This document aims to explain the methodological groundings of the approaches used in the Democracy through Drama project. In line with the conceptual and pedagogical framework (see also in the resources section), our intention is to make this work of practical use to teachers and educators.
Our objective here is to inform teachers about the different methods and approaches that the contributors to this project have deployed, and the positive impact which these might have on the work of teachers and educators supporting young people’s development and empowerment as young European citizens.
This project brings together different methodologies: Drama in Education (DiE) and Mimesis in Education (MiE). The former was a methodology established in England and widely spread in other countries in Europe, USA, Asia and Australia and therefore it is valuable to include approaches developed in more then one country: England (from the perspective of Birmingham City University) and Hungary (from the perspective of InSite). Mimesis in Education is a more recently developed methodology from the University of Roma Tre.
In the first section of this document we set out, from a Drama in Education prospective, links between drama, theatre and education in each of the countries involved in the project. This serves to present a comparison of the different national contexts.
Although there are two methods and different approaches, there is a common vision of the human dimensions to build the educational action, and all approaches share the same purpose and outcome: the development of civic thinking and skills. The second section of IO identifies and deepen the common vision mentioned above, laying the theoretical foundations for the project.
In the third section, in order to provide teachers with the awareness necessary to manage the tools that the project proposes, we present the methodological approaches that have been merged into this project.
In a forth section we reflect on the development of supportive networks for schools, teachers of humanities and languages and drama in education practitioners across Europe.
The intention is that those teachers who read this handbook can understand the theoretical groundings and background to imagine the educational practices that utilize the power of drama to enable their students to develop skills and understanding to experience the joy and the right of becoming a democratic citizen.