WRAP Thesis Winston 1996.Pdf

University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/59524 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. AN INQUIRY INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DRAMA, TRADITIONAL STORIES AND THE MORAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS by JOE WINSTON, BA, MEd for the Degree of UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK Institute of Education September, 1996 CONTENTS ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1 PART I I NARRATIVE AND THE MORAL LIFE 16 II MORAL MEANINGS IN LITERARY NARRATIVES AND IN MYTHS AND FAIRY TALES 35 ID MYTH, MORALITY AND DRAMA 55 IV RECASTING THE PHAEDRA SYNDROME: Myth and Morality in Timberlake Wertenbaker's "The Love of the Nightingale" 74 V EMOTION, REASON AND MORAL ENGAGEMENT IN DRAMA 89 PARTll VI DRAMA FOR MORAL EDUCATION: Potential Features and Problematic Aspects 109 VII RESEARCH MODEL AND METHODOLOGY 127 VIII THE BRAHMIN, THE TIllEF AND THE OGRE: Drama as Pedagogy for Moral Education 147 IX JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: Ethical Exploration and the Risks of Carnival Humour 180 X THE STAR MAIDEN: Moral and Cultural Values in the Story 213 Moral and Cultural Values in the Drama 230 CONCLUSION 256 BffiLIOGRAPHY 268 APPENDICES: CASE STUDY 1 284 Appendix 1: Brahman. Thief and Ogre from the Panchatantra Appendix 2: Lesson summaries Appendix 3: The Cane, by Allan Ahlberg Appendix 4: Child's written work. APPENDICES: CASE STUDY 2 294 Appendix 5: Illustrations from Jack and the Beanstalk Appendix 6: Lesson summaries Appendix 7: Transcript of class discussion APPENDICES: CASE STUDY 3 304 Appendix 8: Illustrations from The Star Maiden Appendix 9: Lesson summaries Appendix 10: The children's Star Poem Appendix 11: Illustration used in Lesson 3 Appendix 12: Children's work: Touch Them Gently Appendix 13: Letter from classteacher NOTES ON VIDEO MATERIAL 318 DECLARATION OF PUBLISHED MATERIAL ARISING FROM THE WORK OF THIS THESIS. The author declares that the following articles, published in academic journals, have arisen from research undertaken during the completion of this thesis. CHAPTER IV has appeared in an earlier version as: Recasting the Phaedra Syndrome: Myth and Morality in Timberlake Wertenbaker's "The Love of the Nightingale" in Modern Drama. vol. xxxvrn. no. 4, Wmter 1995. CHAPTER V has appeared in an earlier version as: Emotion, Reason and Moral Engagement in Drama in Research in Drama Education. vol. 1. no. 2, August, 1996. CHAPTER VITIhas appeared in abbreviated fonn as Careful the Tale You Tell: Drama, Fairy Tales and Moral Education in Children and Society. vol. 9. no. 4, 1995. CHAPTER X Part 1 has appeared in an earlier version as Whose Story? Whose Culture? Moral and Cultural Values in Barbara Juster Esbensen's "The Star Maiden" in Children's Literature in Education. vol. 27. no. 2, June 1996. Abstract This thesis is an inquiry into the relationship between drama and traditional stories and their potential contributions, when used together, to the moral education of young children. The stimulus for this inquiry has stemmed from my own academic interests and professional practice as a teacher educator for the primary age range. It is underpinned by a belief that this is an area which has been both under-researched and under-theorised but that it is nonetheless of interest and importance for drama teachers, primary teachers and others who share an interest in the moral development of young children. The research has proceeded with two parallel but closely related forms of inquiry. The one has been an academic investigation into those theoretical issues which underpin the project and the other has consisted of fieldwork within primary classrooms, centred upon my own teaching. In its final form, the thesis is presented in two parts of roughly equal length, the one concentrating on theoretical concerns, the other consisting of a critical analysis of my own classroom practice, where issues of theory are investigated as they directly impinge upon it. However, it has been a key aim throughout this project to relate theory closely to practice, so that the one might continually inform the other as the research progressed. In the introduction, I give an account of the genesis of the inquiry, provide an argument for its significance to the contemporary educational debate and give a clear exposition of its parameters. In Part I, I begin with a discussion of current developments in moral educational theory and make the case for the importance of narrative and narrative literature in the development of moral understanding. In applying these theories to literary versions of traditional tales, however, it becomes quickly clear that the area is problematic