Dramatic Effect? A report on Solihull’s Artists in Schools RALP funded Project Sep 2000- Sep 2002

Jo TrowsdaleTana WolfDr Jonothan NeelandsProfessor Geoff LindsayUnit for Research in Education, Cultures and the Arts (URECA)&Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR)

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This report is constructed in three sections.

PART ONE describes the context and priorities identified for Dramatic Effect, nationally, regionally and locally. It outlines the project objectives, the research methodology and the types of schools and artists who were involved. It concludes with an overview of the project findings, in terms of expectations, valued effects, factors shaping the realisation of effects and recommendations.

PART TWO offers an insight into the projects in each school. The particular project designs, programmes, developments and benefits are described for both years of the project and the impact of such work in each school.

PART THREE comprises samples of research documentation.

PART ONE: OVERVIEW

Executive Summary

1 Background to the project 1.1 The project proposal and objectives1.2 The context: national and regional strategies and initiatives in the arts and

education1.3 Research aims1.4 Research methodology

2 Project elements: an overview2.1 Local and shared priorities 2.2 Sequence of events2.3 The theatre companies2.4 The participating schools

3 Findings3.1 Beliefs and practices3.2 Valued effects of the project3.3 Factors informing such effects 3.4 Recommendations

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PART TWO: CASE STUDIES

4 Purpleheath School and Trading Faces 4.1 Project objectives and school context4.2 Selection of students4.3 Process and activities4.4 Achievements and effects4.5 Areas for development4.6 Changes in year 2 4.7 Similar / different and additional achievements and effects in year 2

5 Brown’s Coppice School and Triangle Theatre / Highly Sprung Performance Company

5.1 Project objectives and school context5.2 Selection of students5.3 Process and activities5.4 Achievements and effects5.5 Areas for development5.6 Changes in year 2 5.7 Similar / different and additional achievements and effects in year 2

6 Ashstream and Highly Sprung 6.1 Project objectives and school context6.2 Selection of students6.3 Process and activities6.4 Achievements and effects6.5 Areas for development6.6 Changes in year 2 6.7 Similar / different and additional achievements and effects in year 2

PART THREE: APPENDICES

7.1 Interview questions7.2 Questionnaire example7.3 Record of research activity7.4 Photographic evidence

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Dramatic Effect was a two-year, Regional Arts Lottery Programme (RALP) funded, artists in schools project. It was conceived and constructed by Solihull Local Education Authority (LEA) in consultation with head teachers and with the support of West Midlands Arts. The project objectives reflect the current interest in the arts and education of developing stronger partnerships between the professional arts and education, of developing the arts in schools for themselves and for the value they have in impacting more widely in schools on areas such as developing self-esteem, inclusion, creativity and thinking skills. The project focused upon year nine students working intensively with artists over a week or two week period.

The research project sought to identify both the effect of particular artists working in three secondary schools in Solihull and the factors informing such effects. The researchers undertook: discourse analysis of schools’ arts documentation structured interviews with all eight artists in each of the three companies, fourteen

teachers including head teachers, senior management and arts specialists, before and after each project each year and often also within the projects

semi-structured interviews with all 160 students involved, typically in small groups, before, after and often more informally during the project. All students also completed questionnaires after the project.

Twenty-four students were selected for tracking (three or four per group) as representatives of a typical population for that school

observations were conducted of 50% of sessions, often supported by video recordings which were referred to after the event to check out instinctive impressions of the moment.

comparative analysis of attendance records before and during the project, achievement records in core and arts subjects for each cohort and in full achievement profiles for all twenty four students tracked

The report that follows is organised into three sections. Part one describes the context and priorities identified for Dramatic Effect, nationally, regionally and locally. It outlines the project objectives, the research methodology and the types of schools and artists who were involved. It concludes with an overview of the project findings, in terms of expectations, valued effects, factors shaping the realisation of effects and recommendations. Part two comprises case studies of the project in each school. The particular project designs, programmes, developments and benefits are described for both years of the project and the impact of such work in each school. Part three comprises samples of research documentation.

The case studies (see part two of the report) inform the overall findings which describe eleven valued effects (3.2). The findings then focus upon the factors which appear to be significant in maximising the possible positive effect of such work (3.3) and culminate in a set of recommendations which might inform future practice. These are detailed below and repeated in 3.4.

Senior Management Teams (SMT) should be involved in supporting specialist arts staff to realise and promote such projects. Support should be given in planning for the role of such projects in the longer term School Development Plan, arts development plan as well as in planning the detail of the project programme and its resourcing. (See Ofsted 2003 (b) p.21)

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Schools should explore and plan for opportunities to promote and educate about the value of such work throughout the school and school community. Attention given to promoting awareness itself will inform the realisation of benefits.

A clear purpose and context must be established for any such project and this should be sited within a longer-term plan for drama and the arts and within the overall School Development Plan. Opportunities to consolidate and develop the work and benefits of the project beyond its initial lifetime should be planned for. (Ibid; QCA & Arts Council 2000). This should include at least transparency of the process with students, preferably their engagement in the planning stages.

A residency style project design generates intensive learning opportunity. Whilst creating the time for students to be ‘off timetable’ will be challenging, the value for students in enabling them to recognise their own development in a short period of time appears to be significant to raising esteem and realising the longer-term and wider benefits of the project. .

Students benefit from performance opportunities which necessitate ‘immediate practical application’ of skills. (ibid). The project design should plan for and seek such multiple and different opportunities. Links with professional venues, community arts organisations and other schools may also offer opportunities to enhance the profile of the project and this impact upon the extent of its benefits.

Teachers and schools should research the models of practice of any potential artists, for example looking at their training, philosophy and reflective practice in addition to work profile and recommendations to select an appropriate artist. Schools or LEA may wish to propose a set of prompt questions for teachers to use in researching or interviewing potential artists.

Schools should draw upon local, regional and national agencies, such as Artists and Learning Information and Support Service (ALISS) www.aliss.org.uk for information about artists work in schools, such as a database of companies, with information on range / style of work available.

Agencies may offer showcasing opportunities to see artists work, such as ALISS, WMA partnership. The LEA may wish to propose to the partnership collaborative training opportunities for teachers and artists: where values and beliefs can be expressed, heard and respected and better understanding achieved by partners of each other’s practice. Nonetheless artists’ difference should be celebrated and retained as an ‘invited disturbance’ to schools.

Projects should consider ways in which the difference of artists from teachers is signalled to students in order to prepare them for such work. Both visits to see performance work and visits of artists to show work in school are possible. Additionally artists might consider ways in which they can demonstrate and help students deconstruct or construct their work.

Better understanding and use of peer teaching / mentoring models might be used to cascade the work and growing drama culture throughout the school and beyond.

The practical and organisational needs of the artists’ work should be considered, such as a consistent physical space for the work, resources and storage of valuable resources.

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Artists and teachers should discuss and agree their roles and responsibilities, expectations of each other, of students and the school They need to agree on an appropriate set of behaviours, strategies and sanctions considering the demands of the type of work, the characteristics of individuals within the group and the aims of the project. They should also agree how this will be negotiated with students. Artists should be aware of wider codes of conduct and procedures which they must adopt for the work.

Reflective discussion with small groups, facilitated by artists and teachers (dependent upon artist experience) offers valuable insight into students learning as part of the process and could be built in to future projects. This could also be complemented by collaborative recording, individual scrap-book type journals in which students might add research, personal thoughts – as many artists do and arts teachers encourage as pat of the creative arts process. Teachers are using this idea as part of the reflective practice of Solihull’s current Teaching Creatively; Teaching for Creativity Project which has a strong professional development focus.

Wider exposure is needed of senior stakeholders in schools such as head teachers, middle management and governors to the valued effects of such project and should be built into plans. This may have some impact upon their willingness to commit time and money to such ventures. This phenomenon is echoed in a recent study by QCA (2002)

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1 Background to the project

1.1 The project proposal and objectives

As part of the 1999 / 2000 RALP bidding round, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council received funding for a project proposal entitled "Dramatic Effect". The project was to involve two theatre companies, working with three schools in the Borough over a period of two years.

The main aims for the project were identified as:a) To advocate the arts as central to whole school planning and curriculum

development: demonstrating the impact of the arts upon creativity, thinking skills and personal development and raising the profile of the arts across the school and especially with senior managers.

b) To demonstrate the importance of partnerships between professional artists and schools: intensive expert learning of a subject-specific nature for students in years 9 and 10, a framework for schools to create and share different models, professional development for all partners

c) To connect Solihull schools with developing arts practice in the borough : promoting partnerships between professional artists, Solihull Arts complex and schools; making the professional arts more visible, relevant and accessible to a local community

Although detailed interpretation of the project was left to the individual school and company partnerships to evolve according to their specific objectives, certain characteristics were embedded in the proposal as central to the project. Head teachers, senior management were involved in planning in order to ensure commitment to and advocacy for the project. The project focused upon students in year 9 due to concern about poor levels of confidence, the drop off in interest and level of achievement noted amongst this age group. This change happens at a particularly significant time, as this is the age that students are choosing exam choices and possibly career paths. The project was to focus upon a two-week residency each year as an intensive experience for a core group, culminating in a school-based performance event. A wider engagement in the work was proposed possibly through satellite activities for the whole of the year 9 group, certainly through exposure to the company. In year 2 of the project, the project proposed some of the year one participants would take on a mentoring role working to support the artists with the new year 9 group.

It was intended that students would see performances of the professional work of the artists, typically contemporary theatre with which they were unfamiliar, at the Solihull Arts Complex, a professional arts venue. They would then return to the venue as performers at the end of the two years to present the work they had created with the artists at a celebratory public performance event. Companies were sought who devised work in physical forms. The emphasis upon devised work would allow students to originate ideas rather deliver a given text. Both companies selected for the project had good reputations for their work in schools.

A number of positive effects were anticipated as a result of the project. The major impact for students was expected to be upon their personal and social development, developing performance skills and confidence and raising awareness of the enjoyment and value of the arts which might inform exam options and career paths. Within schools and the LEA, working with artists had potential for teachers to gain new skills and confidence in using the arts. Through the whole project team meetings

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and the methods of the research element there was potential for greater reflection and thus new understandings about the value of such arts work, about how to maximise the potential of artist-led learning in schools, about fostering and promoting creativity and thinking skills.

For artists the longevity of the project and the additional research offered an opportunity to reflect upon and develop their artistic practice in an educational context.

1.2 The context: national and regional strategies and initiatives in the arts and education

The influential report of the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE), All our Futures (2000) provides the most significant context for this project. The report called for ‘a new balance in education’ including greater attention to fostering creativity and cultural education. Curriculum 2000 legitimised more flexible use of time in schools enabling widespread response to the recommendations of the report. It also legislated for greater attention being given to ‘Key Skills’i to thinking skills, creative teaching and learning and to citizenship all of which have a relationship to NACCCE and to Dramatic Effect.

The principles which underpin Dramatic Effect can be found in the NACCCE report. A central premise which the project echoes from NACCCE is that creative teaching and teaching for creativity are key factors in engaging learners, in building self-esteem and thereby in students’ overall educational developmentii. The premise itself is a direct response to the 1997 White Paper: Excellence in Schools which argued that inadequate consideration had been given by schools to raising morale, motivation and self esteem; that schools demonstrated too low expectations of young people’s abilitiesiii. More recently this is echoed in the Ofsted report 2003, Excellence and Enjoyment.

Concern about the prevalence of poor self-esteem and its impact are well-documented in the wealth of research on inclusion and motivating learners (e.g. Covington 1998; Huskins 1998)iv, itself a reflection of growing awareness of the problem. Alongside other education authorities, Solihull Borough Council operate an inclusion policy. A number of national initiatives have been instigated such as those of the Department for Education and Skills (formerly DfEE)’s Learning mentors programme which share some common objectives with Dramatic Effectv. The third school is also concerned about inclusion which it is addressing with some success through the arts. Arts staff from this school presented at a national conference: The Arts Included (29th October 2001). For all of the schools involved in the project the issue of inclusion remains significant.

The features of creativity defined by NACCCE (p.29) and its importance to young people are significant to this focus, as there is a correlation between these and the behaviours identified as important in addressing disaffection and promoting inclusion. For example, where NACCCE is concerned with education providing opportunities for young people to ‘express their own ideas, values and feelings’ in order to engage in ‘[i]maginative activity’, Covington talks of ‘providing engaging assignments’, ‘putting students in control’(p.165), Huskins talks of ‘values development’(p.35). Corbett and Slee emphasise the hallmark of inclusive learning as a ‘celebration of difference’ which ‘requires proactive responsiveness to foster an inclusive educational culture’ (Corbett and Slee 2000). For both groups, there is an interest in problem solving,

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pursuing a purpose, demonstrating discipline, developing self-value through personal achievement, finding an individual’s voice.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), again following NACCCE’s recommendations, has undertaken research into creativity and in 2003 has launched two new campaigns: ‘Arts Alive’ and ‘Creativity: Find it; Promote it!’. Its findings and guidelines are available on the web where schools can download documents to support their development of both the arts and creativity in the curriculum. As Sternberg describes, recognising and fostering thinking styles in learners is a natural adjunct of creative teaching: teaching which is reflexive and responsive as well as directed (1997). Sternberg identifies a number of different learning styles and their relationship to traditional educational processes, pointing out the disparity which frequently results in some types of intelligence being devalued. His themes echo those of Gardner (1993) who advocates educationalists recognise seven different domains of intelligence and teach to foster students’ ability in each of these and their reflexivity about learning in these varied ways.

The recent introduction of ‘Citizenship’ reflects an understanding that schools offer an ideal forum for students to learn more about their society and its values (Bourdieu 1971). The arts offer an ideal context for students to learn about and engage in the debates around responsible citizenship, moral behaviour and the responsibility of being part of a society. Drama for example provides imagined contexts in which students can fully engage in such issues. A number of the residencies within this project in 2002 have dealt with issues central to such studies: In 2002 Trading Faces were invited by Purpleheath to address citizenship issues. Highly Sprung likewise chose to work with such stimulii. In addition to any ostensible focus, through working as a company of artists intensively working to make a piece of theatre, students experience different models of social transaction, drawing upon a range of learning styles, fostering their creative responses. In reflecting on the project, as both the process and the added evaluation have required, participants have been required to analyse aspects of their learning experience and thus to extend their learning and possible transferability of these skills.

Dramatic Effect is also modelled, as the NACCCE report advises, upon ‘partnerships between schools and outside organisations and individuals’ which it considers ‘essential to .. educational development’ (p.120). This project has been developed though consultations between Solihull LEA inspectorate, Solihull Councillors, Solihull Arts Officers, (both those venue based at the Art Complex and those whose responsibility it is to develop the arts throughout the borough) West Midlands Arts (RAB) Officers, and a number of theatre artists with experience in working with young people in schools. The design of the project paid close attention to the possible benefits identified in the NACCCE report which themselves echo those identified by researchers in the field (Dust and Sharp 1997; Oddie and Allen 1999; QCA & Arts Council 2000; Trowsdale 1998; 2002; 2003.)

The project also has a relationship to Creative Partnerships, a national initiative developed by the Department of Culture and Media (DCM, formerly the department of Culture Media and Sport, DCMS) with the Arts Council, following recommendations of the NACCCE report. This is a ‘strategic approach to developing and sustaining partnerships between schools and arts, cultural and creative organisations’ (DCMS & Arts Council 2001) In the first year of the initiative (2002-3), sixteen local education authorities were identified as pilots, selected on the basis of ‘socio-economic, educational and rural deprivation’ primarily but also considering geographical spread, the potential for links with other national or regional initiatives

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and strong infrastructure. Like Dramatic Effect, Creative Partnerships is concerned with the ‘need to identify effective practice’ and ‘provide rigorous research evidence of the impact of Creative Partnerships’ (ibid).

In line with national initiatives, West Midlands Arts are promoting and initiating partnerships across the region. Through its Arts and Education Interface initiative artist training for work in educational contexts has become a priority. It has also been working with its LEAs to develop partnerships across the region in this field.

The LEA Inspector for Music and Drama acknowledges that whilst Solihull is a 'very forward-thinking authority’ it is only in recent years that 'the profile was raised in the Borough’. Following the publication of its first strategy for the arts in Spring 2000, there has been growing understanding of the importance of developing a shared vision and strategy for the further development of the arts. In July 2000, a few months before Dramatic Effect began, the post of Arts Development Officer was created, based at Solihull Arts Complex, with a responsibility for developing outreach arts work in the formal and informal education sector. Solihull is now a visible partner in the West Midlands Arts Partnership. A handful of arts projects, regional and local had received some West Midlands Arts funding for aspects involving artists but Dramatic Effect was a first for Solihull to receive RALP funding - a second project ‘Teaching Creatively and Teaching for Creativity through the Arts’ has recently been approved. Arts Education has become a key theme of the LEA's Educational Development Plan. Dramatic Effect was developed, in response to the key priority of Solihull's Strategy for the Arts, namely 'developing the arts for young people' (The Arts in Solihull: An Audit and Analysis p.17). The strategy recommends 'encouraging the employment of artists in youth projects and schools' and 'using the resources of the Arts Complex to involve more young people' (Ibid p.26) as means to achieve this objective. The project design was also informed by other priorities such as 'ensuring that the arts can contribute to regeneration within the North of the Borough' (Ibid p.27). This aspect of Solihull's arts strategy relates to other initiatives, nationally and internationally, which have harnessed the arts for their regenerative potential in urban contexts (Landry 2000). For two years before the start of Dramatic Effect, West Midlands Arts' Education Development funding was available for schools wishing to employ artists. Some Solihull schools who applied for the funding found the planning process useful to arts development in their schools which suggested that such learning might be further developed by a more sustained artist input into schools. This informed the design of this two-year project.'

1.3 Research objectives

In the research proposal, the assumptions that lie behind the Solihull Project are identified as being:

a) The arts are recognised as an important part of school education and of local cultural regeneration. However, their potential is not fully developed.

b) The work of artists in schools is an important aspect of arts education and in addition to its potential to offer expert learning of a subject specific nature, can be an effective means of developing whole school awareness of the potential of such work to develop:i) Self-esteemii) Personal and social skills

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iii) Creativityiv) Thinking skillsv) Teaching and learning stylesvi) Teachers' self-evaluation

c) Partnerships between professional artists, local theatres and schools of this kind can be an effective means of making the professional arts more visible, relevant and accessible to the local community.

The aims of the research project are therefore

To establish and report on the relationship between the beliefs and values of artists, teachers, schools, LEA and Council advisors and policymakers, their working practices and the indicators they use or cite to assess the effectiveness of their work.

To test the claims made by the above against the local perceptions of target student / teacher populations.

To assess the claims that have been made against available quantitative data.

To establish whether certain combinations of the variables of paradigm, praxis and proof are more effective than others when judged against qualitative indicators and perceptions of students.

To establish the extent to which it may be necessary for agents at all levels of contact with arts education provision (macro, meso and micro) to share the same beliefs, values and hypotheses about what effective arts education provision is and is for.

To compare, contrast for the cultural-contextual differences between the three schools and the data collected.

1.4 Research Methodology

The project has used a range of research methods in order to collect and report on the data. These methods include: discourse analysis of project documentation (see 7.1; 7.2 ); wider research in the field, school based project objectives; school based drama /arts documentation; structured and semi-structured interviews (see 7.3 ) and questionnaires (see 7.4 ); case study analysis of the paradigm-praxis relationship in schools; observations of practice; analysis and comparison of statistical and other school data. Quantative data is drawn from the schools (truancy and exclusion rates, progress reporting information, SATS / NC levels) and from OFSTED reports.

The methodology seeks to enable researchers to construct accurate views of the arts education context in each school and the factors which shape each context. Research is focused upon what difference this project is making in the education of young people involved; what would be 'lost' if it were not happening. Researchers are also investigating the indicators used in each school to ‘know' whether this work is effective in realising its social, cultural and artistic claims. Findings are tested against the perceptions of students involved in the project.

The research evidence is rendered reliable through triangular relationships between paradigm, praxis and proof (detailed more fully in the research proposal Appendix 2).

The report concludes with emergent patterns identified to date, which might provide hard indicators of 'effectiveness' in terms of the social and artistic benefits for students and their communities.

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2 Project elements: an overview

2.1 Local and shared priorities

A number of national and local priorities were embedded in the original project proposal (see 1.1.). Schools who opted into the project chose to embrace the priorities it proposed but also interpreted these locally to construct a set of objectives particular to their school (see 4.1, 5.1 ,6.1).

The three schools did not consult each other in defining their objectives, but both their documentation and their evolving shaping of the project design in their schools reflected a focus upon inclusion. All written and spoken aims for the project were concerned that the experience should promote and celebrate student achievement in drama, thereby promoting confidence in their abilities and building self-esteem. Teachers embraced the communal context for drama which offered a context to foster and bear witness to student achievements, both in process and product. Teachers typically selected participants who needed to develop stronger working relationships with peers.

Teachers and head teachers spoke of the project as part of a longer-term aim to develop a stronger drama and arts culture (which could consistently inform whole school issues like inclusion and creativity), but for two of the schools staffing issues conspired against this particular objective and only one school was in a position to consolidate the achievements of the project in this respect.

2.2 Sequence of events

Following the successful funding award for the project proposal, Solihull secondary schools were invited to apply to be involved. Each school submitted a rationale explaining how the project would inform their existing arts development and support other initiatives addressing current school priorities. These applications formed the basis of initial planning where schools developed their own set of objectives.

In each year each school had 16 days (plus one extra day in the final year for celebrating students’ performance work). These days were spread as follows:

- 2 days meetings of artists, drama teachers, senior management staff, administrator, LEA arts inspector and researcher (to plan / review practice). These occurred at regular intervals in the two years and combined shared and local time for planning and reflection. In the second year, planning days were also used to prepare for the final event of the project.

- 1 half/day meeting in each school between relevant artists, drama teacher/s, senior management team, administrator and LEA inspector to focus on local needs

- 10 consecutive artist days in school working with students.- Additional days used as school decided, typically in peer teaching /

mentoring models / satellite activities

In one school, in both years, satellite activities occurred as part of the two weeks of work, enabling other students to work with the company with the aim of enculturing students to the kind of work and its value. The whole year group then saw the students devised work and that of the company. In a second school before the second year, the artists offered a mini-performance to give students an idea of the theatre form and then gave taster workshops to a number of groups before working

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intensively with one. In another satellite days were used in the term following the first year project in order to develop peer teaching which might extend the work of the company more widely within the school and prepare students for the second project. The students were given numerous opportunities to perform their work to the school community and beyond.

The project culminated in a showcase event involving: a research presentation, launch of the ‘best practice’ video and a public performance of all the work developed over the two years in the library theatre, Solihull.

2.3 The theatre companies

2.3.1 Trading Faces

Trading Faces was formed in 1987 and has extensive experience of devising and touring mask theatre shows and projects throughout the country and abroad. The company explores a range of different styles of masks and leads residencies and workshops in schools and communities. Its style is highly visual, fast and physical. The company devises its own shows through improvisation. The subject matter is often serious but there is always a strong vein of comedy, as the company believes that this is the most effective way of conveying the underlying theme. The company is heavily committed to its educational work which forms a significant part of its profile. Their successes in this field have been celebrated in government reports of the arts (Dept of National Heritage), in commissioned reports (Wilkinson 1995; Southern Arts 1996; Berkshire LEA) and in national papers such as the ‘Times Educational Supplement’. The breadth of their arts funding from the Arts Council of England, Regional Arts Boards and City / County Councils is also a strong indication of the esteem in which their work is held.Residency projects usually centre round a performance but the Company places equal importance on sharing skills and techniques that will last beyond the life of the project. During residencies they use ‘a professional methodology’: the same skills and often the same processes as they use when devising their own professional theatre . ‘The company focuses on the body and emotions, on interpretation through movement, on physicalising, drawing on instinct and on the belief / premise that everyone can do it’ (Wilkinson 1995). The medium of mask and physical theatre is also significant for the project, as ‘mask work is about release, focus and enabling people to do things they would not otherwise dream possible’ (ibid).

In their statement of participatory philosophy, they identify three key words: encouraging, challenging, facilitating. In summary, their work focuses on the individual's self-exploration within a group environment in a non-competitive atmosphere. For all of these reasons, the selection of Trading Faces for the Purpleheath project was one which had potential to address many of their needs. The two artists engaged on this project were Tony Davies and Simon Hutchens.

