Transforming subject knowledge:drama student-teachers and the pursuit of pedagogical content knowledge

For many prospective teachers of drama, passion for their subject is a highly motivating force. In this paper I seek to shed light on the process by which personal constructs of drama as a subject are transformed during a period of teacher education, and answer key questions about the ways in which drama student-teachers develop their pedagogical knowledge. I draw upon a research project undertaken at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, using questionnaires and interviews with three cohorts of student-teachers at various points during their studies. The findings point to a complex interplay between prior and on-course experiences in shaping the student-teachers’ positions about the body of subject knowledge they are required to know and apply. The study also highlights the importance of subject knowledge as the frame within which pedagogical content knowledge is constructed, a relationship that is not properly recognised within the current competencies-based model of teacher education

The impact of curriculum hierarchies on the development of professional self in teaching: student-teachers of drama negotiating issues of subject status at the interface between drama and English

At the level of policy the relative ‘value’ of subjects is determined by their official curriculum designation, creating a hierarchy of learning within which particular subjects are categorised as optional to the educational experience of young people. This situation is well-illustrated by the marginalised position of drama in the National Curriculum for England and Wales in which drama appears as an adjunct to the ‘core’ subject English. Yet at school level drama has survived as a discrete and reasonably embedded subject. Drawing on questionnaire and interview data, I investigate the effects of this mismatch on the emergence of pedagogical content knowledge, linked to notions of professional self, in drama student-teachers at one university in the UK. Findings indicate that the student-teachers, whilst not entirely eschewing a less-regulated relationship between the two subjects, view the curriculum for English and its accompanying assessment regime as an inadequate host for drama. In addition, they regard teacher autonomy over curriculum content and pedagogy as indicative of a high degree of professional expertise. This suggests that a case can be made for re-evaluating the nature of the relationship between drama and English and its representation in policy-constructed curricula

Re-constructing the relationship between drama and English: Student-teachers’ perspectives at the end of an initial teacher education year

My research draws on data from focus group interviews with student-teachers which took place near the end of a one-year initial teacher education course. One group was studying to become teachers of secondary English, and the other secondary drama teachers. Both took part in a ‘diamond twelve’ activity highlighting different perspectives on the content and purpose of drama in the English curriculum. The article explores how the participants construct the relationship between their two subjects, and raises questions about the nature and relevance of the continuing association between drama and English that is enshrined in the National Curriculum for England and Wales

A Pedagogy of Possibilities: Drama as Reading Practice

In her chapter, “A Pedagogy of Possibilities: Drama as Reading Practice”, Maggie Pitfield examines the practices of a secondary English teacher with her pupils in a London urban school, with a focus on the ways the teacher’s practices resist policy-directed discourses. Drawing on literary theory, Pitfield analyses the ways drama, as an embodied art form, is integral to the pupils’ and teacher’s shared meanings in their intra-actions with literary texts. Pitfield argues that the dramatic activity in which they are materially and conceptually entangled enables relationalities of criticality and creativity and the active production of culture

Making a crisis out of a drama: the relationship between English and Drama within the English curriculum for ages 11-14

This paper critiques a recent initiative arising from the British Government's National Literacy Strategy for secondary schools. The initiative focuses on Drama within the English curriculum for 11-14-year-olds (Key Stage 3). Taking issue with the imposition on Drama of the objectives-led curriculum model of the Key Stage 3 Framework for teaching English, I examine whether the 'focus on Drama' during 2003/04 has led to a higher profile for Drama within English and facilitated curriculum collaboration between English and Drama teachers, as claimed. The article draws on evidence from a small-scale research project involving student teachers of English and Drama on teaching practice in London schools. I conclude that the KS3 Framework model of curriculum development and training does not promote collaboration in English and Drama teaching that is genuinely creative, and I identify some approaches which could offer an alternative

Routes into English teaching: beginning teachers’ reflections on college-based and school-based Initial Teacher Education programmes

This article compares student and trainee teachers’ experiences of three different routes into secondary English teaching: the standard one-year PGCE; the newer ‘flexible’ PGCE; and the employment-based Graduate Teacher Programme. As part of a two-year study involving over 80 beginning teachers the authors invite students and trainees to reflect on the perceived advantages and disadvantages of their chosen route. This article focuses on a small number of interviews with individuals from the sample as they near completion of their training. It sets the findings of the study in the wider political context of New Labour’s agenda for school reform and the future development of Initial Teacher Education

