School Drama
Since 2009, Sydney Theatre Company and The University of Sydney have partnered to design and deliver School DramaTM. School DramaTM is a professional development program for teachers that uses drama strategies to improve learning outcomes across the primary school curriculum, particularly in literacy. For 90 minutes a week over seven weeks, each participating teacher works in the classroom alongside a specially trained teaching artist who helps build confidence and capacity in utilising drama to develop literacy outcomes in primary school students from kindergarten to grade six. Together they explore how drama strategies can be integrated into any area of English and literacy, such as narrative writing, comprehension and inference, confidence in oracy, descriptive language and student engagement. The process begins with a day-long professional development workshop at STC, followed by a series of planning sessions focused on tailoring a “team-teaching” program to meet the class’ individual learning goals. The teaching artists then go into the schools, modelling the drama strategies and empowering teachers to carry these ideas into their regular teaching practice. In 2013, The University of Sydney delivered a longitudinal evaluation of the program which demonstrated its efficacy. Key research findings show significant shifts in teacher-reported knowledge, understanding and confidence to use process drama strategies. Further, increased student academic achievements in literacy and English, improvements in student confidence and class cohesion and ongoing research and evaluations illustrate that the co-teaching model provides a powerful professional learning experience for teachers. Teachers also report that they
continue to use the knowledge and expertise gained long after the teaching artist has left the school, ensuring the program has a lasting and scalable impact. Armed with this research, we doubled access to School Drama™ in 2013 across metropolitan Sydney, working with 58 teachers in 27 schools and in the process engaging with 1,327 children. We also trialled regional delivery models in Broken Hill and the Blue Mountains, as well as conducting an interstate pilot of the program in South Australia in partnership with State Theatre Company of South Australia and Flinders University. Pre-service teachers from The University of Sydney shadowed teaching artists in Term 2, and our Education Manager has shared School Drama™ practice and research with pre-service teachers in Primary and English courses, and at conferences both nationally and internationally. We believe that School DramaTM demonstrates the extremely positive instrumental value of the arts in education, and hope that confident, drama-literate teachers will help impart a joy of learning, language and storytelling to primary students. Developing the program has been a major commitment and investment. Crucial support for the program has come from the Origin Foundation, Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, the Caledonia Foundation and the STC Foundation and we thank them wholeheartedly for their help in getting it off the ground. School DramaTM is supported by: The Caledonia Foundation Origin Foundation Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation
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