOM meetings (before the Pandemic and during) in pursuit of the aims of IDEA. I thank them for their ongoing commitment and voluntary work.

In this post I make some observations about Drama Education from an international perspective.

The world of drama education is wide

There are many different approaches to drama education. Although I have a suspicion that the original proponents of an international drama education association, thought that their vision of drama education would emerge as the dominant model, the congress in Porto quickly established that there is not one way of drama education. 

The full title of IDEA is a clue. The clumsy construction in English  is drama/theatre. If you look to the titleWords and definitions can be slippery. Some words do not have ready translations. One person or country’s drama is in another worldview theatre. In fact, in some places, there is no direct or easy translation of the term drama. 

But it goes deeper than just words and definitions. In the French speaking world, there is the concept of partenariat where drama education is a partnership between classroom teacher and actor/professional/teaching artist and theatre expertise lies with the professional partner. By contrast the model adopted in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, for example, is based on a dedicated trained drama teacher. In a similar vein, there are places that assume there will be drama in the school curriculum; there are many places where that is not happening (see discussion below). Drama education is not solely found in school settings. It is in communities, associations, political action and the streets.

In some countries and cultures, local approaches are seen as the only approach. IDEA has had to negotiate a wide definition of drama and theatre education. This is noticeable in the aims of IDEA

There is another aspect of this wide church of drama education: the role of dominant language in sharing and limiting communicating about practice. Often there is exemplary practice happening beyond the world of English. As IDEA has shown there are drama educators in the Scandinavian countries that parallel what has happened in English speaking countries but with a unique identity and flavour. Similarly, the walls of language prevent outstanding practice in Turkey being shared with the wider community. English may be the dominant language of the Internet, but there many languages of drama and we need to recognise and acknowledge this multiplicity.

It is only when you are in-country that you can understand local perspectives. World-views are powerful. Don’t we say that the essence of drama is when we step into someone else’s shoes. Nowhere is that more evident than when we talk about the world of drama education. 

Drama in the Arts

Drama education is an integral part of arts education. The history of arts education, however, has seen drama accepted as part of a wider mandate for arts education. This has been a hard won battle (and continues to be so in many places where the dominant arts education narrative is written by music and visual (fine) arts. Drama education has been the giant knocking at the door (Stinson, O’Toole & Moore. (2009). Drama and Curriculum: the giant at the door. 10.1007/978-1-4020-9370-8). 

The concept of the Arts as a field of curriculum finds voice in writers such as Peter Abbs (1987) in Living Powers The Arts in Education. In the Australian context since the Hobart Declaration on Schooling  (1989) there has a commitment to with The Arts as one of the eight curriculum learning areas model. Drama has had a place at the table when it came to writing the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA, 2014). Just as the implied mandate of the Arts in schools is not realised in practice in all schools (see, for example discussion in, Ewing, 2020) the place of drama in all Australian schools s not necessarily secured.

The situation beyond Australia is similarly mixed. 

The impact of the pandemic in the united States shows contraction of arts education opportunities. In Greece the government announced that for 2021, the arts would not be offered for senior secondary students. The success stories of the arts and drama in the Welsh curriculum and in Romania are counterbalanced by what is happening in England. 

Drama educators must continue to be the giants knocking at the doors of curriculum demanding to be let in. 

There is a role for IDEA in this world wide claim.

IDEA was a founding member of the World Alliance for Arts Education WAAE  (https://www.waae.online/) and continues to support the work of the alliance drawing together ISME, the International Society for Music Education, InSEA, International Society of Education through Art, and WDA, the World Dance Alliance

IDEA and the wider world of Drama and theatre

A question to ask about drama education and theatre and drama is: why is there a need for IDEA when there are other organisations like ITI/ASSITEJ/etc working in the field with similar objectives? What is distinctive about the mandate of IDEA?

While IDEA has affiliations with ITI the mandate of this United Nations/UNESCO body is  broader than IDEA’s aims. Similarly the focus of ASSITEJ is on theatre makers and making while undoubtedly sharing an interest in young people. 

When IDEA was funded, there was a need for the specific and particular concerns of drama and theatre educators to be heard.

IDEA has long sought to strengthen its ties with UNESCO. Despite the troubled current situation of UNESCO, underfunded since the withdrawal of the USA, there is value in reaching out to the members of UNESCO to further the aims of IDEA. 

Drama Swings and roundabouts

In some places there are good news stories about drama education particularly in schools. There are sad news stories. In Iceland, Drama is included in the primary curriculum – a victory to be celebrated. In Finland, despite a long campaign from FIDEA, the Finish member of IDEA, drama in school has yet to be realised. 

It cannot be said that there is a universal entitlement for all for drama education. The struggle continues.

Some concluding thoughts

Seven years working voluntarily for an international organisation across languages, cultures and locations has been challenging. 

It has been rewarding and sometimes frustrating. There is work is still waiting to be done. There have been some small gains and victories; many disappointments. 

The richness of our professional lives is a reflection of our capacity to belong. Through IDEA (and similar) I have been a member of a guild of drama educators, learning from each other, enriching each other.  

I particularly thank my family for supporting my time in IDEA. Members of my family have accompanied me on the IDEA journey. My son Phillip was with me in Budapest for a General Council Meeting in 1997; my second son, Ben was with me in Kissumu Kenya in 1998 and in Belém, Brazil in 2010; my daughter Hannah was with me in Ottawa, Canada in 2004 and in Hong Kong in 2007. Finally, my wife, Liz, was with me in Frankfurt November 2019 (taking time from her busy career). More importantly, they have supported the travel i have undertaken (I stress, mostly taken at our own expense as funds within IDEA are limited and funding for travel in universities and institutions have long since dried up). As I move to the role of Immediate Past President, I leave with a sense of knowing that I could not have offered or done more. Even though there is always more to do, I pass the mantle to those who follow in the hope that I have contributed to our successes and survival into the future, stronger and more resilient. IDEA 

Bibliography

Abbs, P. (Ed.) (1987). Living Powers: The Arts in Education. London: Falmer Press.

ACARA. (2014). The Australian Curriculum: The Arts. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/the-arts/introduction

Ewing, R. (2020). The Australian Curriculum: The Arts. A critical opportunity. Curriculum Perspectives, 40, 75-81. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-019-00098-w

MCEETYA Ministerial Council on Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs. (1989). The Hobart Declaration on Schooling. Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs Retrieved from http://www.educationcouncil.edu.au/EC-Publications/EC-Publications-archive/EC-The-Hobart-Declaration-on-Schooling-1989.aspx