If you were asked to draw a connection between schools, drama and young people and came up with the annual school play or the study of say Othello for the Leaving Cert, you'd only be partly right. The fact is that, if you examine the whole area of drama education and young people, you'll find an amazing variety of strands.
Certainly students study the texts of plays in literature courses - and, yes, they do participate in school plays. In some instances they take a drama module in the Leaving Cert Applied programme, but you can also add to these drama in education, theatre in education and youth theatre.
In addition to these, there are groups such as the Second Age Theatre Company, which perform curriculum drama texts for Junior Cert and Leaving Cert students, and Storytellers, which adapts curriculum novels. More recently, the Ark in Dublin's Temple Bar and Barboro, an offshoot of the Galway Arts Festival, offer plays for children and young people.
"Although we draw a distinction between drama in education, theatre in education and youth theatre," explains Emelie Fitzgibbon, artistic director of the Cork-based Graffiti Theatre Company, "we would have a common philosophy that the child is the centre of his or her own learning through engagement with drama or theatre." What then are the differences?
In a nutshell, the term `drama in education' refers to a teaching methodology. The layperson, however, may find it difficult to see how drama could be used in such a way. Using drama in this way means stimulating a child's imagination and interest in a subject, explains Peter O' Driscoll, a lecturer in the education department at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin. "The teacher in the class sets up some form of imagined experience through which children learn," he says. They could be pirates, airline pilots or Wild West pioneers, who have to deal with a range of different issues and problems. You can even teach maths in this way, he says.
Such methodology can also be used successfully in senior cycle. "I've seen a group of A Level students have their understanding of Hamlet transformed by becoming a TV news team which made a documentary programme on the new regime at Elsinore," says Dr Cecily O'Neill, an international expert on drama in education. Dublin-born O'Neill divides her time between London and Ohio State University where she is associate professor of drama and theatre studies.
"The drama methodology is not as well established in the United States as it is in Britain," she says, "but there is a growing interest there in active and collaborative learning." The methodology is an easy way of teaching through the intelligences identified by Dr Howard Gardner, she notes. "The United States has such an alienated school population and drama provides a means of giving children a voice in and a sense of ownership of their own learning."
While the drama-in-education methodology is rare here at secondlevel, it is used at primary level by some teachers who have been trained in this method. It is, however, a methodology that is often best taught at post-graduate level. Younger teachers, Peter O'Driscoll notes, tend to be concerned about their classroom control and notions about themselves as authority figures. Teaching through this methodology makes huge preparation demands on teachers, he says. They have to set up the imaginary situations and then keep control to ensure that the projects remain an educational experience.
It's likely that we will be hearing more about drama in education in the future. The White Paper on Education promises at primary level "a broadly based arts curriculum, which will include music, dance, drama, painting, poetry and story-telling." The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is finalising its review of the primary curriculum. The Minsiter for Education, Micheal Martin, told the Dail recently that "arts education, which encompasses visual arts, music, drama, dance and literature, will form a key element in the revised curriculum." While there will be a drama element in arts education, confirms Albert O Ceallaigh, director of the NCCA, the main emphasis will be on drama as a teaching method.
At second level, says O Ceallaigh, the NCCA is considering two options: the introduction of drama as a free-standing subject or the use of drama as a teaching methodology for the delivery of a range of subjects. "There is a concern that, in an already crowded curriculum, schools would be unable to find sufficient time to offer a drama course," he says.
When it comes to theatre-in-education, we're talking about professional theatre groups which visit schools, but rather than simply giving a performance they provide schools with a complete programme. "We call them programmes," explains Graffiti's artistic director, Emelie Fitzgibbon, "because we go into a school and give a performance but we also provide workshops around the themes of the play and resource packs."
The company, which is funded by the Arts Council and Cork Corporation, produces two programmes each year - one for primary schools and one for secondlevel schools. Graffiti visits schools around Munster and south Leinster and is shortly to be involved in the Breaking the Cycle Programme in the Cork area. All plays performed, whether specially commissioned or not, deal with issues to which children and young people can relate. Graffiti also runs an attached youth theatre - ACTIVATE Youth - and a number of drama workshop outreach programmes.
Suzie Kennedy is artistic director of the TEAM Educational Theatre Company. "Our aim is not to foster theatre audiences of the future, but to give young people a quality experience," she says. "Our plays explore issues and themes which are of relevance to young people."
Team's plays are all commissioned, mostly from Irish playwrights, "who work with children in schools to suss out their concerns and needs," she notes. "We are currently doing Mirad - A Boy From Bosnia, a play about Bosnian refugees. We tell the story of a 13-year-old boy caught up in the war. The play highlights the problems faced by refugees and poses questions."
Students review the play and roleplay. "Active learning promotes understanding of a situation," Kennedy stresses. "Facts presented on TV for example simply wash over people."
Team, which was founded 22 years ago, is funded by both the Department of Education and the Arts Council. The company visits schools in the Dublin region, the Midlands and the border counties. However, like Graffiti, TEAM is over-subscribed. "There's a limit to the number of schools we can visit," Kennedy stresses. "There's a definite need for more theatre-ineducation companies."
Youth Theatre is the branch of theatre which provides drama opportunities for young people. Although a small number of groups are attached to schools, participation is usually an out-of-school experience. The National Association for Youth Theatre is the umbrella organisation for more than 50 youth companies which are active throughout the country.
"We started in 1980 with the Dublin Youth Theatre," recalls Eilis Mullan, the association's national director. "But there has been an explosion of youth theatre in the past few years." The youth theatre movement caters for young people from the age of 14 onwards. Its core element is regular workshops in drama.
"We focus on the process," Mullan says. "We regard social and personal development as being of equal importance. That distinguishes us from other groups."
According to Mullan up to 2,000 young people are participating in youth theatre, but she says there are vast numbers of youngsters who would like to become involved but who lack the opportunity. "We need more groups but we also need adults who can set them up and run them. It takes a lot of effort and commitment," she says.
1998 conference: The International Drama-in-Education Conference, directed by Dr Cecily O'Neill, will be held in UCC from April 3rd to April 7th next. Contact: National Association for Youth Drama - phone (01) 878 1301.
Dr Cecily O'Neill at a recent symposium on youth theatre in Dublin Castle. Left, two resource packs.