2.3.2 Triangle Theatre

Formed in 1988 by Carran Waterfield, Triangle has gained a reputation for cutting edge theatre which draws upon both personal stories and culturally held ones. Her work relies upon ‘a multi-disciplinary performer centred orchestration of the elements of visual, aural and dynamic expression.’vi

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Waterfield has trained with Eugenio Barba and Odin Teatret and has achieved acclaim both home and abroad since 1991 ( Best Actress, International Festival of Experimental Theatre, Russia; Fringe First for her solo show ‘The Dig’, 1992). In recent years, with Richard Talbot, Waterfield has initiated Nina and Frederick, two eccentric theatrical wannabe roles which have introduced a lighter side to the company’s profile.

Waterfield has worked in Theatre-in Education, as a social worker and a teacher of English and drama. She founded Bare Essentials Youth Theatre and directed its work for twelve years. Waterfield is also a practiced workshop leader in schools and other youth contexts. Regionally Triangle has earned a reputation for quality education work and receives funding from Coventry City Heritage Museums and Galleries and from Arts Council West Midlands.

Like Trading Faces Triangle’s work with young people, reflects the process of the professional company. They seek to ensure that the work of young people is ‘given the same attention and professional commitment as the company’s main work.’vii In both contexts alike, taking risks and pushing boundaries are an important facet of the creative process. The space in which work takes place becomes part of the work, ‘Both the concrete qualities and the less tangible atmosphere of a space will influence the nature of the creative process.’ viii Found objects, accidental and spontaneous elements all inform the work that is made with young people.

When ‘Dramatic Effect’ began, Waterfield and Talbot had just returned from an intensive training in voice and physicality with fellow performers in their field. The project marked a consolidation of a recent preference for long-term work in informal education contexts. Currently their work with young people occurs through out of schools hours projects with ‘The Little Herberts’ based at the Herbert Arts Gallery Coventry.

2.3.3 Highly Sprung Performance Company

Highly Sprung is a young company, formed by fellow dance and drama performers Sarah Hunt, Mark Worth, Jenny Smith and Bob Pitchford whilst studying at Coventry University. The company aims ‘to create new and innovative work that explores the relationship between dance, text and physical theatre as an integral part of its devising process’. They seek ‘to test and expand the use of movement and text’ and create ‘a style of performance that conveys a narrative, a journey of emotion, through movement that speaks and a text that moves’. Their most recent performance piece (Unspoken Echoes 2002) is the first to use a script commissioned from a playwright but still is largely company devised during the rehearsal period. They have created seven text-based performance pieces and are currently developing more fully devised material.

Since its inception the company has been engaged in education work, running workshops to support performances, leading peer teaching on theatre-in-health education programmes and working in primary and secondary schools in Coventry developing drama both within and beyond the curriculum. They recently extended their work through Coventry Performing Arts to leading Saturday workshops in drama, dance and voice in collaboration with other local artists.

Like Trading Faces, Highly Sprung place ‘a strong emphasis upon work as an ensemble’, on skill acquisition through games to ‘develop the physical confidence of an individual’ and enable them to ‘look beyond their self-perceived limitations’. During

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games and improvisations they use music as a motivating and energising discipline. Work with young people can be skill or issue-led and frequently draws upon theatre or other texts. Their working method is both playful and disciplined, fuelled by sheer energy. The company makes good use of their cultural proximity to young people balancing this advantage well with strong modelling of professional behaviour in devising and rehearsing for performance.

2.4 The participating schools

Of the three schools involved in the project, two are sited in the North of the borough. This area, formerly in Birmingham, is the most socially disadvantaged area of the borough. An urban regeneration initiative some 25 years ago brought council house residents here from ‘slum’ areas of the city. As we now know from both experience and the wider research into this field (see Landry 1997; 2000), open space, new shopping centres, houses and a singular social type did not constitute adequate basis for a healthy community.

In this part of the authority truancy is a major problem, with a ‘high level of authorised absence condoned by parents’ and in one of the schools a ’high level of staff turnover’ (Ofsted 2002). GCSE exam results in 2000 indicated that only 13% of students in these schools achieved A-C grades compared with a national average of 49% and a 55% average in the rest of the borough (Ofsted reports 1998; 1999). Expectations are very locally referenced and there is a high incidence of crime. Students in all schools in this area are recognised typically to suffer from poor self-esteem and confidence. Interviews with staff at these schools reflected a view that this project, alongside other initiatives in which the schools were engaged, such as ‘Excellence in Cities’, was for them concerned with raising self esteem as the key means to affect achievement. The drama curriculum in these two schools emphasised drama in education methodologies with high focus upon social behaviours and issue-based work.

One of these schools had just appointed a new Head of Drama, creating a second drama teacher, in the first year of the project and foundations for a new performing arts block were being laid during the year one project. The project’s timing was ideal to complement the development of the arts in the school. The other school lost its drama specialist in the first year of the project and was unable to recruit a replacement in the lifetime of the project. The Head of English, who acted as coordinator for the project is an able and committed drama teacher, although heavily committed in English and unable to sustain greater development of drama in the school.

The third school although sited in central Solihull, and producing results closer to the national average, is also relatively ‘disadvantaged’. Alongside this school is one of the borough’s old grammar schools and this is the preferred school for most parents in the catchment area impacting upon the range of students attending neighbouring schools like this one. The school population here comprises a significant proportion of Birmingham students who travel by bus to the school. This has an impact upon the sense of community ownership of the school and affects the culture of after-school activities. This school boasts an arts faculty comprising art, drama, dance and music. The arts have a strong profile in the school with very good examination results compared to other subjects. Overall the school was exactly in line with the LEA average of 55% students achieving A-C grades at GCSE in 2000. There are positive relationships between staff and students and a thriving extra-curricular programme. As the project began, with the support of the head teacher who had previously

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deputised at another school with strong arts, the Head of Faculty was preparing a bid to gain Arts College Status. The arts staff and Head teacher saw Dramatic Effect as entirely apposite to their developed arts culture where professional arts working on school was not uncommon. They welcomed the opportunity for reflection and learning which both the two year project design and the research element provoked.

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3 Findings

3.1 Beliefs and practices

The project proposal (outlined in 1.1) is founded upon a number of beliefs about the value of drama, the arts and working with artists in schools shared by funders, and stakeholders at both Head teacher and L.E.A. level. These are echoed in wider research in the field (see 1.2) and are considered here under three headings:

Drama experiences such as Dramatic Effect can be beneficial for young people in a number of ways

Partnerships between artists, arts organisations and teachers provide an important enhancement to the benefits of the arts for young people

Understanding and education about the arts, artists and their beneficial effects for young people is needed in order that projects such as Dramatic Effect may be valued, planned for and their benefits for young people realised in the future.

Interviews with stakeholders at all levels (LEA Arts Inspectors, Arts Development Officer, Head teachers, teachers, artists and students) revealed the beliefs held by those involved about the value of drama in education, the involvement of professional artists in schools and thus the anticipated benefit of the Dramatic Effect project.

3.1.1 Drama experiences such as Dramatic Effect can be beneficial for young people

All comments were rooted in a view of the arts as tools for ‘knowing’ or ‘understanding’ oneself or about oneself in relation to others. Development of performance skills and interpersonal skills were regularly discussed. They appeared to be valued for generating a sense of achievement and thus improving young people’s sense of self-worth. Increasing self-esteem through such projects was commonly recognised as the way to ‘bring out the best in a lot of disenchanted young people’ and affect their motivation to engage and achieve at school.

(i) In more detail the teachers, head teachers and arts advisor shared the following set of beliefs about drama in their schools which they considered would be reflected by such a project.

(ii) All stakeholders at all levels emphasised the value of drama in learning how to negotiate and work with others. Whilst teaching in all curriculum areas uses group work, there was a common belief, shared equally by students, that drama relies upon group skills and requires young people to become more self-aware and aware of others. In all three schools, teachers and Head teachers alike spoke of the importance of interpersonal skills in promoting overall educational development and recognised that drama could be effective in ‘stimulating teamwork’, learning how ‘to be a good listener … [how] to explain yourself .. and engage in dialogue’. Artists too spoke of expecting the project to effect greater ‘respect for others’ and ‘more integration’ of individuals and cliques within the whole group.

(iii) Teachers especially, and some other stakeholders, spoke of the value they placed upon drama for positioning of participants in role where they have ‘the experience of standing inside somebody else’s shoes …. seeing what it

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might be like to be in these situations’. The imagined context of drama, offers a ‘powerful medium for understanding why we do the things we do and what the consequences are’ and participants explore different aspects or even versions of themselves. It is an immediate forum in which young people can ‘hear’ and ‘see other people’s points of view’ thus facilitating experiences where participants are guided to develop tolerance and understanding for others. Participants may experience empathy and understanding for imagined others created through the experience of the imagined drama world and for their peers whose feelings, views and values are articulated through the making process. This belief was reflected also in the KS3 curriculum documentation from all three schools which indicated a commitment to drama as a social art-form. All classroom drama observed before the start of the project reflected this stated aim.

(iv) Drama was valued, for offering the potential to learn about oneself. Some teachers focused upon the reasons stated above with regards to role playing in explaining this point, suggesting that learning about oneself may happen in relation to learning about other’s experiences. Some artists suggested it might happen kinaesthetically through learning how to use your body expressively, gaining ‘more confidence in their own physical presence’ and thus discovering a new ‘voice’ through dramatic form. However it occurs, teachers and the inspector believe in the value of drama to enable young people to ‘generate your own meanings’, ‘find something out about yourself’ and thus discover and value potential abilities. Staff at all levels in one school shared the view that this was at the heart of art-making in schools and that giving ownership to young people, with support and encouragement to explore, be creative and make meanings for themselves was the main role of teachers and artists alike. Some artists echoed the belief in their work enabling young people to ‘value their own ideas’ and ‘gain a sense of ownership’.

(v) All adult stakeholders considered that this project would enable students ‘to have fun’ and experience being successful. Teachers and artists expected their work in drama to fire students’ enthusiasm for the subject. Artists suggested that ‘having fun’ might be motivation enough if students discover that through ‘focussing on an activity …you can gain enjoyment’ because this motivates students to engage in learning, to be part of the culture activity of their school.

(vi) Lack of self-confidence was commonly recognised by teachers and Head teachers as the most significant factor in the erosion of students’ aspirations and motivation to learn. All stakeholders valued performance as a focus for the project which requires young people ‘to have the confidence to stand in front of others’ and because it creates a public forum in which achievement can be recognised, acknowledged and celebrated. This phenomenon was particularly valued as those students targeted for the project tended to be those who might typically be known for lack of achievement academically- a factor they were acutely and painfully aware of. Without exception, all groups of students spoke of enjoying the opportunity to perform. Head teachers spoke of the project having the potential to ‘raise the aspirations’ especially of a number of ‘low level disrupters’ who tended to be boys. This belief appeared to be founded upon stakeholders’ prior experience of classroom drama and performance projects generating a sense of achievement in students whose otherwise feel ‘disenfranchised by school’. They considered that the performance focus of the project could have this ‘galvanising’ effect.

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3.1.2 Partnerships between artists, arts organisations and teachers provide an important enhancement to the benefits of the arts for young people

Stakeholders at all levels in the project from Councillors to students tended to share the belief that artists working with young people in school was an important and positive experience which reaps multiple benefits. They demonstrated a good understanding of the kinds of benefits documented in literature in the area (e.g. Sharp and Dust 1997, NACCCE 1999, Creative Partnerships 2002) and these are outlined below.

For students:(i) All stakeholders valued the expertise of artists as people ‘steeped in their

particular area’ whose working life is focused upon art-making using particular skills and media and who are ‘really passionate about their particular way of working’. This was recognised as a particular complement to the ‘generalist’ skills required of arts teachers. For students, this was the reason for working with artists.

(ii) Most teachers expected that the different role models that artists present would be beneficial. Unlike teachers who operate simultaneously in a number of roles, artists are free to focus upon their relationship with the young people uninhibited by a longer term relationship or prior knowledge. Students and artists can form different relationships, encouraging students to aspire to achieve in new ways. The Inspector and one teacher suggested that this dynamic might enable students to be ‘seen anew’, to surprise their class teacher.

(iii) Although the implied meanings were rarely detailed, there was typically a belief in the value of artists for being ‘outsiders’ Macdonald (1982) suggested that this ‘outsider’ quality allows artists not just to be experts, able to demonstrate skills and demystify art-making processes but also to be ‘daring’, opening young people to new possibilities. In addition to the points discussed above, this appeared to be the sense teachers were suggesting. Some teachers also considered the introduction of an artist to be motivating force which might stimulate the kind of ‘valued involvement’ (Burnaford et al 2001) which ‘can lead ‘’high risk’’ young people to identify their unmined strengths’ (Ibid).

(iv) Some head teachers demonstrated an expectation that because of the time given to the project and the skill of the artist, the project was almost guaranteed success.

(v) Some stakeholders suggested that artists should ensure students feel comfortable with the kind of arts practice they are asked to be involved with. One considered this a matter of clear communication of expectations by the artist to students, another suggested other strategies might be employed such as a gradual and supported engagement in new art-forms to build trust.

(vi) One teacher recognised the project as an opportunity to connect drama in schools with contemporary professional arts practice and ‘put kids directly in touch with what’s happening now in the arts .. a real life context’ . This view was valued in a school where arts staff, including drama staff had been educated to believe in themselves as artists and had worked professionally as

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artists. Working alongside professionals had become naturalised for the drama teacher concerned through his own undergraduate years.

For teachers and schools:(vii) Teachers demonstrated a variety of expectations of the artists. Whilst most

did not expect artists to have teachers’ skills, many expected that they should be able to engage students and communicate with groups as effectively as a teacher. However no teachers or artists discussed this topic prior to the project.

(viii) All stakeholders considered the project would give good opportunities for professional development of the drama teachers which could then inform future teaching. At its best the Inspector hoped that artists and teachers together might ‘entwine their skills’ and learn from each other.

(ix) Some stakeholders, especially at senior levels considered that students other than those directly involved might become aware of the practice of the professional artists and thereby would cultivate a stronger arts culture.

3.1.3 Understanding and education about the arts, artists and their beneficial effects for young people is needed.

(i) All adults interviewed had had some personal and positively influential experience of the beneficial power and value of the arts, either as student or teacher, often as both. All referred to such experiences in interview voluntarily and these had informed their decision to involve their students and school in the project.

(ii) Inspectors, the arts development officer and head teachers spoke about the need for an improved profile for the arts which they hoped Dramatic Effect would help generate. Within the LEA, there was hope that the ‘family feel …[of] a small authority [where] people share’ in a ‘collegiate spirit’ would enable this pilot model to generate guidance for others in order that the arts culture will grow.

(iii) Some head teachers and most teachers hoped that the project would offer some impetus to their longer-term goals for the arts in their school, such as developing a stronger drama culture, or a better profile for drama amongst non-arts staff.

To summarise, all stakeholders engaged in the project with belief in the potential of drama as an art-form, in the value of this two-year artist-led performance project design in particular.

Head-teachers focused upon their expectations that the project would impact upon interpersonal skills, such as group work, upon self-esteem which would have positive effects in students’ aspirations and attitudes to learning more widely. One head teacher emphasised the project’s value to stimulate creative and thinking skills. All teachers and some head teachers emphasised the value of drama as a socialising art form through which students explore ideas, values and attitudes held by themselves and others and better understand themselves in relation to others. Students and teachers valued opportunities to learn new performance skills and

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experience unfamiliar theatre forms. Students enjoyed drama and most relished the performance, with teachers valuing also the performance event which created a discipline and crucible-like energy of working to a specific target, but addressing numerous others en route. Artists echoed all of these values although emphasised the performance challenge and rarely spoke of role-playing which might be more commonly seen as the quality of ‘educational drama’ in schools.

3.2 Valued effects of the project

For almost all students, all teachers and schools, their involvement in the project generated positive effects. Behaviour of student, comments within sessions and interviews afterwards indicated that the following effects were valued. It is not always easy to separate valued effects as they often occur in combination with others or stimulate other effects. Certainly there is some cumulative impact of the separate strands identified here.

3.2.1 ‘Having fun’

Students were vociferous in communicating the value that ‘having fun’ had generated. Enjoyment had made learning ‘better’, ‘exciting’ and feel like it was ‘more important’. They were fully aware that there were multiple benefits which they valued highly too, but the ‘feel-good factor’ generated by enjoying the work they were engaged in infused and informed all other perceived benefits. One student had told a teacher afterwards that the project had been ‘the best thing I have ever done at school’. The fact that the artist was an outsider, an unknown factor, appeared to create an important frisson which contributed to the sense of excitement. Sometimes they exhibited spontaneity which fed this impression. The students described the work as ‘buzzing’, ‘exciting’, ‘different and better’, often breathlessly, with eyes shining.

3.2.2 Increased confidence and self-esteem . Almost without exception students volunteered that taking part in the project had given them more confidence. The video, which documents the project, concludes with the voices of students repeatedly expressing this point. Many suggested that the experience would make them more able to get involved, have a voice and not feel embarrassed in contexts other than drama. Some who had not previously performed in front of others outside the drama classroom commented on feeling proud of themselves, sometimes even of having surprised themselves, for having the confidence and ability to perform. This willingness to talk about and celebrate their own achievements was unusual for a number of the students involved. One student, whose typical school profile is as a truant, a loner, noted for anti-social behaviour, sat amongst his peers smiling during the final rehearsals. He suggested with pride that through the performance they had become ambassadors for the school, ‘we’re setting an example for the school for the parents walking in’.

Some teachers spoke of the students in performance as looking ‘ inches taller’. Many teachers commented upon noticing less showy, attention-seeking behaviour immediately after and for some weeks after the project. They commented upon greater assuredness in student’s demeanour around school in the days and weeks

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after the project. Some spoke of seeing a new level of maturity in the way some students’ behaved.

Students involved in peer mentoring or teaching in year two of the project ‘grew in the role of responsibility’ as one artist explained. When interviewed they appeared to understand the elements and processes of their work having planned it themselves and glowed with pride at having helped ‘put confidence in them like [the artists have] done for us’.

3.2.3 Developed interpersonal skills Peer pressure was a significant factor identified by students and teachers which inhibited their level of involvement before and in the early days of the project. Yet the project design dictated the pressure of a performance event as a target and forced students to focus upon working with others. Students spoke about the project allowing them to get to know each other differently. Interviews suggested that students had developed respect for others through recognising existing or seeing new skills, efforts or attitudes in each other. They were learning to value themselves and each other as part of a team. In all eight projects, in all three schools disparate characters constituted the groups, but all groups developed in effective, often strong working teams.

Teachers echoed this, talking of the supportive group dynamic that had been generated during the project. Some suggested that within the group and beyond, students had learnt to ‘see each other anew’, realising an aspiration of one head teacher that ‘some of their peers [will] look at them in a different way’.

Those students who experienced peer teaching or mentoring roles volunteered comments about how important it was for them to work supportively, covering for each other should one forget something or some unforeseen event happen. Here the pressure to ‘perform’ as teachers for others made them dependant upon each other.

Out of the 160 students involved over the two years, only 6 selected not to continue with the project after an initial experience and a further 3 did not finally perform. Although these latter three sustained the creative process with their immediate peers in the project, they expressed fear at the prospect of performing to a wider peer audience and did not attend for the final performance day. Fear of peer attitudes toward their potential performing was either cited or evident as the reason for all of these students leaving the project early. For these students perhaps a longer or more sustained process to build greater self-confidence was necessary.

3.2.4 Greater equality in adult-student relationships

Even where drama lessons allowed a more informal teacher-student relationship than elsewhere in the school, the nature of the working relationship between students and artists in the project was still different in dynamic to that typical in daily school life. Artists and students were able to establish different relationships that were not shaped by the responsibilities of a student-teacher contract or by pre-conceived ideas about ability that the longer-term relationship with teachers generates. They could be more informal and open. Students valued the informality, being ‘on a level’ with artists who treated them ‘as equals’, ‘not like students’ ‘with respect’, and behaved like ’one of us’. ‘You can talk to them different and have a laugh’. They considered themselves as partners in making the work, quickly building trust in the artists and their creative processes. The perceived equality supported a collaborative

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way of working and generated a sense of ownership over students’ work; that their ideas had value. As one students said, the effect was simply that, ‘We don’t mess about as much as we would with our teachers’.

3.2.5 Emulating the commitment and discipline of artistic practice

The artists provided positive role models of adults committed to a particular way of working and behaving. They modelled practice both to teach and inspire students to join in. They demonstrated values from the world of professional theatre such as commitment, reliability and time-keeping as prerequisites. The way of working exemplified by these artists involved being receptive, ready to suggest new ideas and to create work in different ways, showing respect for others’ ideas plus being ready to work both solo and as part of a team. One artist suggested that working with their company forces students to develop a personal sense of responsibility to the project. ‘We make them aware that doing a performance involves a lot of discipline but it’s a different kind to [an imposed] school discipline’. This was especially marked at the final performance at the Solihull arts complex where teacher and artists noted that students had ‘taken on board the professional mentality’ operating with the same backstage discipline of a professional performance company.

3.2.6 Learning new performance skills and embracing new forms

Students relished the opportunity to become skilled in a particular kind of performance work. They spoke with pride of working ‘with professionals’. Students who had never encountered mask theatre or physical theatre forms embraced the opportunity to learn how to create in these styles. In one school, boys who had at the outset viewed the artists with suspicion and asserted that they ‘don’t do dance’, became the most motivated in rehearsing movement sequences repeatedly, determined to be perfect. Most were keen to apply the skills, processes and ideas to subsequent drama work. Where schools were able to apply or extend the performance experiences, students continued to develop after the end of the project.

3.2.7 Benefits derived from the particular dramatic form

Students found value in the particular characteristics of the form they worked in. Some students working in mask theatre for example said that they found it easier to perform behind a mask. The mask offered some protection to students lacking self-esteem who might otherwise have been self-conscious in performance to engage more fully with the role. Students from year one reflecting upon their experience a year later said ‘It makes you go away from your other problems and …change … go into the mask…’. This insight from a 14 year old echoes that of accomplished mime practitioners, namely that ‘mask work is about release, focus and enabling people to do things they would not otherwise dream possible’ (Wilkinson 1995).

Students working in physical theatre relished the exhilaration of working kinaesthetically and discovering new ways of being expressive and communicating ideas visually. On all projects there were examples of individuals and groups using their bodies in new ways, experiencing difficulty but persisting and finding a way to achieve the set goal, solve a problem or realise their ideas. Teachers commented on students looking ‘more comfortable’ in their bodies and more able to ‘really be an ensemble’ through this work.

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3.2.8 Being creative

Students spoke about feeling creative during and as a result of the project. Most valued the sense of ownership they felt they had over the work that made them feel creative, like artists. Many argued that whilst they had been taught ways of working and given scenarios, they had used their own ideas to generate material, ‘You feel like, you made it yourself’. Artists who choose to work in school tend to do so in part because they believe in young people’s creative potential. Consequently they can be very positive, operating with a ‘can-do’ mentality and firing them with an enthusiasm for creating.In one project Highly Sprung taught contact improvisation and lifting techniques as part of the physical repertoire with which to explore scripted relationships. This was a real challenge to some students, not least to a large girl who in the early days had opted out of some physical work and was paired for contact improvisation and lifting work with a very small boy who had been a bit diffident about the project at the outset. Together they developed a particular physical sequence which was original from the models given and yet addressed the demands of expressing the real dynamic of a relationship physically. It used the natural weights and heights of each partner and worked well. By commonly accepted definitions of the term (NACCCE 1999, QCA 2003, Gardner 1998) these students had been creative. They had worked with the combined ‘constraint’ of using contact improvisation / lifting techniques and the ‘freedom’ to express the ideas they wanted about the scripted relationship (QCA 2003). They had ‘applied imagination’ to a ‘purpose’ and found an ‘original’ solution to the problem (NACCCE1999.

Occasionally, however, teachers suggested that the pressure of the performance led artists to ‘direct’ rather facilitate the work with the effect that the creative potential for students was limited.

3.2.9 Professional development for teachers: skills training and reflective practices

Drama staff valued the project for providing training to ‘learn new skills’ from adults and ‘develop professional relationships with a wide variety of other skilled adults beyond the school’ (NACCCE), artists and teachers in other schools.One school reported that the experience fired up two English teachers to want to take on drama teaching. Another spoke of units of work that an NQT had written inspired by the experience. It was also important affirmation and encouragement for teachers who are typically lone operators. A Head of drama who worked alongside the artists commented,‘ [I realised] in a way I’m an artist when I work with the kids .. [It was] reaffirming and supporting the style of work I do’

All heads of Drama spoke of the experience as an important reflective tool for improving their own practice. One particularly valued the opportunity to observe. ‘You can see a lot clearer when things do and don’t work than when you’re within it’. Schools and artists valued the additional reflection provoked by the researchers. Questions and observations often helped teachers to crystallise their thinking and initiate action as a result of reflection which moved their learning on.

