Since October last year, The Freedom Theatre has been running a Drama in Education course. The course consists of basic knowledge of drama theories and methods, drama therapy, forum theatre, story telling, voice and movements, creative arts, implementation/practical classroom planning with supervising, puppet production, drawing/painting and visual arts. Workshops were facilitated by Agneta Regell, Fidaa Ataya, Iman Aoun and Mohammad Dabdoub.
Agneta Regell, the course supervisor, writes about her experiences of working with the first group, consisting of nine participants who work in Special Education in Kabatia close to Jenin, who graduated in mid-June:
The first Drama in Education (DiE) group at The Freedom Theatre has come a long way and made a”dramatic” and successful journey into the understanding of the pleasure and purpose of Drama as a learning method!
Only nine months ago, they took their first, hesitant steps into unknown games and exercises and new pedagogical concepts. There they found new understanding of the use and benefits of Drama as an Educational Method.
Nine months might seem a very long time to devote to extra training given that at the same time you must take care of all the everyday tasks and make ends meet both at work and at home. But at the same time, nine months is a relatively short period if you consider the great educational progress made by the group.
According to course evaluations, meeting not only different educational methods and theories, but also course leaders from various cultures and disciplines, has highly added to the worth and appreciation of the course. The feeling of being all together, a team, connected in this project, also gave a strong experience of capability, strength and courage to dare to go on by oneself in the classroom.
Now we are looking forward to the next step, part two of the DiE course at The Freedom Theatre: to broaden and deepen the insights of the necessity of aesthetic methods in education and to establish the need for planning and structure when applying these methods.
Agneta Regell, Supervisor of the DiE course at The Freedom Theatre