Group Factors As A Part Of Drama Education

Abstract

This article aims to answer the following questions: 1) How do structural factors of a group appear in drama teaching? 2) How do structural factors of a group influence the progression and functionality of a drama lesson? An analytic model of the structural factors that influence drama lessons was developed in a preliminary study by Toivanen, Pyykkö & Ruismäki. The purpose of the developed analyzing model was to help prospective teachers to increase their theoretical knowledge of the structural factors that influence drama teaching. The chosen structural factors as the target of the theoretical study are; norms, roles, statuses and communication in the group. In this study the research material contained seven videotaped drama lessons held by class teacher trainees at the Helsinki University Teacher Training School in Finland. The pupils were from the Teacher Training School of Helsinki University’s primary school. The set of data used in this study was collected in spring 2011 and 2012. The video material included lessons from the 1st and 2nd grades. Researchers coded the video recordings that formed the basis of the analysis. This study confirms that consideration of the pupil’s group roles has an impact on the success of the lesson. The success of the lesson means pupils commitment and active participation in the drama work. The considering of group roles had a connection to all the other studied structural factors of the group. Trainee teachers’ remedial actions during drama lessons were also aligned with the consideration of group roles. The teaching-studying-learning process in the context of the classroom drama is challenging as compared to many other ways of teaching. The nature of classroom drama requires a physical mentality that should be involved in fictional roles, time and space as well as in the social group roles of the class. Teachers using drama need to be able to facilitate the working dynamics of both kinds of groups in empty space. Becoming a teacher using drama in education requires knowledge of group dynamics (pedagogical skills) and drama (substance management) in order to anticipate problems in drama teaching situations.

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