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3.2.10 Developing profile for drama in the school

In each of the schools, the project gave drama an improved profile helping to ‘promote a wider understanding of their subject’. Other teachers and students recognised the skill, hard work and discipline the project had required. Some teachers commented upon the talent and potential in their students many of whom were more commonly celebrated for negative reasons in daily school life. Some noted positive changes in their behaviour within and after the project. This was further reinforced by the high profile performance at the arts complex in Solihull - a professional theatre venue. There was common celebration for the profile the project gave schools

3.2.11 Impact upon whole school issues: creativity, inclusion, thinking styles, self- esteem

Creative behaviour, identified above (3.2.8) and defined by NACCCE, QCA, Gardner and others, ties in closely with those desired behaviours recommended by researchers into social inclusion (Huskins 1998) to promote inclusion. Matarasso suggests that it is the 'excitement, anger, magic, colour, symbolism, feeling, metaphor and creativity' of participation in arts education experiences which helps people ‘to think critically about and question their experiences and those of others’. It is 'through sharing creativity that understanding and social inclusiveness are promoted.' (1997)In one project, the inclusion of a student with cerebral palsy in a project looking at difference and exploring uncoordinated physical movements, made students initially uncomfortable, but through that heightened awareness they became more sensitive, empathetic and therefore inclusive by the end of the project.

Exploring ideas through practical experiences with others, using ‘cooperative’ thinking styles (Sternberg 1997), may stimulate new understandings. Students operated in small groups, whole group, pairs and individually at different times, occasionally notating practice or explicitly reflecting on effects and feelings orally and in writing, sometimes individually, sometimes in groups. This variety of work engaged students in a variety of thinking and learning styles ix. This variety worked to engage more students in the learning about the art-form, understanding themselves and others, thereby to feel more ‘included’.

The projects offered a number of examples of the ways in which students’ self-esteem increased. The large girl and small boy’, cited above (3.2.8), were flushed with pride, struggling to contain their pleasure when they were interviewed about their work. They were apparently unused to being celebrated for success with creative ideas or physical control. With mask theatre work there were always moments after performance when students removed their masks when there were for us as observers and for the teachers, disbelief that certain young people who typically manifest disinterest and poor ability in their daily school behaviour could transform to such disciplined, effective performers.

It is interesting to notes also that a number of the students who were tracked in the research, like this student, could not be contained within the existing school system and have since been excluded, but here they have shown the ability to be rapt, engaged and committed.

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3.3 Factors informing such effects

The extent to which the valued effects, or successes, of the project were realised is informed by other factors which are identified in this section of the report.

3.3.1 School context: support from top to bottom

In requesting that SMT be involved in the decision making processes of the project, Dramatic Effect reflects awareness of the QCA investigation (2002) that there are a

‘strong group of factors around the roles of the head teacher and the leadership of the arts coordinator in achieving whole school support’

for the arts. There was variability from school to school, year-to-year and even within the lifetime of a single residency in the involvement of SMT. This had a significant impact upon interest in and awareness about the project within the whole school. Where this did occur, the accuracy and effectiveness of planning for the project was significantly improved and the legacy of the project has become embedded into the longer term aims of the school and arts department.

As the QCA report (2002) also suggests, specialist staffing was also crucial. Two schools lost their drama specialist during the project which had a significant impact upon development within and beyond the lifetime of the project. Some continuity and the potential to build upon lessons learnt through a developing dialogue was limited when other staff were required to take over the negotiating of the project.

In all schools some staff who had a relationship to the students involved, perhaps as a year head, specials needs coordinator, form tutor or fellow arts staff either visited the project or watched the final performance. Students were acutely aware of those who had come to see the work, and those who hadn’t and this informed their view of the status of the project, the arts in their school and their sense of self-worth. In all schools there were unmined opportunities for developing staff awareness of the project and its wider benefits. Earlier we discussed the beliefs held by staff including head teachers who recognised the potential of such projects to reap wider benefits (3.1.3 a.) because of having experienced or witnessed such effects. If experiencing or witnessing for oneself is significant in this, it would appear that greater awareness of the issues and exposure to the effects of such work is necessary.

3.3.2 A prepared context: clear purpose and plans for consolidation

Like the Creative partnerships projects in regions such as Birmingham, the project offered a two-year opportunity to initiate a new dynamic or aspect. For, at least two of the schools involved this was the longest-term investment in drama they had known and where it was sited within a longer-term plan for drama or the arts, the project reaped significant rewards.

Whilst all schools entered the project with a view of desired outcomes which could inform longer term aims not all had fully considered how the design of the project might inform future policy, practice and organisation for the arts. The ability of the different schools to maximise the potential of the project was affected by the position of drama and the arts in the school and by recruitment issues. Loss of specialist drama teachers limited the opportunity to continue experimental aspects.

In one school a clear context and purpose was given to the project which was consistent, although refined over the two years. This purpose informed the school’s

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longer-term goal to develop a stronger drama and arts culture and thus operated in complement to other initiatives planned by the school and arts staff.

Schools’ ability to effectively prepare a context and purpose is informed by the support they receive in this process. Dramatic Effect involved schools in a planning process: discussions and writing, alongside meetings with the Inspector, project manager and the researchers. The use of appropriate guidance, consultants, and advisers was significant for each of the schools in developing an appropriate context for an realising the project. Some of this process is learned from a single experience, and could be supported elsewhere (QCA 2003 Arts Alive; QCA & Arts Council 2000; Wolf 1999; Dust and Sharp 1997). Other aspects require ongoing support and advice, such as the selection of artists, the involvement of other partners, possibly also developing or adapting the design.

Overall schools demonstrated an informed understanding of the potential value of artists working in school. However in all cases there was a need for further consideration by schools of how to prepare students especially, but also artists to enable them to realise the articulated aims (see 3.3.4 – 3.3.8).

3.3.3. Intensity of the residency performance focused model

The residency style structure was an important element of the experience for students. Students relished being off regular timetable and this generated a sense of excitement and feeling special. The intensity this created enabled students to see the growth in their skills and see the performance work take shape in a short period of time. These factors made the students especially conscious of their achievement.

The crucial element of the model was the performance at the end of each individual project. This gave a purpose and focus to the students’ work and they rose to the challenge, many surpassing previous levels of concentration and/or ability. Schools built upon this factor, finding other performance opportunities or altering the project design in the second year to give more and different performance opportunities to build confidence and increase the profile of the work. For example, a first event might be a dress rehearsal to a peer group, another might be an after school performance to an invited audience of parents and friends and a third could be performance to a larger audience, such as a year group, school assembly or feeder school students. Other opportunities such as open evenings, community arts events were also considered. The culmination of the project in a public performance in the local professional arts centre gave the project additional kudos and boosted the participants’ self-esteem significantly. Rehearsing in a professional space, having the attention of technical staff and then performing under lights in a professional venue were significant memories that the students retain.

3.3.4 Strategies for extending the impact of the project: Cascading and consolidating learning

Separately and collaboratively, participant schools considered strategies to ensure the project impacted upon the drama, arts and/ or whole school culture.

To address their local needs schools designed their projects differently. One school ran one project each year for two weeks for the year 9 students who had selected Drama GCSE in order to establish a strong group dynamic and high expectations of

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standards of drama practice. This was within wider school plan to develop the performing arts and motivate students to engage in learning. Another school created a varied programme involving artists in regular drama lessons for year 9 students, workshops with students from the LEA student referral unit, plus a week-long devising project with a mixed ability group of students, including some high risk students. Here the intention was both to explore ways in which working with such artists might promote inclusion and to promote the arts in the school as accessible and beneficial to all.

Each school adopted a different interpretation or use of peer or mentor teaching to cascade and consolidate learning. One school explored the use of a couple of students from year one of the project as mentors working alongside the second year project for two days to support the current year 9s. Another selected a group of 8 students to train as peer educators and these students worked for a morning in one primary feeder school. A third school set up peer teaching training for the whole of the group involved in the first year who taught the new year 9s in drama lessons at the beginning of the next school year. Additionally, in the weeks immediately after the project the drama teacher asked students involved in the project to lead games and exercises to teach their peers in regular drama lessons. This initiative consolidated the students’ experience as collaborators, as able in drama, as responsible members of a team. This school has now adopted peer teaching in other curriculum areas and cites this as a significant tool for motivating and engaging their students.

The design of some projects considered satellite activities, such as artists working in regular drama lessons, to increase awareness and understanding of the artists work with students, or teaching or performing to year 6 students in feeder schools. Again the value of such initiatives relied upon the extent to which they were followed up, for example in subsequent drama lessons, in further links with feeder schools or with the incoming year 7 seven the following year. Possibilities were available to develop links also with local professional or community arts venues to offer increased profile to students’ work in the wider community and sustain the high expectations of professional practice within the school.

One school invited artists into an assembly in the weeks before the project, which allowed both staff and students to see and be engaged by the theatre form, and have a reference point for further understanding about the project and its aims. Effective communication about the project: its aims, process, timetable and ways in which staff might impact upon it or learn from it were areas for development in the project. The same might be said with regard to students who often had a limited sense of the import or scope of the project. Greater transparency with students involved about the processes and aims of the project in order to engage them as collaborators rather than recipients of the work may have increased engagement.

‘ Young people too should be involved in planning and preparation. They have much to gain through this process and much to gain’ (NACCCE)

The extent to which schools had set realistic targets and embedded the project design with existing initiatives or within a longer term vision for the role of artists/ drama / the arts in the school informed the extent to which the impact of the project resonated within the school.

3.3.5 Enabling students to recognise the ‘special’ qualities of an artist

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Where students were able to see artists perform either before or early on in the project there was a stronger interest, respect and understanding of what they were doing and a greater level of motivation from the young people. In schools where students had seen a performance or seen an excerpt of such work in an assembly, students involved in the project had a clearer sense of purpose and an insight into the special skills and characteristics of the artist and their form. In one school, early on in the devising process, the company demonstrated the style of their work showing their training routines and snippets from a recent show. This enabled the company to be seen as performers from the outset. Collaboratively students and the director then devised a sequence with the company performers following a process where the artists clearly signalled the skills, decisions and sequences used in devising. This was used as the basis for students own devising. This experience of deconstructing and reconstructing enabled students to fully experience an aspect of an artist process and apply it to their own ideas, but the inspiration to do so followed establishing trust with the artists and seeing their skill as performers. These factors appeared to be significant in helping students to invest fully in the project.

3.3.6 The relevance of particular theatre forms and artistic practice to drama in schools

The particular characteristics of the chosen forms were important for each context. In one school, the use of full-face masks prevented speech. This approach was democratic in allowing students with less developed verbal skills to be just as effective as their more vocal peers and encouraged students to discover their instinctive abilities to convey thoughts and emotions through body gesture alone. The use of mask created a discipline to work physically and provided a protection for the wearer to feel less known, exposed or vulnerable. As discussed earlier ( 3.2.7), the form released students to become confident performers. These characteristics were entirely apposite for this school whose Focal objective was the raising of self-esteem and confidence.

Students working in dance-theatre frequently demonstrated the exhilaration of disciplined physical work. Footage of the process regularly shows students working at a new skill proclaiming ‘its really difficult’ whilst smiling and persevering to master it. The use of evocative music (and silence) in rehearsal and performance was an important tool. Sometimes it might simply act as a barrier to talk and encourage focus, at other times it might create the appropriate atmosphere and deepen students’ engagement in the physical action. In both schools the controlled ensemble work that the project generated was unprecedented and directly reflected schools’ aims for teamwork and inclusion respectively.

For both companies the professional panache the companies brought to the schools heightened the experience.

The working practice of the artists on this project largely complemented the project aims. They were selected based upon their ability to fulfil the project criteria and upon reputation for good quality work in similar contexts. In most artists in schools projects schools make the selection themselves, possibly without equal support. The nature of young people’s experience of working with artists can colour their view of the professional arts, of their creative ability and skill and thus their self-esteem.

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For example mask theatre belongs to a form of physical theatre that is traditionally ‘schooled’ and reliant upon a ‘master-student’ relationship. Here the articulation of the body to express ideas is learned through demonstration and observation alongside experience. Many forms of theatre are realised through ‘direction’ by one person, even when the generation of material is more collaborative. For both reasons there are dangers in artists working too closely to their ‘professional methodology’ in their work in schools.

Even with the preparation on this project there were moments in each project when students were following an artists’ direction where more collaborative processes might have replaced them and been more effective in engaging young people in a creative process. This was not the dominant experience in this project. Artists exhibited a range of behaviours noted as effective in ‘improving behaviour and arising self-esteem’x. But the occurrence of such moments does point to a need for greater awareness by teachers and schools of the way of working of an artist before engaging them. Teachers and schools should consider whether they want ‘artistic practice which seeks to enable … students to acquire learning .. or transmit inherited learning’ (Trowsdale 1997). Indicators in identifying this might be found through a clearer understanding of the nature of training an artist has pursued and received and its associated philosophy. Likewise the level and readiness for reflexivity about one’s practice will offer teachers an artist’s account of their process and their openness to negotiating the scope and nature of a project.

3.3.7 Dialogue and exchange opportunities between artists and teachers

Teachers commented upon the importance of the two years of the project to build relationships and understanding of each other’s context and agendas. This time enabled the artist teacher partnership to shift from a ‘simple transaction…to a far more complex and interesting .. joint venture’. Burnaford et al 2001).

In the first year of the project, at planning sessions, teachers responded to rather than conducted a dialogue with artists who proposed a stimulus or described the nature of their work. Few questions were asked in advance. By the second year most had built a relationship and begun to understand the artists’ work. They began to propose and negotiate potential material, and artists invited such discussions as they too became familiar with the school, its students and agendas. All year two projects addressed issues of social inclusion, reflecting a growing awareness of this agenda in the project. In fact the artists relished the opportunity to debate and develop their practice and there was scope for this to have been a formal aspect of the project.

Opportunities for artists to learn from teachers was an underdeveloped aspect of the project and occasionally lead to some disappointment by teachers about how particular aspects of practice were presented to young people. Joint and peer training sessions could enable partners to exchange skills, collaborate more fully and inform each other’s practice.

At planning stages teachers and artists did not explicitly discuss expectations of each other, of students or communicate important details about school procedures, rules or accepted behaviours. This was negotiated in process where a drama specialist worked with the artists. Often teachers saw their role as to manage behaviour so that the artists could focus upon the creative process. Whilst such support for artists is vital, examples of teachers engaging in the process and working with or alongside students to generate ideas were valuable for teachers and students alike in forging an inclusive creative working environment.

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However where no drama specialist was with the artists, difficulties did occur. In both cases, advance discussions about roles, responsibilities, expectations and procedures would have supported artists and improved the experience for students. Artists may not have an understanding of what ‘high-risk’, ‘disaffected’, ‘able’ mean but have different ways of knowing students and reading the dynamic of a newly-formed / self-selected / extant group. Whilst this different approach is vital to realising some of the valued effects of working with artists, artists sometimes needed information if individual students with special needs were to be treated differently and what the drama / arts / school ground rules were for all students.

Artists visited the school and usually saw the space they would be working in. However sometimes they were not made aware of constraints on its use, such as its communal use at certain times of the day so that resources could not be left out as part of a process of building work, its use as a thoroughfare by teachers or students, the need to move working spaces. All of these factors affected the way in which artists worked, their comfort, ease and enjoyment in working in schools. Observations and interventions during the process also had an impact. In some schools there was an open invitation, given by the Head teacher or the drama teacher, for teachers to visit and watch whenever they had a moment. Artists typically welcomed observers who gave students a greater sense of the importance of their work. However regular interruptions, early visits whilst students were still new and vulnerable in the work did cause a little discomfort.

On these projects artists typically gave good notice of their needs and enabled teachers to support them effectively. Teachers were very responsive to artists need for security for valuable props and resources of their own.

The awareness of other teachers in the school of the project was significant to its reception and value in the school. Understanding of its intentions, process and particular changes in expectation that the project heralded for students were needed to enable appropriate responses to students’ behaviour and achievement to be fostered. In one school a student developed a more engaged manner during the project from his typical disaffected behaviour. But, reflecting the different atmosphere of the project, in an encounter with a member of staff he spoke informally and was reprimanded for insolence. The incident affected the student who returned to the drama room angry and upset, manifesting his old behaviour traits.

The importance of mediators in the work was paramount and teachers spoke passionately about the importance of the role of the Arts Inspector in planning and of having an outside mediator who knew both school and artists’ agendas. The importance is in having an interested, informed and sympathetic adviser whose role it is at times to support, sometimes to instigate. The two Chelmsley Wood schools that were less accustomed to working with artists found the timetable checklist initiated by the administrator useful, but all schools and artists expressed concerns about the bureaucratic burden of the project. Issues remain about the initiation of staff into the arts practice of the artists; the possibility of INSET for teachers has been considered. Certainly knowledge of artists, their practice and their record in schools is a key issue for the future of such work.

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3.3.8 Reflection and evaluation opportunities.

The project offered all participants the opportunity to be reflective and question their own practices. For some participants the research framework was significant encouraging them to think about issues that they had not previously considered. Two schools, one company and the LEA advisor especially cited the research dialogue as a major strength of the project provoking new realisations, understandings and thoughts. The regular meetings where interim reports could be given – informally and orally – was significant in shaping the project and directly informing practice in process.

A number of different in-school evaluation methods were piloted during the project either in written or spoken form, structured or open. Some of the interest in this was generated by the research element of the project.

‘Diary’ time introduced a different dynamic as all students took time out and this very element in the work had a value in that students were able to consider their work from a distance for a moment. However for many of the students for whom writing was not a natural form of expression, there was a tendency to write in response to teacher prompts in a formulaic way rather than as a personal account.

In one school a video diary room was set up and students were either invited or self-selected to speak, again to prompts written on a wall in the room. However the video diary room was not without this danger either. However it was a more flexible medium which students began to customise for themselves and had the benefit of stimulating students to express ideas orally that often fed back into the creative process. Due to change of staff this initiative was not tested further in the second year. Instead an LEA counsellor was available for consultation for a number of hours each day during the project. Both of these ideas merit further attention, but it was not possible to explore them fully and ascertain their value from one experience of each..

This research presence may have enhanced the perceived effects of the project, constituting a kind of ‘Hawthorne effect’. Not only were additional outsiders interested in the students but students’ thoughts were required on tape and on film, which gave them and their opinions an extra importance. It may have been a factor in contributing to building their self-esteem.

The validity of each of these factors has been recognised by the stakeholders in this project and is informing the way we are currently working in a similar primary arts project involving artists.

3.4 Recommendations

The recommendations of this report reflect the factors identified in the previous section 3.3 to realise the effects identified in 3.2. The recommendations are predicated upon the findings of this research study which identifies at least eleven separate valued effects of the project.

3.4.4 Senior Management Teams should be involved in supporting specialist arts staff to realise and promote such projects. Support should be given in planning for the role of such projects in the longer term School Development

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Plan, arts development plan as well as in planning the detail of the project programme and its resourcing. (See Ofsted 2003 (b) p.21)

3.4.5 Schools should explore and plan for opportunities to promote and educate about the value of such work throughout the school and school community. Attention given to promoting awareness itself will inform the realisation of benefits.

3.4.6 A clear purpose and context must be established for any such project and this should be sited within a longer-term plan for drama and the arts and within the overall School Development Plan. Opportunities to consolidate and develop the work and benefits of the project beyond its initial lifetime should be planned for. (Ibid; QCA & Arts Council 2000). This should include at least transparency of the process with students, preferably their engagement in the planning stages.

3.4.7 A residency style project design generates intensive learning opportunity. Whilst creating the time for students to be ‘off timetable’ will be challenging, the value for students in enabling them to recognise their own development in a short period of time appears to be significant to raising esteem and realising the longer-term and wider benefits of the project. .

3.4.8 Students benefit from performance opportunities which necessitate ‘immediate practical application’ of skills. (ibid). The project design should plan for and seek such multiple and different opportunities. Links with professional venues, community arts organisations and other schools may also offer opportunities to enhance the profile of the project and this impact upon the extent of its benefits.

3.4.9 Teachers and schools should research the models of practice of any potential artists, for example looking at their training, philosophy and reflective practice in addition to work profile and recommendations to select an appropriate artist. Schools or LEA may wish to propose a set of prompt questions for teachers to use in researching or interviewing potential artists.

3.4.10 Schools should draw upon local, regional and national agencies, such as ALISS (WMA) www.aliss.org.uk for information about artists work in schools, such as a database of companies, with information on range / style of work available.

3.4.11 Agencies may offer showcasing opportunities to see artists work, such as ALISS, WMA partnership. The LEA may wish to propose to the partnership collaborative training opportunities for teachers and artists: where values and beliefs can be expressed, heard and respected and better understanding achieved by partners of each other’s practice. Nonetheless artists’ difference should be celebrated and retained as an ‘invited disturbance’ to schools.

3.4.12 Projects should consider ways in which the difference of artists from teachers is signalled to students in order to prepare them for such work. Both visits to see performance work and visits of artists to show work in school are possible. Additionally artists might consider ways in which they can demonstrate and help students deconstruct or construct their work.

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3.4.13 Better understanding and use of peer teaching / mentoring models might be used to cascade the work and growing drama culture throughout the school and beyond.

3.4.14 The practical and organisational needs of the artists’ work should be considered, such as a consistent physical space for the work, resources and storage of valuable resources.

3.4.15 Artists and teachers should discuss and agree their roles and responsibilities, expectations of each other, of students and the school They need to agree on an appropriate set of behaviours, strategies and sanctions considering the demands of the type of work, the characteristics of individuals within the group and the aims of the project. They should also agree how this will be negotiated with students. Artists should be aware of wider codes of conduct and procedures which they must adopt for the work.

3.4.16 Reflective discussion with small groups, facilitated by artists and teachers (dependent upon artist experience) offers valuable insight into students learning as part of the process and could be built in to future projects. This could also be complemented by collaborative recording, individual scrap-book type journals in which students might add research, personal thoughts – as many artists do and arts teachers encourage as pat of the creative arts process. Teachers are using this idea as part of the reflective practice of Solihull’s current Teaching Creatively; Teaching for Creativity Project which has a strong professional development focus.

3.4.17 Wider exposure is needed of senior stakeholders in schools such as head teachers, middle management and governors to the valued effects of such project and should be built into plans. This may have some impact upon their willingness to commit time and money to such ventures. This phenomenon is echoed in a recent study by QCA (2002)

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4 Purpleheath and Trading Faces

4.1 School context and objectives

4.1.1 The school Purpleheath school is a larger than average secondary school, situated in the North of Solihull. Students at this school come from areas that are ‘economically disadvantaged where unemployment is high’. (Ofsted, 2002) and where crime figures are also high. This area in the North is untypical of the borough that is characterised by areas that are more affluent. Staff teaching at both Purpleheath and Brown’s Coppice noted that students demonstrate relatively parochial attitudes, resisting opportunities to venture further afield.

Like other schools in this part of the authority, Purpleheath suffers from truancy. The recent Ofsted report notes a ‘high level of authorised absence condoned by parents’. The potential disruption this may cause to a student’s education is further affected by a ’high level of staff turnover’. (Ibid) Achievement is affected by the ‘low levels of literacy and numeracy with which students enter the school’ and the ‘high percentage of students with special educational needs’ (Ofsted 1998). In 2001, the percentage of students achieving a level 5 in NC tests in the core subjects was 49.5%, which is ‘well below national averages’ of 65%. Key stage 4 exam results at age 16 were 20% in 2001, compared with a national average of 49% and a 55% average in the rest of the borough (Ibid).

SEN provision is ‘a strength area of the school’, supported by ‘sound procedures for pastoral care and support’ (Ofsted 1998). The school focuses upon this aspect because students are recognised typically to suffer from poor self-esteem and confidence. Purpleheath engaged in Dramatic Effect as an aid to its longer-term aim to raise self-esteem as the key means to affect achievement. The project complemented other projects, such as the school’s Learning Mentorship Scheme, funded by the ‘Excellence in Cities’ initiative which aims to support achievement in underachieving urban schools. It also addressed aspects of the school’s improvement plan for the period covering the project which identified three key aims:

Raising academic achievement Preparing students for adult life Developing partnerships between school, parents and the wider community.

