The Plays the Thing

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The Plays the Thing

• Presentation to ESRC Seminar
• June 14th
• Polly Wright
• HEARTH Centre
• www.thehearthcentre.org.uk

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The Plays the Thing

• 1999-2001/2002-2004
• Partnerships
• Professional Theatre
• Action Research
• Access to education
• Responsive
• Inclusive
• DFES funded
• NIACE administered

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Project Aims

• Use drama to
• Target socially excluded groups
• Engage people in the educational process
• Increase access to education
• Research barriers to uptake of educational
  opportunities
• Shape curriculum in the light of research
  findings
• Encourage progression

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Partners

• Fircroft College of Adult Education
• Women and Theatre
• Dudley Priority Health
• Birmingham Health Authority
• Rethink
• MIND
• Reachout

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Target groups

• Socially excluded women
• Older Asian women
• The Homeless
• Mental Health Service Users

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Process

• Research plays
• Write and produce plays
• Perform plays in community contexts
• Record post play discussion / workshop
• Emergent themes analysed
• Needs Assessment report

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Process Responsive Curriculum

• Tailor made courses at Fircroft College
• Non accredited
• Confidence raising
• Goal Setting
• Enhanced Guidance
• Progression to mainstream

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Project Outcomes.

• Four plays produced and toured
• 13 new courses
• 93 people recruited to college through project
• 40 achieved OCN credits
• 8 learners progressed to full time access
  courses
• 2 students progressed to degree courses

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Unintended Outcomes.

• Two extra staff development tours
• Informal partnership with Reachout Guidance
  project
• Mental Health Service Users still progressing to
  full time access provision.
• Spin off arts projects
• Video in teenage pregnancy
• Fircroft Creative Arts week

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New Projects

• Dudley Art Project
• 20 Courses linking the arts and Basic Skills
  development.
• Exhibition of student work- January 2004
• Arts based basic skills
• courses taken up by LEA.
• Plays the Thing Committee
• Dudley, Beacon and Castle PCT Cross agency group
  for mental health awareness in FE sector.

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Effectiveness of Drama as Research Tool

• Head and Heart
• Paradox of closeness and distance to fictional
  experience
• Show not tell of complex barriers to action
• Private not public accounts
• Increases participant confidence

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Research Model

• Illuminative ( Stake 1967)
• Process model
• Focus on observation
• Analysis of intended and non intended
  transactions and outcomes.
• Drama based action research model.
• Pioneered in 1994 ( Wright 1994) An Appraisal
  of the Uses of drama in health promotion. Msc
  thesis
• Emergent themes feeds back to curriculum design
• Provision becomes more inclusive
• Arts research methods engages respondents

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Research analysis

• Transcripts of taped post show discussions and
  workshops become research data.
• Video Non verbal information
• Emergent themes are analysed.
• Cohen L and Manion L. 1989
• Research methods in Education.

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Replicable elements of project

• Arts based qualitative research
• Arts techniques replace whole plays
• Emergent themes analysed from single sessions.
• Arts link to basic skills development.
• Arts based group work approach to Advice and
  Guidance.