Learning partnerships: the use of poststructuralist drama techniques to improve communication between teachers, doctors and adolescents
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2008
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Melbourne Authors
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Faculty of Education, Education
Graduate School of Education
Graduate School of Education
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PhD thesis
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Cahill, H. W. (2008). Learning partnerships: the use of poststructuralist drama techniques to improve communication between teachers, doctors and adolescents. PhD thesis, Faculty of Education, Education and Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne.
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Deposited with permission of the author. © 2008 Helen Cahill.
Abstract
Adults working as teachers and doctors can find it difficult to communicate well with young people about the issues that affect their wellbeing and learning and thus miss opportunities to contribute when their clients experience adversity. Drama is often used as a pedagogical tool to assist people to develop their communication skills. Dramatic portrayals however, can reinforce rather than challenge limiting stereotypes, and there is the potential for learning through drama to contribute to a patronising world-view and lead to the assumption that a set of formulaic approaches can bridge the communication divide. There is thus a need for research that engages both theoretically and technically with the use of drama as a tool for applied learning. In this thesis, a reflective practitioner methodology is used to explore the use of drama as a method in participatory enquiry and as a tool in the professional education of teachers and doctors. Use of the practitioner perspective permits analysis of the alignment between theory and practice. The Learning Partnerships project provides the context within which to conduct this enquiry. In this project the researcher leads drama workshops that bring together classes of school students and tertiary students completing their studies in medicine or education. The adolescents work as co-investigators with the teachers and doctors, exploring how to communicate effectively in the institutional contexts of schools and clinics.
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drama education, teacher education, medical education, youth participation, participatory action research, reflective practitioner research, emancipatory pedagogy, poststructuralist theory, youth identity, role-play, communication training