4.1.2 Drama at PurpleheathPurpleheath

‘espouses the need to develop drama both as a vehicle to address difficult social issues and as a means of students exploring their own behaviour and attitudes.’ (Purpleheath Dramatic Effect bid)

This is reflected in curriculum drama that is issue led. Typical schemes of work for year 9 include aims such as exploring sexual stereotyping, building a sense of community, homelessness, and prejudice. Drama offers

‘lots of opportunity for disadvantaged or disaffected students to take equal roles, be creative, show organisation skills, work co-operatively in groups and receive meaningful praise’.

At the beginning of the project, the two teachers of drama in post at the time were skilled in negotiating and contracting a collaborative working environment where student involvement and investment in the work was central. Judicious praise and developed self-assessment helped students to feel a sense of achievement.

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However the recent Ofsted report (2002) regrets the lack of ‘a continuous drama course’ and the ‘limited opportunities for drama’ due to the ‘difficulty of recruiting a specialist teacher’. This phenomenon is noted in the previous Ofsted report also.

At all levels, staff demonstrated understanding of and belief in the potential of the arts. The Headteacher described drama as a way in which to ‘galvanise those students who otherwise might not be very well motivated’ .. ‘ a great way of stimulating teamwork’ and making ‘them question themselves‘ and engage in ‘social issues’. This view is largely echoed by the Head of English and the drama teacher in post in 2001, both of whom believe in drama as a means of ‘ improving students’ social skills’, exploring a situation through role where they are ‘standing inside somebody else’s shoes .. and working out different ways of getting through it’ thus fostering tolerance, self awareness, and through the performance aspect, also developing self-confidence.

Both teachers involved with the project were trained in English but through personal interest and value for the subject for its potential to develop young people. They had undertaken in-service training to develop their skills.

4.1.3 Expectations of working with artistsThe involvement of professional artists was considered to be significant to the project for two central reasons, firstly because ‘many students will gain from the opportunity to learn from experts’ (Purpleheath, Dramatic Effect bid) and secondly because ‘The professional actors will become a type of Learning Mentor, different from teachers and consequently likely to have more impact.’ (Ibid)

The school here recognises points which have long been made by those advocating the use of artists in schools (Macdonald 1982, Morley 1991, Penn 1995, Sharp and Dust 1997,), namely the value of an expert to raise the interest in learning, of an intensive experience and the value of an outsider to offer a bridge between the world of school and the outside professional arts world. Key to both aims is the difference in role. The artist holds none of the pastoral or long-term responsibilities of a class-teacher to the students and school. Teachers suggested that artists might offer ‘a different perspective’ and be ‘less subjective’ than teachers who know students and have preconceived expectations about their behaviour. One suggested from previous experience that ‘outsiders’ are able to ‘get students doing’ in a way that familiar, known teachers find harder. One teacher suggested that the involvement of artists in an intensive project was significant in offering ‘creative circumstances’ which might ‘allow [students] to explore possibilities within themselves which would not be possible in the [usual] school situation’ . The Head teacher echoed this in his suggestion that ‘an artist can get closer to the kids ..be even more informal ..sensitive to .. open up more in a relationship with the kids … because they can walk away’.Some teachers expressed an expectation that the artists will be ‘skilful enough teachers’ to generate a strong group identity.

4.1.4 The theatre company: Trading FacesTrading Faces was formed in 1987 and has extensive experience of devising and touring mask theatre shows and projects throughout the country and abroad. The company explores a range of different styles of masks and leads residencies and workshops in schools and communities. Its style is highly visual, fast and physical. The company devises its own shows through improvisation. The subject matter is often serious but there is always a strong vein of comedy, as the company believes

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that this is the most effective way of conveying the underlying theme. The company is heavily committed to its educational work which forms a significant part of its profile. Their successes in this field have been celebrated in government reports of the arts (Dept of National Heritage), in commissioned reports (Wilkinson 1995; Southern Arts 1996; Berkshire LEA) and in national papers such as the ‘Times Educational Supplement’. The breadth of their arts funding from the Arts Council of England, Regional Arts Boards and City / County Councils is also a strong indication of the esteem in which their work is held.Residency projects usually centre round a performance but the Company places equal importance on sharing skills and techniques that will last beyond the life of the project. During residencies they use ‘a professional methodology’: the same skills and often the same processes as they use when devising their own professional theatre . ‘The company focuses on the body and emotions, on interpretation through movement, on physicalising, drawing on instinct and on the belief / premise that everyone can do it’ (Wilkinson 1995). The medium of mask and physical theatre is also significant for the project, as ‘mask work is about release, focus and enabling people to do things they would not otherwise dream possible’ (ibid).

In their statement of participatory philosophy, they identify three key words: encouraging, challenging, facilitating. In summary, their work focuses on the individual's self-exploration within a group environment in a non-competitive atmosphere. For all of these reasons, the selection of Trading Faces for the Purpleheath project was one which had potential to address many of their needs. The two artists engaged on this project were Tony Davies and Simon Hutchens.

4.1.5 Project objectives and contextPurpleheath’s objectives for participating in the project were to:

raise self esteem and confidence improve and develop interpersonal skills initiate an attitudinal change about community and their interaction with

the environmentThese were primarily for students identified as ‘disaffected’. For students identified as ‘gifted and talented’ objectives were for students to

develop leadership opportunities enhance own skills and support others to develop new skills

In the first year, planning for the project began with the drama specialist but was covered during her maternity leave by the Head of English. As she returned, the Head of English took special leave and there was no possibility of a hand–over period. These shifts in responsibility created some difficulties. Firstly, the original intention for participating students to see the company perform at Solihull Arts Complex, before the project began did not happen. This resulted in the students having no sense of the genre of work they would be experiencing, or more importantly no sense of the artists’ professionalism or significant difference from regular teachers. Secondly, there was no opportunity for the teacher-artist roles to be negotiated.

By the second year of the project, the drama specialist had left the school with no replacement found for her in the time scale needed to plan curriculum groups. Consequently no GCSE in drama was offered in 2001-2 where some of the students involved in the project might have continued such work and consolidated their sense of achievement.

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Many teachers were aware of the project, including English and Drama teachers, the School's senior management team, "Gifted and Talented" co-ordinator, Citizenship Co-ordinator, Behavioural Support manager; heads of year and mentoring project leader. Some of these visited the project in progress and saw the final work.

4.1.6 Expected outcomesTeachers saw the project as operating in complement to ‘a whole school ethos’. ‘We’re always looking at ways of raising self esteem and this is just one of many, many projects that are going on’. The very design of the project was recognised as important because they were ‘taken off timetable for a week [which] made them feel special’.

Teachers expectated that this project alone would not ‘make a huge amount of difference to some of these kids lives’. The head teacher suggested that the artists (for the reasons articulated in 4.1.3) might ‘make a change in the lives of [some ] young people’, but most saw the project as ‘chipping away at a stone’. The drama teacher spoke of an expectation of ‘an improvement in a couple of them’ but feared that this would not ‘be sustained’.

Teachers at all levels were unified in an expectation that the project would build ‘teamwork, cooperation skills’ and ‘boost self esteem’. Some suggested that this might occur due to the creative nature of the work, where they might ’explore another side of themselves’, where they might experience ‘enjoyment’ and make ‘something that they’re proud of achieving and want to share’. A number hoped that it might ‘instil more maturity’, encourage students to ‘take on responsibility’ show a ‘willingness to listen’ and reduce conflict. The performance was considered crucial as a means of celebrating and valuing students’ achievements within the school community - the work was shown to a whole school audience of key stage 3 students.

Artists offered all of these points as possible outcomes of their work but emphasised the fun aspect of the work: ‘to learn that by focusing upon an activity you can gain enjoyment’. To students, the artists spoke of the work as ‘having a bit of fun .. a bit of a laugh …. We can all make a bit of a fool of ourselves’. They also spoke more of the importance of students learning to ‘value their own ideas …gain respect for other’s ideas’ and overall ‘gain a sense of ownership’ of the work.

Students shared a number of these expectations. They hoped to get an insight into how a theatre company works, feel more confident, learn new skills, possibly even discover hidden talents.

4.2 Selection of studentsIn both years, the ten artist days in school were planned as separate weeks for different groups of children.

In 2001, these were offered to students at each end of the spectrum of the school population: one disaffected, one able and interested. The rationale for this was that both groups, who were typically mixed together in daily school life would benefit from natural peer support. The ‘disaffected’ students (86% boys) would have no audience to ‘clown’ to and instead might be strengthened by building a new group identity. The ‘able and interested’ students, (45% boys), might be encouraged to extend themselves uninhibited by the peer pressure of ridicule for their ‘boffish’ interest and ability. Neither group was an extant group and some students did not know each other.

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Members of the 2001 ‘disaffected’ group were selected on one or more of the following three criteria:

Causing trouble in all curriculum areas and in the margins Underachieving but considered able Low achievers across all curriculum areas

plus interest in drama.

14 of the 16 selected students chose to seek parental consent to be involved in the project. A third of these students (5/14) were in receipt of free school meals. Teacher assessments in the core subjects for the students tracked showed two students achieving either level 3 or 4 and one just missing sustaining a level 5 across the subjects. Since September 2000 until the week of the project in June, this group had averaged an 80% attendance rate, compared to a school average of 90% attendance recorded by Ofsted.

Three students were selected from each group as examples of the types of students typical in each group: In the ‘disaffected’ group:

Child A was selected for poor attendance (46%) and a profile across the subject areas of poor motivation, difficulties in concentrating, being easily distracted and talking constantly. Key stage 3 teacher assessments graded her either at level 3 or 4 (National Curriculum). Teachers frequently considered her to have poor interpersonal skills, to have little self-awareness and ability to negotiate with others or to consider their needs. Those teachers who reported successes or improvements (4/12) had done so through one-to-one dealings, taking an interest in the child and through giving positive support or praise.

Child B also had poor attendance (61%) and was following an IEP negotiated with the Head of behaviour management. Half of the teachers expressed severe concerns about his behaviour, interpersonal skills and work as well as punctuality; all expressed severe concerns about some areas and that he was significantly under-achieving, averaging a key stage 3 teacher assessment at level 3. Teachers reported similar strategies for encouraging success as with child A.

Child C had a good attendance record (92%) but was considered to be a significant underachiever, either just scraping or just missing level 5 in the core subjects according to teacher assessments. All teachers rated concerns about his work as severe and spoke of poor concentration and motivation. Most noted under-developed interpersonal skills.

Members of the ‘able and interested’ group were selected on the basis of: Good achievement across all curriculum areas Ability in Drama Interest in Drama

22 of the 24 selected students chose to seek parental consent to be involved in the project. Two of the 22 students were in receipt of free school meals. Since September 2000 until the week of the project in June, this group had averaged a 92% attendance rate, with the lowest individual rate being 81%.

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In the ‘able and interested’ group, no profiles were completed on the selected students as the aims were not measurable in such a way.

Child D was selected as a ‘quiet leader’ in Drama, who led with ideas and supports others. She was graded as an average level 5 in the core subjects in teacher assessments at key stage 3. Child D did not relish performance but engages in classroom drama effectively.

Child E whilst able, with an average key stage 3 teacher assessment at level 5/4 is a follower; the type of child who is typically overlooked as they never do anything to draw attention to themselves and seek always to fit in.

Child F has an average key stage 3 teacher assessment of level 4/5. He was vivacious, lively and the first to be involved. This child loved drama and performance.

Some of the students selected for tracking in 2001, including the two with poorest attendance records, were taken out of conventional schooling system and educated through the Solihull North Individual Education Programme (SNIP) project where they study core subjects alongside more vocational training.

The selection process in 2002 was completely different. Students out of the two selected mixed ability form groups were invited to seek parent permission to take part in a project following an introduction to the company’s work in a year 9 assembly.

The group working in the first week was small, numbering 11, only 2 of which were girls. The second week's group was larger at 17 students and more evenly balanced with 8 girls and 9 boys. Each group was allocated 4 student mentors from the previous year's participants. These were selected partly through interest, partly through teacher intervention for student's own development and partly pragmatically - several of the previous year's group were not available to the school. One student who had been suspended was involved. The Head of English saw the project as a ‘bridge back into [school where he could ‘have some responsibility rather than just playing football’.

As in the previous year, three students from both classes were selected for tracking through consultation with their form group teacher and Head of English.

First week:Child G was selected as an able student, demonstrating an interest in drama but no marked talent. He was not considered a natural leader and had occasional disruptive tendencies. Student H exerted strong influence on her peers though not always a positive one. She expressed a strong interest in drama but did not relish performance.Student J was a strong character with a track history of disruption. He was capable of good work when motivated and stimulated but had a low boredom threshold.Both Student H and J left the project before its completion, Student H at a very early stage.

Second week

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Student K was selected as being potentially very able in drama though with a long history of disruption, poor attendance and low achievement over the rest of the curriculum. Student L also had a poor behavioural history but with less identified ability in drama.Student M exemplified a student of average behavioural standard though potentially influenced by others and is normally a middle level achiever.

Both Students K and L were on report during the period of the project but all three remained with it for its duration.

In each case the school profile fitted exactly with our observations.

4.3 Process and activitiesIn 2001 teacher and company decided that the ‘disaffected’ students would make their own masks as well as developing techniques through games and devising a performance. It was agreed that multi-faceted activities would be the best way of tackling the low boredom threshold of many of the participants in this group. The ‘able and interested’ group in 2001 and both groups in 2002 used Trading Faces' own masks, which allowed time for more focused work on physical movement, skills and techniques.

In all cases, the masks used were full-face thus preventing speech, forcing students to convey thoughts and emotions through body gesture alone. This approach was democratic in allowing students with less developed verbal skills to be just as effective as their more vocal peers. These students had not before encountered mask or physical (mime) theatre. The company drew on the same set of stimuli - the "archetypal" characters drawn from Commedia del Arte, hero, trickster, friend, fool, king, innocent. They introduced through the week the concept of "tension states": "efficient"; "paranoia"; "curiosity"; "laziness / tiredness"; "cool"; "tense". These archetypal characters and emotional states created the infrastructure for the devised work.

With both groups, the company taught and developed skills through games. These had the additional function of uniting the group, already forming a bond at the alarming prospect of performing in front of their peers at the end of their part of the project.

The ‘2001 disaffected’ group spent time each day on the process of mask-making, initially moulding clay mask moulds, then layering blotting paper mache, painting tissue and UVP glue to smooth and firm the mask and finally painting them. Although some aspects of the process presented challenges to some individuals, Tony modelled clearly and then supported each individual on a one-to-one basis. In this way their day contained elements of individual craft work, whole and small group co-operative work when making theatre.

The artists gave (to the ‘disaffected’ group) or negotiated (with other groups) a context in which many characters might come together, such as a public park or a hospital. The context allowed for different characters to be developed and for scenes to develop between a few characters at a time. Once the students had started the devising process in their sub-groups, the company took on the function of theatre director, shaping, refining and developing the work the students were creating. As only one sub-group could work on stage at a time, the others sat at the front of the auditorium and were invited on occasion to give feedback and advice to their peers.

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4.4 Achievements and effects – year one Attendance records for the year, for students involved in the project in 2000 revealed an 86% attendance rate. During the two weeks of the project one student in the disaffected group missed one day, creating an attendance rate of 98%. The weeks after the project also revealed an improvement in previous absence rates.

The potential of mask work, of physical theatre and of a creative process that emphasised group ownership and a ‘can-do’ mentality were all significant in the successes of the project. Both artists were highly skilled workshop leaders in addition to their considerable artistic skills and were able to adopt appropriate registers with each group to relate to their typical vocabulary, as collaborators and professional directors to suit needs. Through games they lured students into their ’professional methodology’.

Nearly all the students enjoyed the physically exaggerated style of the work: ‘performing [when] you don’t have to learn any lines.. it’s just a lot of actions ’. Many enjoyed the blatant signalling and playing to the audience and were keen to challenge each other and develop skills in mask theatre. The masks, as they and the teacher anticipated, offered a protection to performers ‘to hide’. ‘Normally [if you look at the audience] everyone would see your face and you blush whereas in a mask you can act how you want to and you don’t feel embarrassed because they can’t see you’. This enabled them, for a while, to be freed from their own consciousness of their limitations and that of others about them and they recognised that this freedom ‘gives you lots of confidence’. The students felt they had learnt a lot about ‘ how to keep the audience involved’ by ‘looking at them’, which had ‘given me more confidence’. The ‘able and interested’ students especially enjoyed ‘learning the details of body language’, about ‘tension states .. because you can express yourself more’ about ‘how to ‘’launch it’’ [so that] it looks better’. They relished learning the subject specialist vocabulary. Students spoke of learning from watching each other: ‘one thing that goes wrong in another group you can set them right in your own’. ‘It helps you realise your mistakes and how you can pick up on them’; and ‘you get ideas as well ‘’Ah! I’ll do that next time..’’ ‘ Students valued the way they had been lured into working through games, building concentration, getting ideas, so that ‘it didn’t feel like we were actually doing it.. but we were!’

The ‘disaffected’ group. The project marked a number of achievements. Child C had told the drama teacher that he was enjoying coming to school and Child B told us ‘I’ve done a full week this week, [which] .. I haven’t done in ages. ’. Two boys became teacher supports for the artists, policing behaviour with interjections to enable them to get on with the work. The Drama teacher considered ‘4 or 5 students in particular benefited from the experience’. She had observed ‘a noticeable difference in their attitude towards school, their work and the way they interacted with adults’. These were students who typically expected ’that coming to school would inevitably result in confrontation’ and instead ‘for the first time ….felt a sense of pride about their involvement and their attitude towards their work’. Like most teachers involved in the project she noted surprises, citing a child who had identified with one of the artists and ‘applied himself’ to the mask-making in an unprecedented fashion. The natural physicality of these students and their lack of reserve in expressing their individual wants fed well into the playing of roles, but required some taming for the

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discipline of the form. The group responded with, what was for them, unparalleled heights of co-operative working.

In earlier discussions the Head of English had suggested that if the project was successful there would be a change from the students bragging about missing lessons, to telling others about the work and wanting teachers to come and see what they were doing. This was precisely the journey of student behaviour during the week. When the Head of behaviour management was interviewed, he had just been visited by one of the students ‘almost demanding that I go along and see their performance’ . The Head of Year said she had also been urged to come to the performance. This pride and readiness to celebrate their achievements was untypical for this group and a real sign of their increased self-esteem. Senior management and other staff who visited the mask-making sessions commented that they had never seen these students so focused, calm or engaged before, which ‘was down to 100% concentration’.

Student evaluations and diaries talked of the enjoyment of both mask-making and performing, despite the fact that on the Monday they had all said they dreaded the prospect of performing most. A few students mentioned that they considered their teamwork and concentration on getting the audience involved had been really good. The head of year was struck by the mature way in which the group received applause at the end of their performance because they ‘weren’t showing off’ and they ‘came out of the theatre ..quietly not as noisy as you’d expect.. genuinely interested’ and sharing comments but not in a rowdy way. A member of the senior management team involved in the project commented that ‘when they came back without their masks on they seemed ten feet taller than they had done at the beginning of the week’. He wondered whether he had got the people in the groups wrong – he felt he would not see the performance of some children in this group bettered the following week, that ‘some of these kids (including child A) have been hiding talents from us’. These students who were known in the school typically for negative reasons, had succeeded in gaining the attention of their school community: teachers and peers, for positive reasons.

‘Able and interested’Successes for the second group were not quite so dramatic. A form tutor of a number of students suggested that they might see drama as ‘chilling out’ time and not take it seriously or identify much benefit for themselves. They had difficulty in overcoming their inhibitions, working with energy and engaging fully in the risk and physical creativity of the form. The turning point was the voluntary withdrawal of one student (child D) who found the work too threatening. She had been disruptive in the earlier part of the week by inhibiting several other girls from full participation. There was a noticeable change in the ambience of the group after her departure which resulted in a progressive increase in engagement by a number of the students involved. The drama teacher noted that many girls who found the exposure of performing difficult ‘became more confident as the week progressed’, finally being able to take ‘lead roles at specific times within the performance’. Half of the students wrote about how the project had improved their confidence and a quarter spoke of the value of learning to work as a team with people they hadn’t worked with before.

Most other comments related to the skills they had learnt such as staying in character, focus, developing backstage discipline which they felt would be important in the future to their drama work and to other situations where team work and confidence to present themselves to other people is needed. Observers, teachers and researchers noted their development over the week from a fairly passive, self-conscious collection of individuals / cliques into a lively, responsive and creative

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group. It was clear that for them, having this experience alongside similar children had enabled them to show what they were capable of and given freedom to speak. They demonstrated growing understanding of the process, increasing engagement and willingness to offer ideas for scenes and setting. Through the experience of performing students were suddenly aware of the power of live theatre, having not appreciated before the effect of audience response. As one student said ‘ I found today quite amazing .. because of the audience involvement’. The experience prompted reflection and students readily offered informed views of areas for improvement, a point which might have been better validated had they had more than one opportunity to perform.

Artist-student dynamicStudents were quite vocal about the factors that led to this success, and core was the nature of the artist-student interchange. Students valued the freedom to wear their own clothes, to be off normal timetable and to call artists by first names. They enjoyed ‘having a laugh’. They spoke of being ‘treated like normal people not like children’, being ‘trusted – we’re not constantly being watched 24/7’, ‘they let us do our own thing’, of artists being ‘more like on the same level instead of like a teacher’ because ‘Simon and Tony didn’t tell us off .. they just told you to stop’; ‘they talked to us more like our friends’ and ‘they’re working with you as if they were one of you’. A member of senior management suggested that the artists had become ‘critical friends’ echoing this point.

Students valued the increased sense of ownership of their work because they were ‘given responsibility’. ‘If it was a teacher they’d give us the idea and we’d have to work from that. Doing this we’ve all come out with completely different things and that’s made the show even better.’. Teachers likewise recognised the value in the increased risks artists can take in the creative process, through their skills and different position in the school. As one student explained, ‘we all had a lot of respect for [the artists] because they were professionals’, ‘they’re proper actors’, ‘they know what they’re talking about’. One student suggested that ‘you feel criticised’ more by teachers, whereas there was a sense of allowing ideas more free rein with the artists. They reflected that in school they usually felt policed and that interchange with teachers was typically confrontational. The disaffected group were adamant that their behaviour had been better as a result of this kind of management, ‘because you don’t have the arguments with the teachers’. A number of teachers supported this view suggesting that in the weeks of and after the project there was less conflict between students and students and staff.

4.5 Areas for development

The potential for the project was limited by a number of factors, centred around the school’s longer term aims for drama and the arts in the school.

A number of issues emerged around the preparation for the project in the school. The drama teacher wondered ‘how much the staff have taken on board what this is about and what the children have been through, how this has changed them and affected them’. She welcomed further involvement of senior management to educate the staff about the need for sustained whole school support to recognise student’s potential for change and a readiness to foster this beyond the project. The need to follow-up the work of the project was recognised by the member of senior management involved in the project in year one. To our knowledge no such action has taken place, although possibilities of demonstration/participation workshops for all staff with the artists were discussed for year two.

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Within the lifetime of the project there were instances of staff student confrontation when students continued the more informal manner they shared with the artists inside of the sessions at break-times outside. Some staff, who were uninvolved in the project, took offence and confronted students about their manners. This tension suggests the need for greater investment in whole school education about how to maximise the impact of such work. Seven members of staff were interviewed in this school – more than for any other project and all perceived the project as a good thing, but few suggested that this might lead them to engage differently with these students in the future.

A second difficulty in preparation occurred due to complications in staffing. The first day of the two week project in school, was the first day back for the drama teacher who found herself torn by other curriculum and pastoral demands and could not exclusively commit to the project. Additionally there had been no time for her to meet with the artists and negotiate roles and strategies. She was unclear about whether to intervene, to ‘police’ or to let the artists establish their own working methods. The artists spoke of having anticipated ‘more teacher involvement throughout’ and having to suggest and implement ground rules, supported by a yellow card (for blatantly breaking the agreed rules) as a warning after which the only course of action would be a red card meaning the student left the project. This graded warning system, much like many schools’ behaviour management levels, proved effective in controlling extreme behaviour and only 4 yellow cards were given during the week. However the artists were aware of having ‘to be the disciplinarians’ more than they would have liked and recommended with a group such as the ‘disaffected’, a smaller group of students of this type would be preferable. The need to collect research data was complicated by the changing staff, who were already over-stretched with responsibilities.

The third factor here was the absence of a forum where the skills and achievements of the project might be developed. With no GCSE drama option and neither group being an extant group there was no means to re-visit or continue the work. The work was celebrated by one performance, where more than one would have enabled students to reflect on their experience, re-set targets and recognise improvements.

