Social and Moral Education Through Drama: A Force For Change

From its organised origins, there has always been a view that drama has had an educational potential. For much of its history drama has been tied to the religious, moral and social aspects of the community in which it has been produced. This dissertation is a consideration of the educational potential of drama and theatre as a social and moral force. It will examine some contemporary educational debates and will provide a broad background of the relationship of drama to social and moral education. The dissertation will also examine the Drama in Education movement in Britain and its relationship with social and moral education. For the purpose of this research, the consideration of both the development of drama and the debate of where best to place drama in relation to theatre, English and other Arts in Britain is examined to draw out conclusions and recommendations for the Kuwaiti context. Given that the Kuwaiti experience is largely about theatre, the renewed relationship between school drama and theatre in Britain will be considered to help to identify not only the development of drama in schools, but also various ways in which aspects of drama have evolved and what lessons can be learnt from the British experience. This will ultimately assist in devising guidelines for drama and theatre to be implemented in the Kuwaiti context. The key focus of this dissertation is not the research on the British experience, but rather on the conclusions that can be drawn from it. The British experience has provided the essential material for identifying trends, key questions, lessons to be learnt and recommendation in the re-evaluation of drama and theatre in Kuwait. The research will conclude with a proposed theoretical and practical framework of how it would be possible to introduce drama, for the first time, into the Kuwaiti education system and as a way to revitalise its theatre movement