and informed by contradictory theories and profound disagreement. I propose that the narrative form of these tales is inappropriate to didactic moral teaching and argue that a perspective which is informed by their mythic and oral origins is best placed to help our understanding of how they can be harnessed for the purposes of moral learning. I argue that there are historical and artistic reasons for seeing an important role for drama. in this process and examine how moral processes are engaged and informed by the dramatic event. In Part IT, I introduce the fieldwork with a critical look at how the practices of drama in education can be used to engage children in ethical exploration as defined within the parameters of this inquiry. I provide a detailed account of the research methodology followed by three case studies, each of which recounts and analyses a series of lessons with three separate classes of children, centred around three distinct traditional tales. These case studies are discursive in nature, each focusing upon issues and questions generated by the particular stories and lessons. They are informed by the theoretical exposition in Part I but generate their own theoretical perspectives and hypotheses which I propose to have implications for general classroom practice within this area. In the concluding chapter, I propose that the theoretical thrust and practical findings of the project signal an important role for drama in a school's moral education policy and suggest particular areas of inquiry which would further inform this argument. INTRODUCTION Early in 1992, I was asked to do some drama work with a class of 8-9 year-old children in a primary school local to the university where I work. The teacher wanted the drama to be centred around The Pied Piper and to stretch over four one-hour sessions. Looking again at Browning's version of the traditional tale, I was amused by the witty and ironic moralising at the end of the poem but was also impressed by the ambivalent moral tensions created by the story. It managed to strike chords within me which could both celebrate the Piper's vengeance and yet feel sympathy for those who suffer such dire punishment, appealing at once to my rational sense of justice and my natural human sympathies. I wondered if our drama might explore these conflicting moral tensions and, after some deliberation, decided to start the drama where the story ends, in the country to where the children are led beyond the mountain. Using freeze-frame, I the children created images of a paradise in which they had everything they could possibly want, and chose to depict a land of ice-cream trees, computer games, funfairs and seemingly infinite leisure facilities. I decided to work against these images which represented happiness in purely materialistic terms. Casting myself in role as a small boy, I created my own image of an unhappy child, gazing broodingly into the distance and clutching a small, sponge ball in my hand. When asked to speculate, the children quickly agreed that this had been a gift from my parents, that I was home-sick and, after some questioning of the boy, they decided that they, too, would like to return home and see their families again. But how could they do this? In the ensuing drama, the children "borrowed" the Piper's flute as he lay asleep, only to discover that its magic would not work for them. When confronted by the angry and indignant Piper, they listened to his complaints against their parents and, in particular, the Mayor and agreed that the people of 1 Hamelin had been wrong to break their promise but insisted that it was equally wrong for him to make them, the children, suffer for it. If they would agree to bring the Mayor back to face justice, would the Piper be prepared to let them go? The Piper was unsure as to whether he could trust them to return; and they were unsure whether he would release them if they did. Eventually both parties agreed to trust one another - but back in Hamelin the children found the Mayor to be a broken man, worn out and sick with worry and guilt over the catastrophe he had caused. Furthermore, he no longer had any money to pay the Piper as it had all been spent on searching for the children. Up to this point, I had been in role as the Piper but now two children, a boy and a girl, took on this role collectively as I continued to play the Mayor.' They listened with great seriousness to the story and then forgave the Mayor on the understanding that he must never break a promise again; and, to help ensure that he wouldn't, the boy-Piper announced that he intended to settle down at last and live in Hamelin, which would enable him to keep an eye on the Mayor.

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