There were signs of the short-termism of the experience, of the need for another ‘immediate fix’ of confidence building, for a ‘sustained programme’ for students to value the work. One particularly vocal boy who often appeared to touch the nerve of the ‘disaffected’ group, within minutes of coming off stage where he had been proud and confident, was telling the artists how much better the ‘other’ group would be than his group. At the end of the second week, this group were desperate to know if the artists had preferred the work of the ‘other’ group. Their response to the idea of their involvement in peer teaching - a responsible role – was greeted with disbelief. They thought that the teachers in school typically distrusted them. When I spoke to this group at the end of the project they were already looking gloomily towards next week and normal timetable – the glory of the performance had faded fast. These students felt this would have no impact on the future. They had nothing to lose by returning to ‘normal’ behaviour because ‘they ain’t gonna let us do it again are they?’. Students had no awareness of the life or shape of the whole project – that it might be any longer term than a week. When it was suggested to them that they might be involved as mentors the whole group were convinced that there was not the slightest chance of them being trusted. They mentioned that they had learnt ‘ to keep the audience involved’ and worked as a group better than before but that such skills were ‘not useful’ or valuable.

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They were also extremely defensive when the second week project was discussed and were keen to tell Tony and Simon that ‘they [the other group]will be better than us’.

Some difficulties were experienced as a result of the way in which the project was presented to students. Initially the lack of knowledge of the artists meant that students ‘were not instantly receptive to enjoying the work’ because ‘they didn’t know what our work was’. This was marked by the reticence of the ‘able and interested’ students. Having seen a performance they might have been more ready to commit to the work. It would also have enhanced all students’ respect for the artists’ expertise. Child D had enjoyed ‘playing the games.. because I didn’t feel anyone was looking at me, .. but when we had to launch entrances.. I was on my own [and] I didn’t feel comfortable’. Likewise no agreement had been made over the students’ access to each other’s performance work, which meant that they didn’t see each other’s work.

Other difficulties were embedded in the discipline of the artists’ creative process. The artists were very aware of the potential and challenges of the form. They spoke of mask work being ‘very achievable, because by doing very little sometimes you can achieve a lot…. the impact of the mask just on an entrance, look at audience and exit [can ] leave a lasting impression’. By comparison however ‘physical work is much more revealing’ due to the risk and inventiveness required. This was a challenge to all students. The discipline of watching each other in order to learn was a challenge for ‘disaffected’ students who found difficulty in controlling their responses, in listening to, waiting for and supporting each other. Some of the activities prompted restlessness or reduced engagement after a while which suggested that they might either have been continued for too long, or that the some of the language, for example of the character types was too ‘strange’, for example the notion of an ‘innocent’ and the subtleties of the ‘friend’ were quite complex to grasp in practice. Child C remained unengaged throughout the practical character session where these terms were used, making no effort to differentiate any character from himself. During the mask showing, all three children, A, B & C became bored after half an hour of showing. The requirement to learn from peers by watching offered some initial engagement, but students found this hard to sustain during rehearsals. The involvement of mentors in year two of the project offered the possibility to develop more targeted small group work, possibly with two mentors and a small group of four checking for clear signalling to an audience, rather than have large numbers of students watching.

Students wrote in project notebooks on a daily basis in year one, recording and reflecting on what had been learnt. Most comments were positive, but the exercise was of limited value in comparison to the time it took. Whilst reflective tools are important to enable students to recognise their achievements and pursue their understanding, other more creative methods might be pursued.

The Head of English (and for some time the drama specialist) were responsible for organising the project and whilst they valued the support of the Inspector, the demands upon a few or one member of staff were considered onerous. Again this points to the need for whole school's commitment to such ventures in the longer term. Additional time demands and organisation of resources which were generated by the researchers, exacerbated this problem.

4.6 Changes in year twoThere was no drama specialist at Purpleheath in year two of the project. The project was managed by the Head of English in 2001-2 who organised both a pre-project

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taster performance in assembly to generate interest amongst year 9 students and a theatre visit for interested students. Teachers who were in the drama space with the artists changed regularly and comprised, supply teachers, English teachers and some others.

Despite the achievements of 2001, the drama teacher and artists were in agreement that the separation of disaffected students had been less successful in raising behaviour, achievement and morale than a mixed ability context might be. Consequently for 2002 artists worked with mixed ability groups from two year 9 form groups. The drama teacher had considered that the ‘disaffected’ students had suffered in the performance work by not having students to ‘lift’ them and had often ‘clowned’ for each other.

To improve induction, a number of measures were taken. Firstly the company performed an excerpt of a performance to assemblies and spoke to the students about the project. This was followed up by an invitation to Solihull Library theatre to see a performance. GCSE and some year 9 students went. There was therefore a clear understanding of the type of work that students would be involved in before the project began. In the week before the project, students from the two selected form groups were invited to a taster session to decide finally whether they wanted to commit to the project for a week. All of these strategies were helpful in building a group of students most of whom were able to make good use of the experience.

It was decided to focus on the performance aspect of the week and not to spend time making masks. This decision was partly pragmatic, to avoid, ‘plaster on the doors, carpet and everything’ and the loss of some of the spaces which had been used in 2001. But it was also that partners considered that the concentration on performance would be of more direct and lasting benefit to the students. It is certainly true that in both weeks, the performances were more skilled and finished but it could be said that the students had had a less creative input and were left with no tangible evidence of their work.

The first sessions each week echoed the process with the "gifted and able" group in 2001. A difference in 2002 was that the company gave a scenario and characters for the performance. In the first week, this was a picnic area in a park; in the second a camp-site. The last piece became the most technically demanding of all four project pieces, involving quite complex work with tents. The company had been asked to focus on "families" to link the project in with the Citizenship course. The students were divided into family groups and were encouraged to develop a storyline. From this point on, the two members of the company worked as director / stage manager, working with each individual group while the larger group sat and watched until their turn came.

The week's structure presented more performance opportunities. Each group gave a first performance to a group in year 8; this had something of the flavour of a dress rehearsal and gave the chance to the performers to self-evaluate their performances, be aware of strengths, weaknesses and possible problem areas. They then gave an early evening performance for friends and family and the week culminated in the Friday morning assembly performance to their peers.

Trading Faces seemed to input more overtly into the content of the pieces than in 2001, possibly due to the increased focus on performance. In 2001, their creative input into the storyline had been more "editorial" i.e. shaping and honing the students' own ideas. In 2002, the storyline and characters were presented to the students together with a greater emphasis on the physical production - more props

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etc. Although the final performance pieces benefited in clarity and effect, this was possibly at the expense of the students' own creative input.

Selected students from the Year 1 project were also involved in 2002 as mentors. In practice, this meant that they revisited some of the exercises they had done in the previous year and spent some time teaching them to other students, including a group from the year above them. They also performed a short piece to the 2002 participants and attended two days of the five day project. There was some doubt on the actual nature of their contribution and who benefited most from the exercise:

"I think the role that we’ve given them is less about mentoring and more about actually making them almost co-teachers, co-workshop leaders which is a different kind of relationship. I think they’ve found it is a hard challenge, not everybody likes teaching or is good at it. So I think that’s been quite tough for them and I hope they’ve got something out of it. The participants, I’m not sure. I think it’s been an interesting exercise for them to see their peer group, or their elders teaching them. But it was also quite hard for them because they didn’t get the same kind of energy that we would have given them necessarily, the same kind of focus." (Trading Faces)

The mentors themselves felt they had achieved a great deal from the experience and spoke of ‘giving them [the year 9 group] confidence like the artists done for us’ although there was limited evidence of this to observers. One mentor had evidently reflected upon the value of mask work and was able to explain the creative release of this form of theatre. It is possible that the position of an engaged outsider had facilitated this understanding. Nonetheless there was certainly potential to justify further attention to the role, albeit with better preparation in future situations.

In 2001, the drama specialist had been present at most of the sessions. Other teachers were invited to attend but few did, given pressures of work. In the first week of 2002, different teachers covered the sessions. This was positive in spreading understanding of the project to a wider market but did not give the steady support required by the company nor to the likelihood of the work being followed up. It may have contributed to the relatively high drop out rate in this group. In the second week, the class tutor was there for the majority of the sessions. This gave a consistency to the support and contributed to the level of concentration and energy that distinguished this particular group, despite the fact it contained some notably volatile students. The class teacher found the experience enlightening, feeling she had gained new insight into her class.

4.7 Similar / different and additional achievements and effects in year two

In 2002, generally, the school was in a similar position to 2001 with an Ofsted inspection due very shortly. A number of initiatives over the year including Citizenship and a literacy strategy pilot, combined with a lack of drama specialist highlighted above led to drama being ‘squeezed off completely in Key Stage Three. So any drama that happens in Key Stage Three is through English lessons now.’. The students taking part in Dramatic Effect in 2002 had not partaken in drama lessons during their normal curriculum since the previous academic year.

The larger, mixed gender group of the second week appeared to operate better than the male dominated, smaller group of the first week. However the balance of abilities and types was also a factor. Week one featured a wide range of abilities in a small group, week two a more balanced range in a larger group.

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The pattern of rehearsing a small group at a time is part of the company's way of working, which they feel instils good discipline and reflects professional practice. Although this method of working paid off in raising production quality, during the middle period some group members became less involved. For some students the repetition of rehearsal was also perceived as ‘boring’, whereas other group members clearly thrived on the chance to perfect and develop their parts. There was also some variance in response to the multiple performance opportunities, outlines in 4.6. This performance pattern worked very well for the second group which was the stronger and more motivated of the two but proved overly testing for some members of the first week's group, where three of the disaffected members of the group (including student J) failed to turn up for the performance on the Thursday evening. Two dropped out completely at this stage though one returned for the performance the next day. For most students though this structure gave an added challenge and they rose to it magnificently.

The mentors for the week one group were drawn from the ‘disaffected’ group from the previous year. Although they clearly enjoyed their re-involvement with the project, they found it hard to teach the games and some points of technique were lost. This put greater pressure on the company to give active direction as the production piece shaped.

The company had some problems with discipline in the first week and had eventually to "red card" one student. This led to some disaffection among the students who felt the company lacked consistency in being tough with some students but lenient with others. However, this did not seem to have any lasting negative impact on the relations with company and group.

Student G and J were involved and active in the first stage. Student J especially surprised watching staff by his engagement as he had some reputation as being disruptive and easily bored. Student H was not present for the first day of the week and on joining the project, demonstrated a negative influence on their immediate circle in terms of concentration and engagement. Some of the girls in particular withdrew their commitment, as their peer group leader seemed to be unimpressed. At the point on day 2 when the company asked individuals to perform to the rest of the group, Student H withdrew her co-operation completely and next day, had returned to normal lessons. The rest of the girls stayed with the group and their involvement increased in inverse proportion to their self-consciousness.

As the week progressed, Student J was drawn into the disaffected element although he did make an effort to keep himself involved. In the penultimate day, peer group pressure proved too much. Student G became increasingly frustrated by the part he was allocated and his inability to find creative ways of dealing with it…. " it's just like the Dad who does everything and the kids just play up and so I was bored as well".. He remained very responsive to the company however and a focused member of the group.

Both students K and L were on report during the week but on no occasion showed any evidence of disruptive behaviour in their work on the project. Student K in fact was remarkably focused and inventive. While the parts were being allocated, he chose to be a "twitcher" hen-pecked husband. This was not the most obvious of choices but he had clearly recognised its comic potential - even to the extent of designing his own costume including non-matching knee length socks and sandals. At one point in the week, his social worker arrived to see him. She came into the hall

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and watched him work for a while. She commented that she was seeing a different boy from the one she was used to.

Student L though showing fewer signs of creative inventiveness was prepared to face up to the teasing of his peers when he allowed himself to be cast as a young lover. Student M worked very well throughout the week. Her teacher commented that she was working well above her normal threshold.

In both weeks the performances were very successful. Week one’s featured some extremely sharp comic performances. The evening performance had to be extensively improvised due to the three absentees but the rest of the group rose to the occasion. In week 2 there were no dropouts and the performances were very slick, with the use of music, lighting, set, props, costume and wigs supporting the impressively professional feel of the performances.

The Purpleheath team reported that in general they felt very satisfied that the project had met some of the objectives - engaging students, raising self-esteem, developing leadership skills and challenging negative attitudes towards school.

Concern remained about the level of awareness and support from the senior management team and from the whole staff. The situation limited the potential for change in the general perception of or expectations of the target groups by the school in general. This in turn was considered to limit students’ readiness to manifest different behaviours. In both years, there were unfortunate confrontations between senior members of staff and participating students who had left the project spaces for short periods for often legitimate reasons. This pointed up the contrast between the focused commitment these students had given the project and the perception held of them by staff in the rest of their school life.

In both years and all four groups, students hit new heights in their work, often surprising their teachers. On the whole, they felt they had achieved something notable though some of the students in 2002 felt that their characters had been imposed on them ‘they should have let us do what characters we wanted to do’, but others accepted the artists' greater knowledge. ‘They've done it more than we've done it so they know what to do’. ‘We gave them all these ideas and they just came back to us with the play.’ Just as in 2001, the students enjoyed working with the artists and felt they had been treated with respect and as equals. The drop out factor in the first week of 2002, especially the failure of three students to turn up for the evening performance had a great effect on the rest of the group. ‘[We were] all working as team for a whole week and everything …. and then they just wrecked it right at the end’. The team aspect was clearly very important. ‘It makes you work as a team, when you work in a group it makes you think more because you have to bring up ideas …. And it makes you realise that it's not just you that has to get the ideas it's everyone else, you have to give everyone else a chance’.

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5 Brown’s Coppice and Triangle / Highly Sprung

5.1 Project objectives and school context

5.1.1 The schoolUnlike the rest of the borough which is characterised by more affluent areas, the North of Solihull, where Purpleheath and Brown’s Coppice school are sited, is an area with a ‘high level of social deprivation …[and] high levels of unemployment’ (Ofsted, 1998). Nearly half of all students are in receipt of free school meals. Crime figures are also high and ‘the school has a constant battle to raise student aspirations’ (Ibid). Staff at the school commented upon the relatively parochial attitudes of students who typically, resist opportunities to aspire beyond their known environment.

Students are predominantly white. The level of students identified has having special educational needs is above the national average and the ‘school receives Learning Difficulty Funding for 47% of its students’. Like other schools in this part of the authority, Purpleheath suffers from truancy and attendance levels are below national averages with a high level of authorised absences.

The school is considered to be ‘very well led’, the ‘school’s ethos is very positive’, teaching is ‘good’ and a number of strong links and strategies are in place to ‘ensure the curriculum is relevant to students’ and ‘encourage[s] disaffected students’. In 2002 at key stage 3, 34% of students achieved level five or above in core subject NC tests, compared to 60% nationally. At key stage 4, 19% achieved grades A-C (13% in 2000) compared to 50% nationally and 56% in the rest of the borough.

5.1.2 Drama at Brown’s CoppiceThe syllabus for Drama describes the aim of drama in this school as,

‘to expose children to, and involve them in, forms of thought and strategies of action through which they may deepen and challenge their perception of themselves and others, develop modes of interpreting the subtleties and complexities of their experiences, attitudes and feelings, and acknowledge accommodate and re-assess their world’

The syllabus is structured around developing children’s - ‘potential for self expression’- ‘awareness of social and moral issues and personal relationships’- ‘understanding of multi-cultural / universal issues’ - ‘introduction to and opportunities for exploring experiences and

traditions of theatre and its current extension into the Mass Media’ - enjoyment of education

In summary drama at this school is concerned with developing students’ ‘life skills’: their expressiveness through drama and experience of some theatre form, but centrally enjoying and valuing learning through ‘imagined contexts where they engage in social issues exploring moral, social and personal responsibilities. Assessments at key stage 3 focus upon group skills, self-control, ability to take responsibility for learning plus some knowledge of drama skills. This is reflected in the teaching materials viewed for key stage 3. Students have good relationships with drama staff. The observed drama lesson, combined engagement in a social issue with developing particular performance skills.

In September 2001 a new Head of Drama was appointed and building work began during year one of the project on a new performing arts block. These actions were

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‘part of a wider strategy’ driven by the head teacher ‘to promote the arts within the school’ . He is committed to drama as ‘a powerful medium .. for change [and] for understanding’ and emphasised both drama curriculum time and extra-curricular performance work as significant in celebrating achievement and ‘raising aspirations’.

The Head of Drama had been trained in and values the kind of issue-based process drama that focuses upon the participants’ experience of imagined situations and enables students ‘to understand and put [them]selves into the shoes of another person’. Drama of this kind, she believes, confronts students with the consequence of their values and actions and offers them an opportunity to alter their behaviour, ‘almost [to become] a better person’

Most students demonstrated a positive attitude towards drama, describing it as ‘fun’, ‘a laugh’, ‘physical and active’, a means to ‘express yourself’. Some spoke of valuing the opportunity to ‘take on different roles and you don’t have to be yourself all the time’ which can create ‘excitement’. The freedom of improvising was mentioned by several students where ‘you can just make it up as you go along, or you can make up anything you want’. Some recognised the imagined world of drama as a means by which you can ‘experience different things’. Many considered drama developed their confidence. Most students relished the opportunity to perform. A few thought it helped them to work well in a team.

5.1.3 Expectations of working with artistsAt the initial project meeting, the head of drama opted to work with Triangle as the company's abstract physical theatre approach provided a complete contrast to her own more naturalistic way of working. The head of Drama saw the value of bringing in artists to her school being to engage students in different theatre form. She had originally proposed that the project train students as a Theatre in Education Company, as she had some experience of working with TiE companies. Whilst this focus was not appropriate for these companies, all upheld the notion of operating as a professional company. Teachers expected artists to communicate to students how their performance form works, so that students understand its effectiveness and power.

The head of Art emphasised the value of learning new skills from artists that you as a teacher might ‘use or adapt’ and the value of an experience which enables a teacher to realise their own creativity, to discover ‘skills that you weren’t aware you had’. Both emphasised the importance of a partnership between artists and teachers as artists could not be expected to teach. The head of drama spoke of herself as the ‘disciplinarian’ who should enable the artists ‘to be natural’. She recognised the ‘importance of having someone different come in’ to boost students’ confidence as their professionalism and outsider status can add an extra validity to praise, ‘because we [teachers can seem] a bit mundane’.

This latter point was echoed by the head teacher who recognised the value of students working with ‘other significant adults’ both for ‘their expertise’ and for the ‘different perspective’ they bring to schools, which enables them to ‘open up ..ideas and minds’. These views echoes the research in this field (e.g. Macdonald 1982; Sharp and Dust 1997) which identifies the value of an expert to raise the interest in learning and the value of an outsider to offer a bridge between the world of school and the outside professional arts world. He suggested that ‘the teaching comes out of the collaboration’ so that the students ‘are being taught but they don’t know it.’

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He was also of the opinion that the expertise of the artists must generate ‘ the [performance] outcomes … of a higher quality and higher standard’.

Students in the first year expected that the artists would teach them new skills and also improve existing skills because they ‘are more experienced’. One student recognised the potential for reinventing themselves: ‘they don’t know what you’re like so you can, you can be a different person for them’ which prompted another to recognise how the artists might help them to discover ability, ‘they’ll find out what you’re best at’. Most thought the project would improve their confidence and they relished the opportunity to spend more time doing drama. Some boys were anxious about the prospect of doing movement work which they described as ‘dance’ or of working in ‘weird’ forms which were different, although child I, an influential student, recognised that this attitude might change as they worked with the artists.Students in the second year of the project had some knowledge of the artists work through seeing the performance work of the previous year group and through experiencing a taster session led by the previous year group. They echoed many of the former points but emphasised the expectation of a mix of ‘fun’ and ‘hard work’, ‘physical work’ .

Both companies echoed an understanding of the potential of their outsider role to provoke ‘new understandings’, ‘liberated’ from the constraints of the teacher role. Triangle promoted the engagement of the drama teacher in the work, supporting an ethos of value and respect for the work, the space and student contributions. Highly Sprung were entirely comfortable with the drama teacher as an ‘onlooker’ as they considered the teacher’s involvement inhibits students and works against the sense of equality that they seek to generate. Both welcomed the presence and, if necessary, the judicious support of the teacher in maintaining discipline, but preferred to achieve this through the discipline of their way of working.

5.1.4 The Theatre companies: Triangle Theatre

Formed in 1988 by Carran Waterfield, Triangle has gained a reputation for cutting edge theatre which draws upon both personal stories and culturally held ones. Her work relies upon ‘a multi-disciplinary performer centred orchestration of the elements of visual, aural and dynamic expression.’xi Waterfield has trained with Eugenio Barba and Odin Teatret and has achieved acclaim both home and abroad since 1991 ( Best Actress, International Festival of Experimental Theatre, Russia; Fringe First for her solo show ‘The Dig’, 1992). In recent years, with Richard Talbot, Waterfield has initiated Nina and Frederick, two eccentric theatrical wannabe roles which have introduced a lighter side to the company’s profile.

Waterfield has worked in Theatre-in Education, as a social worker and a teacher of English and drama. She founded Bare Essentials Youth Theatre and directed its work for twelve years. Waterfield is also a practiced workshop leader in schools and other youth contexts. Regionally Triangle has earned a reputation for quality education work and receives funding from Coventry City Heritage Museums and Galleries and from Arts Council West Midlands.

Like Trading Faces Triangle’s work with young people, reflects the process of the professional company. They seek to ensure that the work of young people is ‘given the same attention and professional commitment as the company’s main work.’xii In both contexts alike, taking risks and pushing boundaries are an important facet of the creative process. The space in which work takes place becomes part of the work,

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‘Both the concrete qualities and the less tangible atmosphere of a space will influence the nature of the creative process.’ xiii Found objects, accidental and spontaneous elements all inform the work that is made with young people.

When ‘Dramatic Effect’ began, Waterfield and Talbot had just returned from an intensive training in voice and physicality with fellow performers in their field. The project marked a consolidation of a recent preference for long-term work in informal education contexts. Currently their work with young people occurs through out of schools hours projects with ‘The Little Herberts’ based at the Herbert Arts Gallery Coventry.

Highly Sprung

Highly Sprung is a young company, formed by fellow dance and drama performers Sarah Hunt, Mark Worth, Jenny Smith and Bob Pitchford whilst studying at Coventry University. The company aims ‘to create new and innovative work that explores the relationship between dance, text and physical theatre as an integral part of its devising process’. They seek ‘to test and expand the use of movement and text’ and create ‘a style of performance that conveys a narrative, a journey of emotion, through movement that speaks and a text that moves’. Their most recent performance piece (Unspoken Echoes 2002) is the first to use a script commissioned from a playwright but still is largely company devised during the rehearsal period. They have created seven text-based performance pieces and are currently developing more fully devised material.

Since its inception the company has been engaged in education work, running workshops to support performances, leading peer teaching on theatre-in-health education programmes and working in primary and secondary schools in Coventry developing drama both within and beyond the curriculum. They recently extended their work through Coventry Performing Arts to leading Saturday workshops in drama, dance and voice in collaboration with other local artists.

Like Trading Faces, Highly Sprung place ‘a strong emphasis upon work as an ensemble’ and upon skill acquisition through games in order to ‘develop the physical confidence of an individual’ and enable them to ‘look beyond their self-perceived limitations’. During games and improvisations they use music as a motivating and energising discipline. Work with young people can be skill or issue-led and frequently draws upon theatre or other texts. Their working method is both playful and disciplined, fuelled by sheer energy. The company makes good use of their cultural proximity to young people balancing this advantage well with strong modelling of professional behaviour in devising and rehearsing for performance.

5.1.5 Project Aims Smithswood's aim was

‘to improve self-esteem, personal and social development throughout the school and specifically … higher attainment in GCSE drama.’

Therefore, although there is a close relationship with Purpleheath’s aims, there was a greater emphasis here upon ‘strengthening the transition between Key stage 3 and GCSE Drama’.

Specifically the school’s project objectives were to

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Create and sustain theatre culture through year group mentoring using Drama Skills and process gained through the residency

Provide students with the opportunities to experience and enhance present drama skills and widen knowledge and use of drama forms

Link with professional artists to raise standards achieved by GCSE drama students.