Teachers' experiences of mentoring on a flexible initial teacher education programme: implications for partnership development

This article investigates school mentors’ perspectives on their role in training student-teachers following an initial teacher education (ITE) programme via a flexible learning route. The paper draws upon data gathered from focus groups and interviews to examine how mentors are redefining their role in response to the opportunities and challenges presented by flexibility. Discussion focuses on the wider discourse around models of partnership and considers the effect of key government policies on partnership development in recent years. The paper concludes by highlighting some implications for both the role of the mentor on a flexible ITE programme and the future evolution of the partnership between Goldsmiths College, University of London, and the schools

Teaching 1984 in the surveillance culture of schools

Abstract Purpose This paper focuses upon the affordances of and issues surrounding the teaching of George Orwell’s novel 1984 (1949) as a set text for GCSE English and English Literature in an examination-obsessed and heavily surveilled school system. It considers this by focusing on the classroom practice of a beginning teacher tackling the teaching of this novel for the first time and the newly-appointed university tutor who is required to assess her teaching against a prescribed set of national Teachers’ Standards. Design/methodology/approach A case study design is employed, drawing on data from classroom observation, records of conversations and textual study. These data are analysed with reference to Perryman et al’s (2018) re-evaluation of Foucault’s panopticon (1995), a concept which explains how institutions set up surveillance systems in which people’s behaviour is shaped by their feelings of being watched. Findings In the context of her practicum school the beginning teacher adopts a particular approach to language study as a vehicle for teaching the novel 1984. This paper argues that such an approach, which finely focuses on the micro-detail of language, prevents teachers and students from seeing the big picture in Orwell’s novel and is therefore contrary to the spirit of his writing. It also restricts teachers from approaching the novel in ways which draw on students’ lived experiences as participants in the highly surveilled education system. Practical Implications The push for performativity in the current era of schooling ensures that, for English teachers, fear of failing to comply with imposed and implied norms contributes to a prevailing sense of unease about their subject. Thus persistent pressures of exam preparation and inspection-readiness drive a wedge between their subject knowledge/expertise and the classroom practices prevalent in English teaching. Social Implications English teachers and teacher educators are subject to a plethora of ‘guidelines’ which filter through at every level of education and operate in a similar way to the totalitarian figure-head of Big Brother, Orwell’s fictional dictator who dominates 1984. This paper argues that away from Big Brother’s all-seeing eye there are still, however, opportunities for those professional practices that do not fit within such parameters to be discussed, explored and shared. Originality This article offers a unique perspective on the teaching of George Orwell at the levels of school student, beginning teacher and teacher educator. The Big Brother of this article is not the Stalinist dictator of Orwell’s dystopia, instead manifesting in many different education-related personas. This Big Brother demands compliance with his fuzzy norms (Courtney, 2016; Perryman et al., 2018), rules which are deliberately vague and shifting and if contravened have far-reaching consequences for all concerned in the teaching and learning of English

Flexibility in initial teacher education: implications for pedagogy and practice

This paper focuses on recent and innovative moves towards flexible learning in initial teacher education programmes in England and Wales, as part of the ‘widening participation’ agenda in higher education and in response to changes in teacher recruitment patterns. We take as our perspective our own experience as two course tutors in a higher education institution that introduced flexible routes into its secondary teacher education programme at the beginning of the academic year 2002/2003. Using the university’s model for our case study, we have undertaken a small-scale research project and reviewed the literature describing flexible learning discourses in higher education, to consider the extent to which concepts of flexibility are being translated into practice. In particular we highlight some implications for pedagogy and practice that have become apparent at this early stage in the development of flexible courses and which will have an impact upon their progress in the future

How Student-teachers Approach the Teaching of Reading: At the Interface Between Personal History, Theory and Practice

This article charts the progress of one cohort of student-teachers (variously known as beginning teachers and pre-service teachers) training to teach English in London secondary schools during 2008-9. The research focuses specifically on the experiences which facilitate their development as confident and creative teachers and assessors of reading at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years). Findings indicate that it is the interaction - and tensions - between their personal reading histories, engagement in theory, and practice within the social environment of the classroom which shape their burgeoning identities as teachers of literature and reading. This year-long study demonstrates that for some a growing confidence has enabled them to look beyond approaches advocated by statutory curriculum frameworks to develop their own view of innovative practice in the teaching of reading