Drama education in New Zealand: a coming of age? A conceptualisation of the development and practice of drama in the curriculum as a structured improvisation, with New Zealand's experience as a case study

Abstract

I propose a conceptualisation of drama in school education as improvisation within a framework that has a number of fixed but changing structures. I examine how the ‘drama in schooling’ practice of one country, New Zealand, might be seen as a group improvisation in which, through dramatic negotiation, participants evolve their goals, narrative and roles. Among a range of improvisational strategies, I explore how they deal with offers and blocks, tease out tension, engage with status and super-objectives, evolve dramatic symbols. In this discussion improvisation begins as a metaphor. However, following models in organisational management, the discussion hopes to contribute to ‘the emergent yet currently amorphous theory of organizational improvisation’ (Kamoche, Cunha, and Cunha 2003), and particularly suggest ways in which such theorisations might be applied to examinations of educational practice.

Keywords:

• history of drama in education
• organizational improvisation
• New Zealand

Notes

1. History of Drama Education in Australia and New Zealand research project by Drama Australia and Drama New Zealand.