Create success within the project, which will lead to a positive effect in areas of low motivation

The head teacher at Brown’s Coppice had been instrumental in fostering the initial ideas for the project and thus had a particular commitment to it. He expressed a view of the project as ‘another kick start to our Arts Strategy which puts the expressive and performing arts in a much higher profile’ . This is echoed in the school’s proposal paper which states that, ‘the scale of the project will support whole school development, despite only a small percentage of the students having full access to the artists work directly’

5.1.6 Expected outcomes All staff interviewed expressed similar expectations for the project. The head teacher expected them ‘to know a whole lot more about working as a group: collaboration, negotiation, problem solving, taking responsibility’. The heads of drama and Art suggested that they might ‘support each other a bit more’ and ideally get to a point ‘when you don’t have that classic line ‘’I’m not working with him!’’‘. The head teacher spoke of ‘large numbers of boys’ who are ‘low level disrupters’ whose behaviour might be challenged if they were able to celebrate their drama work, ‘something that they are very good at, in fact excellent at’ and thus make ‘staff to see that they have a side to them which is not about competing or shouting’, and that even ‘some of their peers [might] look at them in a different way’. The head of drama wanted other staff and students to see ‘what they can do .. because in drama they’re just smashing’ . Through such recognition, they hoped students would feel ‘I’m good at this’ and ‘really start .. buzzing about being able to do that instead of going ‘’I’m not too sure’’ ‘. The experience might thereby boost self esteem, ‘raise aspirations’ and ‘motivation’ so that students might think ’If I can do it in this, I can do it in something else’. The selection of students in year two reflected this aim, see below (5.3). These staff all saw the project as a ‘significant personal, professional developmental opportunity’ for the head of Drama. She welcomed the opportunity to work with a new form of theatre, very unlike her own and to find out about a new drama form. She considered that ‘from the outside you can begin to see what structures need to be in place’.

Artists spoke of students as ‘a company’ and echoed an expectation that the work would develop ‘group cohesion’. Triangle spoke of the work initiating a ’shift in how they are with each other and with the material’ which they would initially see as ‘weird’ but eventually be ‘proud of’. They suggested that the process might ’help them confront things’ and ‘run a few risks’ all of which would enable them to ‘discover more about themselves .. about their own strengths’ and thus build ‘self-esteem’. Highly Sprung echoed this purpose exactly, but considered that this happened solely through the physicality of the work, rather than the ritualistic psycho-physicality that characterised Triangle’s work. They considered that their emphasis upon physical and ensemble work would enable students to ‘become more physically confident and gain more confidence about their own presence’. They considered that the energy of their style of work would stimulate students’ engagement and increased value for

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drama. They spoke of providing students with a ‘toolkit’ of skills and processes which ‘they can apply’ to their existing knowledge of drama and which will inform the way they develop idea and make theatre in the future. Both companies emphasised an intention for students ‘to experience something’ rather than to plan for them to ‘learn something’. They spoke of the students as ‘a company’.

Students echoed the expectation of ‘learn[ing] new skills’ and saw the value beyond enhancing the quality of their drama in helping them ‘work more as a team’ and ‘give us confidence’. They considered that the working environment would be ‘more relaxed’. Most students in both years were looking forward to the prospect of performance

5.2 Selection of students

In both years the students were selected from those who had opted for drama at key stage 4.

In year one the project sought to initiate the group of 19 students who had opted to do Drama at GCSE. The group contained a wide spread of maturity and ability. It reflected a typical drama GCSE group at this school with 70% boys, where the choice of drama for GCSE mixed enjoyment with avoidance of more formally taught subjects where writing dominates. In the group were a handful of more physically mature boys led by one character able to control the group and the year. Key stage 3 teacher assessments for these students suggest a slightly lower achievement than typical in the school, with 26% identified as level 5 or above in the core subjects. Student attendance from September to June for these students was 75% (with the lowest being 51%) compared with just below 90% for the school. Almost 74% of these students were in receipt of free school meals– considerably higher than the whole school profile of almost 50% at this time. The teacher profiles for these students suggested a range of abilities and personalities in the group. Two boys had limited experience of drama, one due to absenteeism, the other due to learning support sessions. Boys were frequently noted as easily distracted, finding difficulty to settle to work. A number of the girls lacked confidence to assert their ideas. Some boys were also in this category. A small number of boys were identified as ‘able and interested’ in drama.

For the study three students were identified jointly by the Head of Drama and Head of Art as examples of the typical range of student population at Brown’s Coppice.

Child N was an immature boy, attention-seeking, from a difficult family context and a little dislocated from a natural peer group. This child had the highest record of 97% attendance record. He was in receipt of free school meals. Teacher assessments at key stage three were mostly level 4s, with occasional level 5s, in core and other subjects. Assessment profiles from all his teachers suggested a needy child, who demands reassurance to sustain himself in work and has difficulty in working constructively with others. In drama, he found group work especially challenging.

Child O was a girl with typically positive attitudes to school, of slightly above average ability for the school. She had a 91% attendance record and was graded mostly level 5s in teacher assessments in core subjects. Assessment profiles from all her teachers suggested she is typically a hard-working student, who is occasionally distracted and would be more focused if she felt more confident in her abilities.

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Child I had a 95 % attendance record and was in receipt of free school meals. His teacher assessments at key stage three spread across a range from one level 2 to two level 6s, with virtually the same range in core subjects. The impression generated by his set of assessment profiles, both grades and comments was of an able student who applies himself variously depending upon level of interest, an impression supported by teacher comments. Amongst his peer group, the more mature looking boys in the year group, he is confident, often dominant and can be aggressive and attention-seeking. In drama he is an especially talented performer.

In the second year of the project, 60 students opted for drama and thus the project could no longer be used to create one single GCSE group. The profile of drama in the school had increased, due to a year with a new, strong drama teacher an the Head of Drama, the resurgence after a significant break of whole school productions and an improved environment in the new performing arts block. A selection was made of 20 students most of whom were considered to be lacking in confidence, possibly through poor levels of achievement and who might possibly be on the verge of disaffection. They were ‘students who never put anything forward in lessons because of not always feeling secure’ alongside more confident students. It was anticipated that an experience of achieving and becoming confident in their abilities might draw them into a positive and learning culture in drama and beyond. Some good ‘role’ model students who were confident but also generous and supportive were selected to raise the standard and help generate an effective group dynamic. High risk individual students were not selected as a potential destabilising influence. The group for the project were 11 girls, 9 boys. Many of the students had not worked together beforeKey stage 2 National Curriculum tests for these students identify 20% at level 4 or above in the core subjects, with slight improvement at KS3, still below the average for the school. Student attendance from September to June for these students was 93% compared with just below 90% for the school. ??% of these students are in receipt of free school meals.

Child Q had an average attendance record for the school of 92%, is in receipt of free school meals and has an average of level 5 in his teacher assessments in core subjects. Academically he is stronger in mathematical and scientific subjects and weaker in written ones such as English where he often demonstrated disruptive behaviour. He is a confident character but usually respectful. He was noted as a ‘district standard’ football player. He was selected by the drama teacher as an example of the large group of confident and able drama students who were often found intimidating by less confident but potentially able students. He is a generous team player who could be relied upon to support others.

Child R had a higher than average attendance record and was considered to be at level 4 in the core subjects, from teacher assessments, his literacy levels especially being weak. He is hard-working and polite but a number of teachers noted lack of confidence, withdrawn behaviour or poor/overreaction reaction to being corrected. He has permission to stay indoors over lunch-time because he tends to be bullied by others. The drama teacher described him a gentle natured child who finds it difficult to be involved.

Like child R, Child S also lacks confidence. In the core subjects her achievement is consistently at level 4 by teacher assessments. All teachers considered her ability to be average for the school but some teachers noted

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either withdrawn behaviour or weaker interpersonal skills. Her attendance record is poor, certainly below average for the school.

Child T is a hard-working student with a good attendance record. She was noted in a number of subjects for ‘increased effort and interest’. Teacher assessments indicate a level 4/5 in her core subjects. She is described as an ‘excellent student’ who ‘struggles at times but gives 100% effort’. Again an able gregarious and supportive character in drama, she was selected for the project as a role model and facilitator for less confident students.

5.3 Process and activities

Some of the exercises used by Triangle and Highly Sprung were similar but their working methods are very different.

TriangleTriangle spoke immediately to students as ‘a company’, demanding the serious attitudes of performers, preparing them for a ‘journey’ into the ‘unknown’. Work began immediately. This is a taste of that process:Carran asks students to lie on the floor and close their eyes as she spoke. Few are able to maintain this discipline. She invites students to become aware of their own bodies, the environment and spoke of students ‘taking risks’, ‘going to the edge’, of the work not being ‘known’ yet. Some boys laugh in surprise. The first exercise is a whole group movement improvisation in which students are invited to explore the space, experimenting with different rules. ‘What would happen if you were to run? / stop? / smile? / use the centre? / work alone? How daring can you be? ’ Sometimes music is added to encourage particular attitudes. Carran praises risk-takers; Richard enters the work on occasion to support different ideas. Sometimes students laugh nervously and Carran encourages the use of such spontaneous sounds as part of the performance text.

Next she sets up an exercise in pairs with bamboo sticks. She suggests that students need to use ‘a soft energy’ holding the sticks between the palms of each partner with the slightest pressure. First they are gently to move the sticks in the air, next add walking around the space, then with eyes closed and eventually continuing after the sticks have been removed, imagining the sticks. All of the selected students engage in this initially, with child H unable to keep her eyes closed, child I losing concentration as the exercise develops and child G apparently engaged throughout. Afterwards students are invited to tell the artists how they felt about the work and comment how the work was ‘relaxing’ and that it was ‘important to trust.’

As the day progresses students are invited through exercises which are sometimes separate and sometimes develop into rule-bound but context-free improvisations, to ‘follow your own dream’. Although music is used in the earlier stages of the work, it is increasingly withdrawn as a "prop" as the work progresses leaving the participants responsible for generating the creative energy that would feed the work as it unfolded. The students are encouraged to experiment and take physical risks. Some students work as doers, often following a leader, some as watchers whose task is to identify possible meanings to the work which they can re-visit, develop and craft. This division of roles becomes central to the way of generating material, as the group are encouraged to make meanings and develop ideas which then feed into the improvisations.

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The teacher is engaged for most of the morning at a desk, half watching, half engaged in administrative duties which require a stream of students to come in and out of the space. The sense of audience, of which researchers are a part, emphasises the vulnerability of the young people. The noise of building work is also intrusive. By the afternoon the teacher is more engaged alongside watchers encouraging students and trying to control the increasing undercurrent of critical comments which are developing. Some students feel that they are ‘not doing any acting’. Notebooks reveal both fascination about the way of working and confusion about purpose.

By the third day of the project students are developing a real sense of ensemble, confidence and fluidity in the physical work. If they are aware of this progress, it is not consciously articulated and they express dissatisfaction and boredom. The teacher feels the need to intervene and address poor behaviour. The students challenge the company to allow them ‘to do acting’ and ‘make a play’ instead of ‘all this movement work’. As this complaint emerges, the work is just developing a narrative and characters: tribal conflict over a princess. Students are developing a sense of having accomplished something. Carran records their work in key phrases, such as ‘The princess is taken’ .. ‘we travel to the secret place’. Their improvisations reveal explicit factions within the group: the more physically mature boys, the less physically mature boys and the girls.

Tensions between artists, students and school grew so much that the company decided to withdraw from the project at the end of the fourth day.

Highly Sprung

Highly Sprung were launched into the project with minimal preparation time or any opportunity to meet partners for consultation. E-mails and phone calls communicated the project aims and the school’s objectives to the company. Their brief, in essence, was to boost students’ confidence and help them to make a performance piece.

The combined constraints of making a performance in four days and ensuring the objective aims for the students were addressed, shaped the way in which the artists constructed the performance material with students. Most sections of the performance piece were planned or choreographed by the artists. Students’ creative investment in the work could be defined as their personal responses to physical directions such as choosing a gesture / choosing and showing an attitude or by choosing a short phrase to describe ‘what job you would most like to have’ the wish you would most like to come true’, ‘yourself’, ‘your worst habit’. The piece overall was conceived by the artists to express and perhaps explore a group identity and that of an individual within a group. However the choices the artists made about the sections of the performance piece were developed after finding ‘something that they really respond to .. that they can connect with’ such as this group’s desire to perform dance and their pleasure in knowing and liking the particular music this dance work was set to.

Games figured strongly in ensuring students had fun and were especially important to foster and release the kinds of energies required by the discipline of shaping and rehearsing a choreographed performance piece. Ensemble games were selected to develop cooperation and trust within the group, games such as ‘one voice’, ‘one to ten’, ‘fight in the dark’, ‘zombie’, ‘cat and mouse’ or exercises like group walk or trust

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falls. Team games such as ‘king ball’ and ‘relay races’ were also used. This group found games requiring sensory awareness of others or which ‘demanded them to behave in contrast to their personality’ especially challenging as these made them feel ‘vulnerable and inhibited’. High-energy, competitive games were most successful and the company decided in this context to work with successful strategies rather than challenge students. Rotation of company members as workshop leaders helped maintain the interest levels of participants. Over the course of the week the group worked with two from Sarah, Jenny, Anna and Mark each day maintaining one known person and introducing one new. Sarah, in her directorial role oversaw the planning and shaping of the project.

On the first morning Sarah and Jenny began tentatively with a ball throwing name game and continued with playful games such as a ‘hat and scarf relay race’ and ‘fight in the dark’ which allowed the company to develop a sense of the group. Students were a little cautious, appearing relieved about the playful, lighter tone, but perhaps also slightly sceptical about the skill and expertise of two young women. The emphasis upon games might have implied, to students who have no experience of theatre games that working with this company is less about ‘skill’.

Mid morning discussions about expectations for the week, where Highly Sprung’s work is described as ‘physical theatre’ or ‘dance-theatre’, revealed an unexpected interest in dance. Both teacher and company were surprised, but students were keen to see the kind of dance Highly Sprung do and to learn some. Plans were altered and instead the group was taught a choreographed sequence to the theme tune of ‘The Matrix’, a sequence used as a company warm-up. The work was taught sometimes to the whole group, half group or, as confidence grew and space required it, to small groups. Sarah and Jenny offered numerous alternatives to ensure the students could do the moves and gain a sense of success. On every occasion they worked with the students, demonstrating and coaching, constantly giving positive feedback. ‘You break it down, show them how easy each little part is, then it makes them feel ‘’Oh I can do that!’’ ‘. Only after students had mastered the moves in sequences did they add music which required an increase in the pace of movements.

In the afternoon and in other sessions they worked on movement improvisations developing ensemble work, exploring the idea of operating as one in a gang, of expressing group power. The focus was legitimised by its connection to ‘The Matrix’, but artists were aware of a dominant group within the bigger group and were keen to ‘make everyone equal’. The artists sought to use the performance material to develop every student’s experience of feeling powerful within a group and to improve their playing of a powerful role. This notion was approached in different ways through games and improvisations throughout the week and was articulated also in the final performance piece. At one moment child N was the last person in the main performance space and the last voice in a sequence, saying his chosen phrase, ‘a bit of a nut-case’. Some students smirked amused by the idea of the visual and spoken image of child N, but theatrically his position as a solo performer for a moment generated a status for him. Here and the final image ‘smaller’ boys are re-framed into strong performers so that, for a moment in the performance at least, the dominant peer power of the physically mature boys is contested. On a number of occasions the company used the same exercises as Triangle had, such as ensemble walks, or following a leader creating a group identity. Students showed some ease with the work, but did not express any recognition. Such improvisations were not as sustained or ritualistic in feel as with Triangle.

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The group’s favourite game was king-ball. In this game students worked in two teams in each half of the room. The aim is to hit opponents below the waist with a soft ball. If someone is hit they go to ‘prison’, which is a line behind their opponent’s half. They can earn their way back into the game if a team member throws the ball to them, over the head of their opponents and they catch it. The winning team is the one to have surviving members at play. The game is played to energising music and with artists engaged in the play encouraging and guiding strategy. On most occasions the artists controlled team membership, spreading particularly the dominant and stronger boys so that success had to be earned by team support, throwing to team players to get them back in the game rather than playing individually to show one’s ability to get opponents out. As students realised this, interest in engaging in playing increased. This game was played repeatedly throughout the week upon the insistence of the students.

The performance was played on Thursday after school to an invited audience of friends, family and staff and then again on the Friday afternoon to year 6 students from feeder schools.

In the weeks immediately after the project, individual students were invited to teach the games to their peers as part of drama lessons. In the Autumn term following, Highly Sprung were invited to return to the school and train the group as a whole to teach a session to the new year 9 students, many of whom it was expected would opt for drama and possibly be in the year two project. They discussed and planned for the use of games for particular purposes. They considered the practicalities of how to organise and sequence games and how they might build to generate performance material. In pairs they were given leadership responsibility for a section of the session and planned how to explain, demonstrate and support students.

5.4 Expectations, Achievements and effects

In year one students’ attendance for the project was recorded at 97% as opposed to 75% for the year up to this point. In year two attendance was 99.5%, the absence being Child L for two days.

5.4.1 The Triangle experience

This project was plagued by the lack of understanding of each partner’s context, needs and ways of working. The school, artists and facilitators might have been more pro-active in communicating better on these topics. Differences, which had not been articulated or explored, were at the core of the breakdown of the project. Teacher and artist roles, needs and expectations were inadequately explored. The challenge of the cultural difference of the performers’ work from the student’s prior experience was inadequately prepared for. Again the opportunity to see the artists as performers in advance of the project was not realised. Developments in the work of the artists which had shifted their practice from that known to the agents who had recommended them to the LEA were not communicated, possibly, not even fully realised by the artists themselves until the project had begun.

The experience and legacy of students’ work with Triangle was keenly felt. Students had shifted between feeling mystified by the ‘unknown’ context-less structure, the perceived lack of guidance and feedback and being excited by this new way of work. They had found the ethos ‘don’t think about it, just do it’ very liberating. Child O

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wrote ‘It’s weird how little exercises we do turn into some pieces of actual drama ..This is different .. but also exciting’. Child N recorded ‘I have learnt movement, focus and trusting other people and relying on my senses to guide me round obstacles’. Child N appeared released by the creative process which the artists commended. Students were able to confidently explain to Highly Sprung that the work they had done was both physical and psychological. They recognised that experiencing this way of working had given them more confidence to take risks, try new things, work physically. Certainly the readiness with which they worked physically and as an ensemble with Highly Sprung was significantly informed by the experience of Triangle’s working process.

However students felt their achievements had been negated. Child P complained that they were ‘under pressure to do it right but we didn’t know what the right way is’. They considered that they had ‘been pushed too far’, that the artists’ expectations ‘were unreasonable’ (Child O) and they had not allowed for the fact that the students were learners and new to this kind of work. Many considered the theatre form ‘too different’. Many spoke of the work as ‘boring’. Child P found difficulty in sustaining focus with this style of work. His physical improvisations were always with his peer group of physically more mature boys. As a watcher he was rarely focused, often chatting. The drama teacher noted ‘lack of pace and variety’ which fed a culture of subversive antipathy and manifest itself in absenteeism, poor punctuality and critical comments. She felt that some of the more able students, child P especially, had been negatively affected by the experience. Despite the experience of working with Highly Sprung and subsequent encouraging drama teaching, she felt she had not been able to alter the effect of ‘so many put downs’ and the altered relationship with her having been positioned as an ally of the artists, ‘nagging’ about behaviour.

The artists considered that inadequate thought, consultation and preparation had taken place with all partners, researchers included, before the project. This resulted in an unfocused working environment which was eventually unsatisfactory. Certainly the intrusion of constant interruptions and building work were problematic.

5.4.2 The Highly Sprung experience

The Head of Drama spoke of the ‘big impact’ the project had within the school because the dominant boys, who were seen within the whole year and below as ‘macho’ and powerful, had done dance. Suddenly doing drama and especially physical work in drama itself was desirable. The project made a significant contribution to the longer term objective to develop the status and positive effects of drama within the school and came at a time when the new Head of drama was just becoming known, trusted and valued by students, when seeing and taking part in performance work was becoming more naturalised and when the environment for drama was being significantly improved through the building of the new performing arts block.

The school maximised the potential impact of this project. They celebrated the achievements of the project by asking the group to perform again for other audiences, such as in different year assemblies, at an open evening and at a performing arts evening. They also performed the following autumn at the Arts Centre, Solihull before Highly Sprung’s performance, ‘Spoken Echoes’. The whole school community became aware of the students’ achievements, which in turn fed their sense of pride and boosted their self-esteem. The Head of drama supported the profile of the performance by drawing upon Highly Sprung’s process in her teaching so that the impact of the project infiltrated the school.

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The drama teacher and company both described the students’ performance, as a ‘real achievement’ because ‘they’re all working together and supporting each other’. The company cited an example of this occurring on the final day when ‘ they were willing to go through the dances again and again just so this one person could get it right’. They felt they had achieved their goal to create ‘a group identity’ and enable them to feel ‘pride as a group and a sense of trust’. Students like child P demonstrated the ability to be supportive of less able performers. A number of students, including child O had willingly explored working with others from different sub-groups. Child N had been able to sustain the increasing self –esteem evident in the work with Triangle. Whilst emotional moments occurred in both weeks of tears, these were progressively reduced and his gang leadership finale was executed with conviction with full support from his peers. He became more involved and self assured in subsequent drama lessons.

Student’s enjoyment of the physicality of the form had apparently been central. All end of project questionnaires spoke of the importance of ‘fun’. Many had enjoyed mastering a choreographed dance and learning skills of physical performance - a new kind of drama for them. The company were also pleased about the production quality of the performance; ‘they applied everything that we had taught them’ and become familiar with using and responding to subject-specific vocabulary like ‘focus’.

The opportunity of the project to develop peer teaching developed students’ further. They understood the dynamic and often the value of the games, but in discussion they focused upon the challenge of planning to teach together which was recognised by the group as a ‘real test’ of their ability to support and cooperate. They asserted with pleasure ‘we know we can work with each other’. They had reflected upon the aspects of the project that they had valued, such as being treated like equals and sought to create the same relationship with the year 9s, not to assert any dominance of seniority. They had planned to be calm and not shout, to support each other if anyone forgot something or got confused. As some students commented ‘none of us argued or anything’, ‘we were more grown-up’.

Although Highly Sprung were unable to be part of a longer planning process, this was, in a number of ways, highly fortuitous. Firstly their youth, energy and more accessible theatre form provided a welcome contrast for the students to Triangle . Secondly they were also able to draw upon the training Triangle had given. Thirdly, due to their youth and their relative inexperience in making performance work in schools they had not had the opportunity to reflect upon their process. They would not have been able to represent their work effectively to the LEA and thus be engaged for the project. For the artists this project has been their steepest learning curve yet in education work. They leapt at the opportunity both to do the project and to fully engage in the action-research elements, which have stimulated developments in their practice.

The support of the Inspector in planning for the project was considered very valuable. The proforma for the sequence of tasks, dates and action was useful in modelling how to organise such projects. After year one the teachers involved considered the demands of organising the project to be much reduced. However this was due to their knowledge of the artists and what was expected of their role in relation to the artists and teachers pointed to the need for opportunities to see the artists’ work and experience their process.

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5.5 Areas for development

The level of preparedness of the partners and especially the school was crucial to maximising the impact of the project. Lack of information about Triangle’s ways of working had created difficulties in the teacher knowing how to prepare students for the project. In year two with Highly Sprung this was radically different. A dialogue had begun so that artists and teachers could share ideas, advise and support each other.

In neither year did students see the artists as performers before the project which meant that they had to work hard to earn the respect and belief from students. It also meant that students had no reference point to understand what physical theatre might be like. This was a significant difficulty for the artists in terms of the extending the scope of student’s aspirations and creative possibility through the theatre form.

The artists recognised and that their achievement in promoting inclusion was limited to the context of the performance. The peer culture had not been significantly affected by the project. During the week they had needed to implement strategies to challenge sub-group divisions and dominance. On one occasion when, accidentally, the dominant boys were not spread, the rest of the group quickly lost interest in playing competitively, exhibiting classic poor self-esteem behaviour where people protect themselves from accusations of failure by obviously not making any effort (Covington). In order to ensure that ‘they feel successful’ the artists had not challenged the hierarchy in the group to the level that they might which they considered would have required ‘a longer term project’.

Highly Sprung invited and responded to numerous suggestions about their practice. The difference and disturbance of artists was invited and celebrated but, there were some tensions when artists behaved in direct contradiction to good classroom practice. There was scope for exchange of practice between artists and teachers. Contracting and active role research methods suitable for students tend to be strengths of drama teachers, but not necessarily of artists and might have been developed by peer artist-teacher training sessions in advance of the project.

Likewise the head of drama was keen to emphasise her need to learn about the work of theatre companies through showcases, workshops for teachers where teachers can gain a sense of the way of working and consider how this might work for their students.

