Teaching Note—Theatre of the Oppressed and Social Work Ethics Education: An Innovative Teaching Module

ABSTRACT

This teaching note presents the adaptation of four innovative pedagogical techniques from Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) to effectively teach ethics across the social work curriculum. Each of the four techniques (Forum Theatre, Newspaper Theatre, Image Theatre, and Legislative Theatre) will be described in general and then modeled as an activity to use across four social work curricular areas, respectively: clinical practice, research, field education, and organizational policy. Teaching preparation/tips will be provided to guide educators on how to successfully employ these techniques to enhance student competencies to identify and address ethical issues and to participate in moral dialog. The teaching note will conclude with an analysis of the advantages and limitations of using TO techniques in the classroom.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sophia Fantus

Sophia Fantus is with the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Baylor College of Medicine.