A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/131594 Copyright and reuse: 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. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at:
[email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Learning to Teach Moral Education through Drama in a Chinese Primary School By Mengyu Feng A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor Philosophy Centre for Education Studies March 2019 Abstract This thesis explores the possibilities of introducing drama to facilitate primary children’s moral learning in the Chinese educational context. As she is an inexperienced teacher, the author also focuses on her own self-improvement in learning to teach through educational drama as well as examining drama’s potential to complement the moral education curriculum for primary aged children in China. The thesis begins with a literature review that explores the authority-oriented nature of the moral education curriculum in mainland China and points out that basic challenges still exist in the current course despite reforms that have been implemented since 1999 on a national scale. It then argues for the potential of story-based drama as an innovative pedagogy that may help students develop their autonomous moral thinking as a way to address some of the shortcomings that exist in the present moral curriculum.