5.6 Changes in year 2

The head of drama explained that amongst the 60 students who had opted for drama, there were 14 or so who were ‘high risk’ disrupters, plus a core of confident able students. Between these two groups were a core of students who suffered from poor confidence and who might really benefit from an opportunity to achieve and build self esteem in ‘a working environment in which they’re able to push forward’. The selection in year two then was an attempt to ‘level the playing field’ for the central core of the incoming GCSE students. Students were asked to complete a questionnaire asking them about what they enjoyed and expected from drama and why they might like to be in the project. This supported the drama teacher in her selection. Her experience of year one had also been that working with the full range of ability had not been effective for all students. Whilst for students like Child G the experience had given an impetus to his development, more able students like child I

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had not recovered from having his self-esteem damaged in one of the few subjects he excelled in.

This was a two week project. Week one focused upon working supportively as a group and exploring ways of working and skills. The second week focused upon generating and shaping performance material. The artists and teacher had agreed that the project would be about living on an estate – the experience of all students. Stimulus material included the Damilola Taylor and ‘the untouchables’ story, accounts of Jubilee street parties and extracts from Jim Cartwright’s Road.

In the second year the company gave a short work demonstration of their own dance and physical theatre work. Then, using company members, they showed students how they might apply different rules of physical movement to a scenario to develop improvisation and explore possible meanings. The instructions might initially be precise actions, and later become about the tempo or attitude to explore. Different types of music might also be layered over it. Students in small groups using the same starting point then undertook some of this process. This was an invaluable means of enabling students to ‘get it’ and understand what physical theatre might be like. i Key skills such as communication, working with others, improving own learning and performance and problem solving were areas that it was anticipated Dramatic Effect might address.ii E.g. ‘Motivation and self esteem are crucial factors in raising standards and achievement’ (NACCCE p.58); ‘Self-esteem in one area can stimulate self-esteem and encourage success in others.’ (ibid). iii ‘We need a broad, flexible, and motivating education that recognises the different talents of all children and delivers excellence for everyone’ (White Paper 1997)iv ‘ Self-worth theory assumes that the search for self acceptance is the highest human priority’ (Covington p.78); ‘High self-esteem is associated with a positive life view’ (Huskins p.49)v Examples of programmes funded by such initiatives in these schools include mentoring students from the neighbouring primary school in reading, buddying schemes and performance opportunities. These relate to NACCCE recommendations: ‘One effective solution to [truancy and disaffection] is to develop active forms of learning which engage young people’s creative energies’ (NACCCE summary p.4). vi Editorial introduction to 'Identity - Even if it is a Fantasy': the Work of Carran Waterfield by Jo Trowsdale, [NQT Vol 51 No 13 1996]vii www.triangletheatre.co.uk viii Ibidix According to Sternberg’s theory this project engages students with a number of different thinking styles. In the early parts of the project, artists sought to foster ‘anarchic’ thinking where new possibilities might emerge and to negotiate these ideas in ‘oligarchic’ ways, drawing multiple voices in to create material. In the latter stages where shaping and rehearsing the performance material became a priority, artists modelled more ‘monarchic’ and ‘hierarchic’ thinking. Whilst this created tensions at times with some students who resented the shift from a more fluid, creative this is a vital aspect in the development of thinking styles because learners have to be pushed outside their ‘comfort zone’ and towards an independent ‘self-government’ of thinking, so that it fits the purpose.x Artists demonstrated behaviour identified in this text Barrow et al (2001) as:

‘structuring’ (firm and inspiring, empowering, clear limits are set), ‘nurturing’ (encouraging, empathetic, accepting, understanding) and ‘spontaneous’ (playful, energetic, creative, vital, motivated, curious)

xi Editorial introduction to 'Identity - Even if it is a Fantasy': the Work of Carran Waterfield by Jo Trowsdale, [NQT Vol 51 No 13 1996]xii www.triangletheatre.co.uk xiii Ibid

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Highly Sprung began the project by negotiating a contract with the students about the behaviour they might expect of each other and these were written up and posted on the studio walls throughout the project. In addition to individual notebooks, students wrote a collaborative ‘record’ of the work on large sheets of paper which again was posted on the walls and was referred back to in the process of making the work. Students wrote tips for themselves such as ‘listen and watch more’, ‘things look better when you do less’.

5.7 Similar/different and additional achievements and effects in year 2

The Head teacher spoke of the value of the project being the ‘self-confidence, self-respect, self-esteem and knowledge about their skills’ that students ‘didn’t have before or didn’t believe possible’. He noted that ‘the opportunity, for many of them, to be the centre of attention’ had had an ‘incalculable’ impact ‘in terms of raising their self esteem’. He considered that the project had enabled young people throughout the school to consider that ‘being creative .. artistry is something that we could all aspire to’. The project had been a significant player in developing the belief that ‘ for an increasing number of people, [that] drama is a positive choice’.

Students in both years spoke again of learning ‘different performance skills’ and of discovering that there are different ways of expressing ideas, ‘it can be a lot more physical’. The Head of drama had found working with artists an invaluable way of ‘enabling students to look at … understand and …use different theatre forms’. She talked of the recent curriculum changes in GCSE which had emphasised students learning theatre skills as part of making performance work and how in this changing context artists working in schools is valuable, not just for students but as training for teachers who see ‘how the work is broken down .. and then built up’. The kinaesthetic enjoyment of the physical form of the work was evident in all sessions. The use of dance as an expressive medium for articulating sub textual meanings was both new and exciting for the students. A number spoke of the importance of performance discipline: ‘focus’ and ‘concentration’ and had begun using subject specific vocabulary as a result of the project.

They also all valued learning ‘how to work with others, to work ‘without arguing’, ‘how to cooperate’. The Head of drama echoed this, commenting upon child Q and R working together ‘without moaning or arguing … just getting on with it’. In year two, students frequently worked with others they did not know, who were outside of their friendship groups and developed respectful and creative relationships. The artists noted that Child S had, in the last week of the project regularly ‘approached people to initiate ideas’ whereas before she had seemed very ‘closed’ to such an invitation. This was a particular achievement as she had been noticeably reticent on day one and then been absent for two days meaning that she was disadvantaged in terms of experience and confidence within the group at a crucial stage. Child R relished games which required team strategy, such as shuttle-ball as he could identify rules to guide positive behaviour. Most students, children Q,S and T included had, they felt, become ‘more open-minded about who they chose to work with’. One student in year one said that he had learnt ‘not to be so shy in front of popular people because we are all the same’. The year 2 group spoke more of developing ‘trust’ and ‘making new friends’ and especially valued the opportunity to work with ‘people who want to do [drama]’, ‘who don’t mess around’.

Students tended to feel that the project had been a creative experience, generating ‘new ideas about doing drama and stuff’. They felt ownership of the work even when

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they knew sections had been taught or directed. Especially in year two students suggested ‘you feel like you made it yourself’, its ours, we made it’,‘ we haven’t had the teachers tell us what to do’. In year two one large girl who in the early days had opted out of some physical work was paired for contact improvisation and lifting work with a very small boy who had been a bit diffident about drama at the outset. Together, they developed a particular physical sequence which was original from the models given and yet addressed the demands of expressing the real dynamic of a relationship physically. It used the natural weights and heights of each partner and was recognised by peers, teachers and observers alike as a creative and effective response to the task.

All enjoyed the different relationship with the artists where ‘you can talk to them different and have more of a laugh’. They enjoyed the ‘relaxed’ ethos where they ‘have fun’ . They especially valued the artists ‘giving us respect so we .. give them respect as well’ (child Q). The year 2 group suggested that negotiating a contract at the outset had given them ‘a choice’, a stake in a group enterprise. One student suggested that ‘they didn’t teach us’ , another that ‘They’ve showed us ..step by step’ a strategy that was valued both to enhance production values and inspire confidence.

The resounding importance of the project for students was that it ‘gives you confidence .. in drama … in your life’ Students who were taught in peer teaching sessions were generally impressed by the team work of the group and skills of the students to clearly explain the work. In year two, several commented especially upon the supportive involvement of the peer teachers to encourage students.

The head of drama valued the ‘compassion’ of the Highly Sprung artists who had ‘extremely good relationships with kids, quickly’, generated a ‘sense of fun’ which they had ‘manipulated’ to create a respect for the work and strong performance work ethos.

The best evidence of the value of the project has been the school’s decision to seek funding to engage Highly Sprung again in 2003. They have worked with year 9 students on a similar week long project and, through other funding for ‘Talented and Gifted students to work with the company. The school’s concern with using the project design annually is the amount of time other students are deprived of their specialist drama teaching. They have addressed this year by mixing some specialist and some non-specialist drama support.

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6 Ashstream and Highly Sprung 6.1 Project objectives and school context

6.1.1 The school

Ashstream school is in south Solihull, a relatively affluent area. It is considered a ‘very good school’ and ‘is oversubscribed’ (Ofsted 2003). Parents in the catchment area appear to consider the school second best to neighbouring, higher achieving schools. Unlike neighbouring schools, Ashstream takes students from over twenty feeder schools over a wide geographical area, almost a fifth from Birmingham. This has an impact upon the ease with which the school can generate a sense of community. For drama it affects the ability of students to stay for after school rehearsals if they have to travel by school bus.

Just over a third of students are on the special educational needs register, well above the national average – a legacy of a former special needs unit attached to the school. The number of students in receipt of free school meals is lower than the national average, but is rising. Just under a fifth of students are from ethnic minorities, but whilst the percentage of EAL students is high, most are fluent English speakers.

In national key stage 3 tests in the core subjects, 83% of students achieved level 5 or above compared to a national average of 64% in 2002. At key stage 4, in GCSE results 61% of students achieved grades A-C compared to a national average of 48%.

The Head teacher is personally and professionally committed to developing the arts. In recent years he was deputy head at another Solihull school which gained lottery arts funding for a theatre and has a developed provision for and understanding of the value of the arts.

During the project the school were in the final stages of submitting a bid for Arts College status which was awarded in September 2002. The most recent Ofsted report was completed in the months after the project, but most accurately reflects the context for the project. It states that the arts are considered ‘a major strength of the school. They effectively contribute to the students’ personal development, particularly in developing their creative thinking skills’. The arts are also recognised as significant in ‘helping students who have challenging behaviour problems to become more actively involved in the school …reflect upon the consequences of their behaviour ….[and] work more effectively as part of a team’ (Ofsted 2003)

6.1.2 Drama at Ashstream

Drama operates alongside dance, music and art and is taught in all years. The school runs a very successful GCSE Expressive Arts course which boasts a 100% entry and excellent pass rate (90%+). The choice of combined arts GCSE reflects a shared view of the arts as connected forms of expression. Staff spoke of beginning to develop a shared philosophy for their teaching.

All staff interviewed for the project (Head teacher, Head of Faculty and Head of Drama) professed personal experience and love of the arts in formative years. The arts staff involved in the project had both worked trained in their fields at progressive institutions where they had been encouraged to initiate and develop the kind of work

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that interested them. The drama teacher had worked with professional artists as a matter of course in his training. Both had worked as artists at some stage and had thus become confident in their own creativity and art-making processes and skills. Dance, also taught by a specialist with professional experience, was significant in complementing drama as a physical and devised art form.

The drama specialist, in charge of Performing Arts, had entered secondary drama teaching having trained to be a primary school teacher and leading a youth theatre group for a number of years. This profile for a drama teacher no doubt engendered a level of confidence in leading young people in making theatre and in developing the whole person. He spoke of the primary school teacher influences which caused him to ‘drown everything with positivity’. He is also school counsellor. The previous Ofsted report describes him as ‘skilled and knowledgeable’ and his teaching as ‘good or very good’. The application for arts college status echoes these points, celebrating a range of practice such as a strong curriculum base technical training for students, drama in citizenship and PSHE and indicates involvement in a number of initiatives.

Documentation for drama was sited within a whole arts faculty context. Drama at key stage three focuses upon ‘original and expressive performance work… using practical skills from the world of theatre’ , ‘media, video and ICT ’. It seeks to explore ‘personal, social and moral issues in a safe, respectful, secure and supportive environment’ using ‘group work’. The broad focus for each year of key stage year in sequence is ‘ways of working in drama’, ‘acting skills’ and ‘contemporary performance styles’ There is no mention of work with play scripts but the drama specialist describes his view of drama as ‘a broad church’. He describes a view of ‘personal development’ as the primary aim of drama, stating that whilst skills and expressivity are important, more important is the effect on individuals of ‘a team of people together.. sharing an experience.. purposeful, all with their different jobs’. The observed lesson echoes this thinking. A group of year 9 students were focused upon a whole group improvisation about party behaviour. Through drama interventions students were encouraged to consider how to prepare a convincing role and also to engage with their attitudes and feelings about the kinds of behaviour they were representing.

The Head of faculty, who led the project in the second year in the absence of a Head of Drama, had worked for a number of years in a school which sought to engage its disaffected students through community based negotiated arts activities. This had fostered his view of child-centred art-making which might release creativity and foster increased self esteem and self-expression. It also cemented a view of the arts as part of a community.

Arts staff had noticeably strong relationships with students. Students spoke informally to staff and openly demonstrated their ease and enjoyment of their relationships. Students, almost without exception enjoyed drama. Some cited ‘no writing’ or ‘no homework’ as the reasons, but most gave positive arguments such as, ‘it gives your mind a rest’, ‘it doesn’t feel like work’, ‘it’s active’, ‘creative’ or ‘it’s fun’. Some spoke of enjoying playing different roles. Most enjoyed performing and a number cited their particular teacher as the reason.

6.1.3 Expectations of artists

Ashstream arts staff had numerous experiences of working with professional artists: in dance, music, drama and art. In the year before the project the programme of arts projects in the faculty included seven projects with artists. Some were combined art-

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form projects such as that involving samba musicians and dancers, or Black Voice and Afro-Caribbean Exchange Dance Company. Some were specifically targeted in one art form and complemented the inclusive arts ethos such as street dance for boys. Specifically in relation to drama, students had just been involved in a Theatre in Education bullying project. As this range of programme suggests, the arts staff are committed to working with artists and were evidently open to offering different kinds of arts experiences to students. The use of professional artists in drama was possibly the least developed of the arts. This appeared to be due to the extensive youth and semi-professional experience of the drama specialist.

Students were typically enthused by the prospect of working with artists. Occasionally a student suggested that the security of the drama teacher was preferable.

All teachers were vocal about the value of students working with artists and demonstrated a developed understanding of their potential value. The Head teacher considered that students would ‘respond better’ because the artist is ‘a specialist within the field’ and has ‘more ‘kudos’. This was echoed by the drama specialist who also saw artists in schools as ‘putting kids directly in touch with what’s happening now in the arts providing a ‘real life context’. He also emphasised the value of artists’ passion and enthusiasm ‘about their particular way of working’ to inspire students.The Head of faculty spoke of the ‘different perspective’ that they bring to art-making in school and of the ‘different relationship’ they can form with young people.

The drama specialist considered that ‘successful artists in schools are good at managing groups. If you’ve all the time got to have a kind of teacher on the sidelines keeping order, you’re never going to get that magic that a quality process requires. ..The other hallmark of good artists is high expectations’.

All staff interviewed spoke of previous difficult experiences in working with artists. The head teacher emphasised the importance of advance planning, both organisation to cover simple health and safety requirements and dialogue between teachers and artists to ensure artists’ work is appropriately pitched and allows for progression in learning. He cited an example of artists who had ‘bored’ students by low level work which did not develop. The Head of Arts and the drama specialist spoke of artists who ‘haven’t had the right approach to dealing with kids in a mainstream school’ who had ‘inappropriate expectations of what’s possible’. Their concerns for the project was that artists’ methodologies would suit their school’s focus upon ‘working from kids’ own interests and experiences’. After the first project he reiterated these points saying ‘I want artists in school who understand education’.

Students expected that working with artists would enable them to learn new skills and on the basis of experience or reports about the company. They thought it would be ‘different physical stuff’. Some thought that artists would be freer because they were not bound by set curriculum frameworks and that they would get a chance ‘to experiment with different stuff’. A number thought it would just be like working with another teacher, possibly reflecting a view of their teacher as an artist. A few were looking forward to working with someone to whom they would not be known whereas with teachers ‘you do something wrong and then they remember that’.

Students were all looking forward to the intensive experience where they could ‘really develop something’. The prospect of performance was exciting, but the peer audience for many was very challenging.

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6.1.4 The theatre company; Highly Sprung

Highly Sprung is a young company, formed by fellow dance and drama performers Sarah Hunt, Mark Worth, Jenny Smith and Bob Pitchford whilst studying at Coventry University. The company aims ‘to create new and innovative work that explores the relationship between dance, text and physical theatre as an integral part of its devising process’. They seek ‘to test and expand the use of movement and text’ and create ‘a style of performance that conveys a narrative, a journey of emotion, through movement that speaks and a text that moves’. Their most recent performance piece (Unspoken Echoes 2002) is the first to use a script commissioned from a playwright but still is largely company devised during the rehearsal period. They have created seven text-based performance pieces and are currently developing more fully devised material.

Since its inception the company has been engaged in education work, running workshops to support performances, leading peer teaching on theatre-in-health education programmes and working in primary and secondary schools in Coventry developing drama both within and beyond the curriculum. They recently extended their work through Coventry Performing Arts to leading Saturday workshops in drama, dance and voice in collaboration with other local artists.

Like Trading Faces, Highly Sprung place ‘a strong emphasis upon work as an ensemble’ and upon skill acquisition through games in order to ‘develop the physical confidence of an individual’ and enable them to ‘look beyond their self-perceived limitations’. During games and improvisations they use music as a motivating and energising discipline. Work with young people can be skill- or issue-led and frequently draws upon theatre or other texts. Their working method is both playful and disciplined, fuelled by sheer energy. The company makes good use of their cultural proximity to young people balancing this advantage well with strong modelling of professional behaviour in devising and rehearsing for performance.

6.1.5 Project Aims and context

Ashstream’s reasons for engaging in this project were first encapsulated in a paper six pages long and tied at every step to their bid for arts college status. A second shortened version cited the following eleven aims:

To raise the profile of drama in the curriculum To promote drama as a way of working and raise awareness of drama as

a tool for leaning for non-arts-specialist teachers To enrich the Performing Arts curriculum To develop group cohesion fro a year 9 for group through close

involvement in the arts To develop students’ performance skills across the whole school and in

targeted groups To provide INSET to enable artist-led learning to support continuing

professional development of all arts based staff To devise and perform original dramatic work both in school and for

public audiences To add to our exciting community arts programme To provide new and meaningful opportunities to evaluate Drama in the

Curriculum and to work with the University of Warwick to support research in this area

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To support our arts college bid To explore a longer term partnership with a theatre company

But the main focus for the research urged by arts staff was upon the potential for such a project to support the arts faculty in addressing ‘the impact of the arts on inclusion and self-esteem’.

The head teacher who focused upon two key aims for the project. Firstly in line with the first point he hoped the project might provide evidence to persuade the whole staff about the value of the arts, for example to develop inclusive behaviour. Secondly he was concerned with whether skills and attitudes learned through the project might transfer across into any other curriculum context. Particularly he was concerned with creativity and thinking skills because, ‘ the most important part to me about the arts within schools is this creative side’.

From the longer document we could cite two particular aims for research: Impact upon school’s wider priorities, such as

Developing understanding of students’ learning stylesThinking skillsPersonal / social developmentDeveloping further links with cluster primary schools.

Address issue of inclusion or disaffection

6.1.6 Expected outcomes

The Head teacher had seen ‘real benefits for children working [in the arts] who seemed to be more confident and …have good self-esteem’ and expected that the project would reap such benefits for students. This expectation was shared by the Head of Arts and drama specialist who spoke of ‘an ideal outcome’ of discovering that the project ‘has had a massive impact on how these kids feel about their school, how they think about their education, how they think about themselves’, and this provides a ‘model of good practice’. Specifically the drama specialist expected that in year one, the project would ‘change their friendship groups’. He considered that these positive outcomes would occur because of the opportunity to work collaboratively with respected adults and with their peers. The experience of making a production might foster positive attitudes to work, following the example of committed artists who combine discipline and creativity. The drama specialist said ‘I hope to see some individual kids being enthralled by what they’ve been shown and picking that up and continuing it’. Becoming ‘more skilled’ was also noted as an expectation.

The arts staff considered that the project was an INSET opportunity ‘to reflect on practice by seeing somebody else’ and cited examples of having ‘ learnt something alongside the kids from the professional artists’ and then taking ‘a flavour of the work into other groups who haven’t directly experienced it.’

This school more than any other, was particularly interested in ‘an opportunity to study’ the impact of the arts more formally and hoped that the research elements of the project might act as ‘a kind of catalyst’ for developing arts practice within the faculty and the wider school. They welcomed the opportunity to compare practices with other schools. The drama specialist was active in exploring creative and appropriate ways to collect data following up this impetus. The interest of the Head teacher was on in the arts as a natural site for stimulating creativity. He hoped to find out ‘how we are developing the creativity and how we can measure that’. The Head

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of the Arts faculty was interested in the potential for exploring both ‘inclusion’ and ‘the nature of the relationship the school has with an artist’.

6.2 Selection of students

In the first week of year one Highly Sprung worked with around 450 key stage three students in lesson slots. They also led 3 dance classes for a year 10 group.

The drama specialist proposed that one particular year 9 form should do the performance week. The rationale for this was firstly to take a mixed ability form group, representative of the typical population of the school. But the form selected had a number of additional characteristics that made them of interest to arts staff for closer study. This group was racially diverse, a characteristic of the school which is not always reflected in form groups. It included a number of students considered by staff throughout the school to be challenging. A number of students in the group showed particular aptitudes for the performing arts and were involved with either drama or street dance extra-curricular sessions. They were also considered by their form tutor and staff who teach them as a form group to be difficult because they ‘haven’t seemed to have gelled’ as a form and ‘seem to bring out the worst in each other’.

The form comprised 30 students of equal gender balance. The average attendance for the year of this form group was 88%, below national averages. Most students’ attendance was above 95% but a few had figures in the low 80s and child N was an erratic attender. During the week of the project, there was 100% attendance.The number of students in this group who were predicted to achieve a level 5 or above in key stage three test (teacher assessments) in the core subjects was 74% which is above the national average of 64% but below the school’s average of 83%.

Three students were selected for the study to represent the population of the class.Child U was a ‘high risk’ student, with an attendance record of 41% and SATs results all at level 3. His family context was unstable and at the time of the project he was not living with his family. This student was described as disengaged in school. He was white British.

Child V had SATs results at levels 5 with one 4. She was considered by staff to be popular and influential in the group. Her attendance record was 85%. She is white British and is one of only three students in the class in receipt of free school meals.

Child W was a lively Afro-Caribbean girl, one of the two dominant girls in the group. She enjoyed drama. She achieved levels 5 and 6 in her SATs results.Child X was an Asian student who is very influential, particularly among boys in the group. In his SATs he achieved levels 4, 5 and 6. He has an attendance record of 99%.

In 2002, the group selected for the performance project comprised a wide range of types of students, three of whom were in the previous project, one was tracked – child P, detailed above.Six students were selected who were either fully withdrawn from the mainstream curriculum to work in the learning support unit (LSU), or were supported by the LSU in lesson and had an Individual Educational Plan (IEP). Often poor levels of achievement were accompanied by poor attendance. Consequently these students

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suffered from poor self-esteem. Four ‘high risk’ students were also selected for the project. Only one remained. The three high risk boys all left, one within hours of arriving, another after a day and a third after two days. Child N would have been involved in the project had he not been excluded the week before. The group also includes one child with cerebral palsy who has difficulties in ‘gross and fine motor skills’ as well as in speech.

One of the students selected for research tracking left the project after two days. He was considered a high risk student. Consequently only three students were tracked, the two new students are detailed here.

Child Y a student with an IEP who received help from the LSU. He has an attendance record of 89% and SATs results mainly at level 3. He suffered significantly from poor self esteem. His IEP states that he ‘lacks confidence to work independently and needs encouragement’.

Child Z has SATs results of mainly 5s and an attendance record of 90%. She is a very influential especially amongst other girls her peer group. In school she is often attention-seeking and confrontational reflecting the tensions she experiences between the different kinds of parenting she receives from her mother and father.

Data for this group does not include the students who left and is consequently not representative of the group. The remaining 21 students had a 94% attendance record, slightly below the school’s average, but level for the national figures. Their SATs test results averaged at the same as the 20012 group at 74%

6.3 Process and activities

The programme of activities at Ashstream, in both years, was the most ambitious of all the projects. In year one, for the first week artists Highly Sprung ran workshop activities in nineteen key stage three lessons, mostly working with mixed ability year 8 and 9 who would see the performance work generated by the project wither this year or next. Group sizes were on average 24, so the company saw around 450 key stage three students. They also led 3 dance classes for a year 10 group. These sessions always involved a game to set a playful mood, engender readiness to engage physically and foster cooperation. Typically games would precede a related drama exercise through which students might generate the kind of improvised material that might be used in a performance. Most sessions were fifty-minutes lessons. Some were double lessons. Where the drama specialist was present in the sessions, they were supported with a plenary and a connection, if possible to students’ current work. With non-specialist teachers, the teacher role was typically in settling and registering the class.

