Pedagogical sensitivity in successful drama educational reader’s theatre – experiences of the teachers

Figures & data

Table 1. Teachers’ views about DERT’s benefits.

Themes and subthemes	Mentions	Example quotes
Joy/enjoyment
Generally enjoyable activity	36	‘The students were every time so excited, and during the last time they asked: “what, this doesn’t continue anymore!?”’ (Laura)
Enjoying drama and acting	25
Fun for teacher	5
Enjoying the story	3
Joking, having fun	3
Total	72
Reading skills
Fluency	23	‘Expressive reading kind of increases understanding.’ (Irene)
Expressive reading	9
Courage to read	8
Attitude towards reading	7
Reading comprehension	6
Awareness about one’s own reading or following the text	3
Language awareness	2
Total	58
Motivation
Students reading without noticing they are reading	26	‘I noticed that it [the playscript] inspired the students to read it over and again.’ (Minna) ‘Above all, the motivation – not only towards reading, but also towards learning in general.’ (Emilia)
Reading motivation	14
Motivation to perform/act	5
Learning motivation	3
Motivation towards the programme or participation	5
Total	52
Changes in perception of self and others
Self-confidence and belief in oneself	28	‘[Programme] strengthened self-esteem and image of self as a reader.’ (Laura) ‘They learned something positive about themselves.’ (Emilia)
Perception of self	19
Changes in how others see you	16
‘Beginning to bloom’	15
Total	48
Joy of accomplishment and increase in courage
Student experience in attainment/accomplishment	19	‘I think that the courage to perform was one of the biggest things.’ (Irene)
Increase in performing courage	17
Joy of performing/acting	2
Total	38
Growth in other skills
Group work skills, social and interaction skills	12	‘They saw themselves as a group with common function and common goal, and to me that is a great value.’ (Paula)
Attention and executive functions	5
Acting and embodied expression	4
Total	21

Table 2. Teachers’ encouraging actions during the lessons.

Themes and subthemes	Mentions	Example quotes
Sensitivity and tact
Respectful directing/teaching	13	‘I especially wanted to think about the expression, how to maintain the joy in it.’ (Lea) ‘I first listened out to what their mood was.’ (Olivia)
Proceeding at the student’s pace	13
Creating sense of involvement/belonging	10
Face-work on the behalf of the students	10
Permissive atmosphere	8
Connection with students	10
Drama contract	2
Total	66
Feedback and encouragement
Praising and encouraging the students	24	‘I gave them feedback, tried to give it very readily and praise effortlessly.’ (Paula)
Teacher participating in activities	6
Total	30
Effort
Effort put to enable positive experiences and learning	6	‘Then, together with another teacher, we arranged these seats for the audience and taught how to behave in the theatre. We discussed it with the students and the audience, we respected the audience as much as the actors.’ (Sofia) ‘I saw when their concentration started to slip, so I was like “let’s take a pause and then get back to this after it”’. (Kati)
Editing/applying the programme (during the lesson or in advance)	13
Total	19

Table 3. Teachers’ discouraging actions during the lessons and teachers’ attributions for challenges.

Themes and subthemes	Mentions	Example quotes
Insufficient encounter
Pressuring to participate	7	‘There was some persuading, like “okay, let’s get working, it’s your turn now. Try now, would you.” With this coaxing tactic I tried to get them to participate at least with some volume.’ (Minna) ‘Well, the drama contract thing felt somehow challenging. That was another thing they didn’t get at all, they didn’t see any point in it, so we didn’t go through it at all.’ (Maria)
Putting the programme/play ahead of students’ needs	7
Neglecting group development	7
Failing to listen	6
Neglecting drama contract	2
Performing presented negatively	2
Total	31
Teacher attributes challenges to students
Belittling of students’ abilities/attitudes	16	‘When we tried to practise the scenes properly, who comes where and so on, it was little like … a mess, they were the least self-regulative. It was so laborious, they just didn’t get it at all, how it should proceed.’ (Maria)
Student reluctance in participation	9
Challenging behaviour of students	3
Total	28
Teacher attributes challenges to extrinsic factors
Programme demotivating	4	‘In order to include more drama and acting into the lessons we would have needed another kind of classroom.’ (Minna) ‘From the teacher’s point of view it is more arduous than normal practising.’ (Maria)
Challenging classroom space	3
Problems in schedules	1
Programme arduous	1
Total	9
Teacher attributes challenges to themselves
Unwillingness to participate in activities or express oneself	4	‘I could have been more enthusiastic myself, I also think that I could have been, had the situation with the other class been less stressful.’ (Maria)
Experience of insufficient skills in directing drama/theatre	2
Inadequate preparation	1
Total	7