During the first week the drama specialist launched the ‘Big Brother Diary Room’. This was an experiment to develop more student-friendly means of assessing achievements and evaluating the impact of the work. It was set in the lighting box adjoining the hall where the week two project occurred. Students were invited or could offer to come and speak to the camera. Instructions on how to use the camera and, following a trial period, a number of prompt questions were given. At the start of the second week, the drama specialist carefully explained the diary room to students.

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Highly Sprung planned to develop a devised performance piece based on the narrative of Lorca’s Blood Wedding. They had been advised to pitch work differently for this school where students were used to working in the arts as a physical form from year 7 and where students’ work might be more sophisticated. Their focus during the week was to develop choric movement and visually symbolic staging. These aims, they felt, would develop teamwork crucial to developing inclusion and also introduce students to the company’s style of work, possibly a new style.

The company introduced this work by telling the skeleton of the story and then asking the students to retell it in story circle style. Used to generating their own ideas and being encouraged to do so in drama lessons, the opportunity was seized as an improvisational opportunity and the embellishments moved away from Lorca’s story. Boys particularly resisted the focus upon an apparently ‘love’ narrative, inventing contemporary often ludicrous possibilities. They were allowed some entertainment but asked to return to the given narrative. Later in groups, students began to generate movement material for different elements / moments: moon, forest and hunters which created some difficulty for students to grasp the theatre form.

6.4 Achievements and effects

Almost 100 students who had been involved in lessons taught by Highly Sprung completed questionnaires about their experience. 85% spoke positively suggesting they would like to work with them again. Many mentioned enjoying the physicality of the games. Most really enjoyed the injection of new ideas. 5% wrote begging messages asking for a devising project to be planned for them. On the Wednesday of the week, Highly Sprung were approached by an excited group of year 8 students who had heard from their peers about the work and had just heard that they too world be working with the company. Obviously the positive experiences were being shared amongst peers.

Of the 15% of students who were not inspired by working with the company, the reasons given were a desire for ‘normal drama’ either because of preferring the security of the known teacher or through not understanding the purpose of the games. This occasional complaint reflected the frustrations of the artists who felt unable to communicate enough of a taste of the nature of their work. The movement limitations of working in school uniform, for girls especially, was a problem. Using music which typically fostered an urgency in a game or set an atmosphere for a movement was less successful in these sessions where some students saw the music as permission to chat to their peers. Artists rarely controlled such behaviour either through having inadequate strategies, feeling uncomfortable in such a role or being completely focused upon timing of the session. Artists felt pressurised to achieve results within a short space of time which resulted in tendency to over-guide / prescribe / shape work rather than allow students to make their own decisions / rules / evaluations of the work. This undermined the potential value of their way of working. Overall artists considered the experience unsatisfying and potentially damaging to both longer term relationships with students in the project or to student’s view of physical theatre as ‘just playing games’.

As an exercise in INSET there were some noted successes. One NQT in music who was doing some drama teaching wrote up the sessions and a unit of work following observation of a few lessons,. This is now in use by other teachers and thus ‘provid[ed] enrichment to the performing arts curriculum and valuable INSET ideas for staff’.. The value for inexperienced teachers appeared to be in seeing the artists work in this way with their students and seeing the students’ responses. For the

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experienced drama specialist the devising week especially provided ‘reassurance.. a confirmation for yourself … and the ways in which you work .. realising that I’m an artist in a way.’

This first week timetable gave artists an insight into how drama teaching typically feels and informs them of the constraints that teachers experience. Where the drama specialist was present he provided an important role in concluding the lessons with quick collaborative plenaries which helped students reflect upon the value of the work and often made some connection to previous work they had been doing, or invited students to set a target for next lesson. Often in the artist-led lessons, the focus, questioning and evaluation of lessons was of a lower level than that observed in curriculum lessons lead by the drama specialist. There was potential to work collaboratively with the teacher, even if this had been an action research approach, reflecting immediately upon difficulties and adapting practice in after school sessions each day. It suggests also a need to better prepare artists about the working practices within the school. In the dance group, unforewarned, one artist encountered a downs syndrome girl who was enthusiastic but very needy and created difficulties for an artist managing the whole group by requiring special attention.

During one double lesson the company worked with a large number of students who were in the form group they would be working with the following week. For these students the introductory session whet their appetite for the devising project.

In the week-long devising project there were some tensions surrounding differences in typical methodologies. Highly Sprung, at that point in their history, developed physical theatre always in response to or using an extant play script. Ashstream by comparison ‘ tend to work from our children’s context.. where they’re at’ and the Head of Arts especially was sceptical about how successful the company would be in engaging the students to work from a play script. Certainly students’ response to the story, trying to re-position it within their cultural context and move away from the given structure, reflected this view. At this point there was a marked tension between the working method of artists focused upon creating a performance following their working method, and students’ prior experience of working with a drama teacher for whom facilitating students’ creativity is a primary function. This was keenly felt by the artists who were also unused to working with such a big group.

Despite some tension in managing thirty energetic students in the final exacting stages of rehearsal, the drama specialist was full of praise for the artists’ skill in ‘keeping it fresh’ and using games to ‘give kids a metaphorical fag break’.

A further difficulty belonged to differences in presentation modes. Highly Sprung were familiar with trusting to an artistic process which focused upon generating movement ideas and discovering how these might fit together into a sequence. Students however were used to lessons where purposes and structures are made explicit so that they know what will happen, when and what is expected. The artists were disappointed by students’ responses on the first day and thought that they had been misled about students’ readiness to respond to new ideas. Citing as an example their resistance to generating ideas in choric movement work, they had felt students ‘seemed to need reassurance … to be told everything’. Students confessed to feeling confused about the process which appeared for some to have been disempowering. ‘We didn’t really understand it until it was all put together’. ‘ We learnt it all back to front as well which was really awkward ‘cos you didn’t know where it was all going to go’. This suggested that students simply needed to be given a

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sense of what to expect, possibly be told that they would generate ideas that might be used and could later be sequenced. Some difficulties eased with time. A part of students’ initial difficulty lay in a natural discomfort in adjusting to the discipline of creating a performance as well as encountering a new way of working.

The Head of Arts confessed that he had been pleasantly surprised, ‘I thought it was good .. a very different experience .. the kids appeared to enjoy doing that kind of work’. He suggested that the project had ‘forced me to re-evaluate the nature of the work that we do.. it’s made me question and challenge my perceptions’. However there remained some concern about the working methods of the company who directed rather than facilitated ‘which goes against the sort of experiences that we normally offer the kids .. kids get better here because they are involved in performance as opposed to learning [skills] for performance’. The project revealed to him ‘ that there might be a role for both kinds of ways of working’.

Within the wider school, year nine students and some members of staff who had previously been dismissive of drama had sought out the drama specialist to say that the thought the performance was ‘excellent’. He considered this ‘one of the biggest successes of the whole project’.

With the exception of a small group of boys, most students enjoyed performing and the opportunity to ‘make it professional’. They considered that although the initial idea had been the artists’ it was ‘definitely’ their work. They suggested that it had given them more confidence ‘if you gotta stand at the front [in lessons] you don’t feel awkward’. A number felt more interested in drama. One girl said that she felt ‘stronger’ and more able to ‘have a voice’ because she had sung in front of her peers and been praised for it. Students valued the fact that the artists had ‘treated us differently’ and generated a more ‘relaxed’ atmosphere’ with the games which they had enjoyed as a contrast to the discipline of rehearsing.

Students also noted changes in each other. One spoke of the student who had played the role of the bride, but who was considered to be ‘really shy’, but now was ready to ‘have a go’ at drama and just ‘to speak out’. Child W commented on how a number of shyer students had been giving ideas, and especially that the gender division in the group had been broke down a bit by the project because they had uncharacteristically worked outside of their friendship groups. They had seen each other achieving in new ways and earned each other’s respect. Form tutors, students and arts staff were unanimous in the view that ‘as a form they are now more of a unity, they’re more comfortable with each other, they’ve got more confidence in each other. They can celebrate their differences’ having been given the opportunity to see each other in a differently, ‘they know each other differently’. This was cited as an example of ‘that business about what the arts do. They provide us with another way of knowing the world’. The head teacher spoke of them six moths after the project as ‘more relaxed with themselves .. and more able to engage with other children and adults in positive ways’.

All teachers spoke of some disenfranchised students, child U being the prime example, who ‘are notoriously difficult to teach’ and who, during this project, were ‘engaged’ and ‘active’. In the diary room, child U spoke of having not been ‘ in trouble for two whole weeks’, which was the first time, he suggested, this had happened. Ordinarily he could not sustain such behaviour. The arts staff considered that the relationships these students ahead been able to develop over an intensive period time, both with artists and the drama specialist had been significant in achieving this effect.

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6.5 Areas for development

In an early interview, the Head of Arts suggested that he ‘would have preferred it if they’d had more time to investigate the nature of the school and identify more what our kids are like’. Interestingly, Triangle had requested the opportunity to meet and work with students as part of their school-based planning day. Given the relative experiences of school and artists in such partnerships it may have been prudent for Ashstream to have initiated this with Highly Sprung. Certainly invitations to observe lessons or see productions were easy elements of a programme for familiarisation and would have facilitated the ‘more sustained relationship’ that he suggested was needed.

Some students found the theatre form difficult. Child Q said he ‘didn’t like the bit with the cloth – I mean it wasn’t a table!’ commenting upon a visual idea to use a cloth held in front of a line of students to represent people dining at a large banquet table. Some boys felt uncomfortable with the ritualistic quality of some choric movement sections. Students’ receptivity to the work might have been improved if they had seen the company’s performance work before the residency. It might have enabled the vocabulary used by the artists to be properly understood and the visually symbolic quality of movement work to be ‘felt’. Additionally artists might be supported or trained to develop their ability to explain their process, to practice what vocabulary to use to communicate difficult ideas to students. The drama specialist suggested that the flashpoints in the week had been related to issues of ‘ownership’ and that negotiating with students and enabling students to discover visually symbolic meaning might be important in the future. Again this might be a training issue, or simply of matching an artists’ own process to context.

Despite prior communications difference in understanding terms persisted. For example the artists had been told to ‘have high expectations of students’ and that there was ‘a developed arts culture’ at Ashstream. They had understood this to mean that students would have a sophisticated repertoire in the arts, whereas the school had intended by this phrase that students see the arts as naturally expressive forms for exploring and articulating their own ideas. The need to broker terms effectively so that partners are able to decipher each others terminology appropriately is an area for development.

The Big Brother Diary room was considered a great success by the drama specialist and fully in keeping with the focus upon inclusion. He cited examples of the camera acting as a ‘mechanical counsellor’ which he had been able to use to address low level disruption by taking a child out to explore or off-load a felt difficulty. The process often off-loaded the problem, making the student feel his view had some value which then made it easier to re-enter the work and engage. The diary room was used with GCSE students to develop skills in evaluation. Its drawbacks were in the ‘halo’ effect that performing to camera might have given students’ comments and the need for an element of management of its use.

The faculty admitted that as arts staff they tend to resist ‘generating paperwork’ and had found some of the ‘business-like’ framing of the project unnecessary and onerous. They stated that they preferred to negotiate plans through discussion. Unfortunately this preference created problems for the artists who found difficulty in accessing the arts staff.

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6.6 Changes in year 2

The single most significant change in year two was the absence of the drama specialist who had left the school and not been permanently replaced. This, the head teacher suggested had ‘set the project back a bit’. His energy and engagement with the project was instrumental in developing the schools’ understanding about arts teaching, creativity and working with artists. The Head of Arts planned and coordinated the programme but was not present throughout – much as at Purpleheath.

In the absence of the drama specialist the Head of Arts had chosen to abandon the plans made by the previous drama specialist to work with year 10 and 11 students to support both GCSE and involvement in whole school performances. Instead he chose to intensify the focus upon inclusion. An additional logic for this was that the arts staff had done a presentation at a national conference on the arts and inclusion in which Highly Sprung had been involved. This shared agenda informed the way the company approached their planning for 2002. At the pre-project planning meeting the head of Arts had proposed to the company exploring a particular political issue, which Highly Sprung were not keen on. They instead proposed using ‘Frankenstein’ which would allow them to explore human responses to those who are different and thus address issues of inclusion. This was greeted with enthusiasm. Their planning gave greater attention to enabling students to ‘create work more from their own ideas’, but still to a preconceived performance structure. The selection of ‘Frankenstein’ was also deliberately a culturally known text which made less demand upon students to remember a narrative, and enable them to look at moments from the original story and layer on their own attitudes, experiences and feelings. The artists’ objective was to build students’ trust and creat[e] a supportive network among the students’. They wanted students to trust in the working method and each other. This would feed the choric work particularly and support individual roles. In order to create this trust, the artists spent the first two days developing team work, trust and stimulating ideas about Frankenstein, ensuring that the group was engaged before shaping any performance material. Repeats?

The absence of a continuing drama specialist created problems for the artists in obtaining information from the school (such as the group including a child with cerebral palsy). This factor prevented artists and school from fully embedding new understandings from year one in the year two project model. Such support was missed also during the significant early sessions to share and reflect on the kinds of strategies planned by artists in relation to those used by the school. On the first morning, students were told that their involvement in the project was voluntary. However this notion had not been shared with artists who were under the impression, as in the first project, that having been selected and agreed to be involved, students were committed. Artists considered that a negotiated exit might have been preferable. When by the third day, three students had left, the last being a trackee, there was a tension between the artists who felt overwhelmed by the challenge but also as though they were failing and the arts staff who were evidently a little disappointed.

The programme was again very ambitious and involved the artists working with a very challenging cohort. For the first week and two days of the second week, the artists worked in devising a performance with this group. In the second week they also trained six students selected from the group to become peer teachers and take their planned workshops into a feeder primary school. Additionally for one day the

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company worked with a small group of six school refusers in Solihull’s student referral unit. Within this day students created a soundtrack mixing name-calling and feelings about being excluded which is used in the final performance to which students are invited.

The use of the Big Brother diary room was not continued in 2002. But to support particularly the ‘high risk’ students in the second year project, the Head of Art negotiated the time of a known and trusted LEA counsellor who was available for almost half of the project sessions. He was available for any students for a number of half days throughout the project. He also visited and watched students at work to inform his counselling. In 2002, the diary room was not pursued, He understood that his role was to support ‘high risk’ students in maintaining the kind of behaviour that would enable them to remain in the project as well as support any student who had an issue they wished to discuss.

Highly Sprung lead peer training session with six students, none of whom are trackees, following a known formula, developed from peer education programme in Coventry. The students were unclear what they had been selected for as the term ‘peer education’ was unknown to them . Most thought they were doing a small group performance to take into a primary school. The focus was upon thinking of needs of the potential year 6 students and the way they should present themselves. The workshop was a prescribed rather than a deconstructed model. This aspect was discussed and revised for work at Brown’s Coppice.

6.7 Similar / different and additional achievements and effects in year 2

Students did not have opportunity to see the artists as performers before either project which did not help to promote the valuable difference of artists, discussed earlier (1.2), or promote a respect for their skill. It also meant that they had to work harder to explain and communicate the nature of their particular theatre style. This appeared to be significant because of the difficulty students experienced in grasping the theatre form. As a young company Highly Sprung were still discovering how to represent and explain their evolving style of theatre. They were aware of the need for young people to see and experience the work to understand it, but inexperienced in ways of achieving that. When in 2002 the company performed extracts from ‘Spoken Echoes’ in the school hall students did not respond with interest or supportively. A number of factors informed this: poor production values, inadequate signalling by staff and artists of the event and what students might look for in the work, chosen extracts were not perhaps the most accessible and also artists were not completely focused upon their own performance knowing that as they finished they needed to support and facilitate the students’ performance. Students involved in the devising project however enjoyed understanding the form and making connections between their and the artists’ work.

There was also opportunity for artists to talk with the young people more about the process. With some preparation or training, they might have taken moments out, to discover what understanding students had of how theatre uses movement work or images to suggest ideas. They might thus have found out some useful connections with the youth arts culture predominant in the school. Certainly the head teacher at Ashstream commented that he felt the reflective aspect of the project had not been as developed as he had hoped. A number of opportunities were discussed following

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this project and were implemented at Brown’s Coppice, such as work demonstration within the project for participants, collaborative reflection on the process, supported by individual reflective journals.

In both years Ashstream set a challenging brief to Highly Sprung. The challenge was fuelled by their high expectations of their own students, their regard for the company and their interest in exploring and extending the potential impact of the arts more widely in the school. In 2002 especially the artists felt the level of challenge to have been too high. They spoke of their ‘lack of experience in working with [disaffected[ young people’ compounded by ‘lack of communication’ and a ‘number of misunderstandings’ with the arts staff. There were moments of difference in interpreting each other’s purpose or language. For example Highly Sprung considered the decision to work with only six ‘safe’ students rather than the whole group in the peer education training, to be at odds with the project’s focus upon inclusion and felt that this undermined earlier work to build a group identity. The Head of Arts had tried to propose some differentiation within the project, suggesting to the artists that some students might be given an additional small group task, but Highly Sprung were adamant that if individuals had been given separate roles then this would have flagged up the difference of others such as child Y when ‘the project was about inclusion’.

As young artists keen to learn from the project and ready to embrace the challenge at Ashstream which they recognised as ‘artistically more challenging’, they had agreed to the proposed programme in each year, despite some reservations. They had felt unable to refuse or to re-negotiate it but spoke of having felt not like partners but ‘like possessions’ to be ’given to others’ in order for the school to ‘make connections’ for example with the PRU and with primary schools. Whilst working in the PRU had facilitated some uncharacteristically positive attitudes from students, artists were more aware of not having sustained this and the dexterity they had had to demonstrate to tackle the types of resistance and challenge

The absence of a drama specialist and the lack of continuity between the two projects was significant. This plus staffing difficulties reduced opportunity and preparation for artists and to arts staff to collaboratively plan. There was a need at least to consider further how artists might feel informed and prepared for the demands of such individuals and the need to discuss ways in which the counsellor might be used were.

Arts staff had spoke of ‘wanting to see’ how these young people (artists and students) would respond. In one respect this is a mark of the esteem in which these particular artists were held that such a challenge was set, and a respect for the different ways in which artists can know young people and sense their needs. However the group comprised volatile individuals who required particular kinds of approach to enable them to succeed. The freedom given to students to know that they could leave the project if they discussed it with the counsellor denied them the possibility of setting or negotiating their own contract with the group – as Trading Faces had done when faced with disaffected young people.

In the devising week, one student who had missed the first day was allowed into the project by arts staff without consultation with artists. The exercise planned for that morning involved using sticks. As a consequence of this student’s dangerous behaviour with a stick he was asked to stop at which point he stormed out of the

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project. The artists had no prior knowledge of this student’s likely appearance nor of his extremely volatile nature. In retrospect the Head of Arts said, had he known this exercise was to be used then he would have advised the artists against it at this point. Sticks had been used in the previous project quite sensitively by a bigger group with some equally volatile students so the artists were unprepared for such behaviour or for it to go unchecked by staff. Within three days of the project three of the four high risk students had left.

The freedoms of the project, and perhaps also by now the heightened sensitivity of the artists to retain the one remaining high risk student (child Z) allowed her tendency to dominate her peer group to continue unchecked. The counsellor considered that the inexperience of young artists plus lack of prior planning of possible strategies had informed this situation. However it should also be noted that the constant emphasis upon teamwork and cooperation throughout the week and the refusal in the second week to give her the peer education experience she so wanted did check this situation a little, suggesting that artistic practice can be an effective discipline, albeit that it might possibly have been enhanced and made more effective if addressed both through behavioural management and artistic process.

The counsellor’s role was valuable in managing tensions between the different types of student in the project. He reported an incidence of other girls upset by child Z’s derogatory behaviour. His role enabled one bullied girl to recognise that child Z tended to undermine other’s successes as a way to assert her own power and that her bullying attentions were in fact a signal of the child’s achievement. This was an important and valued role of the counsellor – to help students to understand their own and others behaviour which the project often exaggerated. He suggested that for one high risk student (a planned trackee) the opportunity to work in a smaller group, possibly with the artists, where he could have been prepared for the work might have been effective. This child had commented that the work ‘didn’t sit on him quite right’ because he couldn’t cope with the embarrassment of physical work in which he did not appear cool. The requirement to explore and create a monster walk had been the final straw. Sensitivity to the way students considered they might be perceived by their peers was an issue in both years. In 2002, students were uncomfortable with some of the early games designed to explore their attitudes towards name-calling, bullying and excluding. They saw layering verbal taunts onto ‘piggy in the middle’ as ‘being nasty’. Cat-walking exercises of monsters created some similar feelings for students in relation to the student with cerebral palsy.

The most eloquent evidence of the success of this project was the performance. As one teacher noted, in choral work ‘it was difficult to tell who was who’. Despite the huge variety of ability and behaviours, the students operated like an ensemble, with commitment to the group, engagement with the roles they played and The head teacher considered that the success of the project could be recognised not by the high risk students who left, but by those who were ‘bubbling under’ and potentially disaffected and who became engaged.

Similar results occurred as in 2001. Most students spoke of feeling more confident and prepared to ‘go for it’ a bit more. They enjoyed the ‘more relaxed’ working environment, the different relationship with artists and building new relationships with their peers. With a change in drama teacher there were less positive attitudes to drama displayed by the students and the artists were by contrast considered to ‘let us have our own opinions .. to say what you want and have more input’. Students enjoyed having dance movements modelled, with options of different levels of

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sophistication and then working with an artist in small groups to consolidate. This made them feel that they could do movement work and boosted confidence. Child Z was particularly vocal about the importance of the intensive experience to be different, fun and create a steep learning curve, unlike drama in schools where ‘you just forget it by next week .. we won’t forget this.’

The use of a known story had, as the artists had predicted, enabled students to engage more with the way the theatre-form communicated. They were also more comfortable with performing in a more symbolic way because the story ‘is known’ to their peers. The piece opened with students stretching distorted body shapes into a a white stretchy cloth held up like a screen. The image suggested ideas of physical grotesqueness. They were comfortable with showing this symbolic way of working because they had enjoyed crafting the image but also because they knew the audience would be told the story or knew something of it so that it wouldn’t be obscure. They had been ready to do ‘different’ and ‘weird things’. They had really enjoyed an experiment of painting their faces and then seeing the reactions of their peers over lunchtime to their ‘difference’.

Child Y had appeared fully engaged throughout the project, albeit often with a subservient attitude to others, much as other students with learning support. The best result for child Y was a decision to alter his GCSE options and opt for Drama, because ‘I like drama now. My tummy doesn’t do that horrible thing anymore’. In the first week, as discussed above, child Z displayed typically loud and domineering behaviour, sometimes undermining the efforts of others, especially when she experienced rejection at not being selected for peer teaching. Progressively though, and especially in the final rehearsal days she used her peer influence constructively to support the artists in rehearsing, ‘she took the responsibility for telling the group to practice’. Her motivation may have been to ‘look good’ in performance, but it manifest itself positively as a willingness to support the project and her peers and work as part of a group. She was typically engaged in the physicality of the work and performed with real conviction. Like student U in year one she was arresting to watch for her engagement. Child Z emphasised enjoying learning how to ‘express ourselves in different ways to our usual drama classes’ and having ‘to use our imagination to make the pay what we wanted it to be.’. She also said that the project had made her think that ‘people that are deformed or look different to ourselves are like us inside’, echoing a sentiment running through all the post project interviews, namely that it has been productive for students to face difficult feelings about others’ ‘otherness’.

Whilst some students spoke of enjoying making ‘dance that has a meaning’ a few students, led by child W felt disappointed by the limited scope they had felt they had been given to use and develop their own ideas and meanings. The girls in this small group were involved in performance work outside school and felt their abilities were underused. They were used to differentiated teaching had expected to have more control over what went into the performance and especially had not enjoyed the discipline of the final rehearsal stage where they felt nagged by the artists.

For the artists one of the most productive things about project and particularly the work at Ashstream was that they had ‘to analyse their work a lot more’. Interviews with the company throughout project suggested a refining of games to suit particular foci, students needs or contexts and modelling much more carefully how a game was to be approached in order to foster those attitudes in students.

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