i Does site-specific, community theatre create change in an educational framework and how is this change demonstrated? Sharon Lee McCutcheon BA, DipEd, MA The University of Sydney The Sydney School of Education and Social Work Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 27th, 2019 Sharon McCutcheon 27/02/19 ii This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge; the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any other degree or any other purpose. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged. 27/02/19 Signed ………………………………… Date ……………………………. Sharon McCutcheon 27/02/19 iii ACKOWLEDGEMENTS Sincere thanks go to my supervisors, Professor Michael Anderson and Dr Kelly Freebody for their support, advice and words of wisdom throughout my research project. I would also like to thank Professor Paul Chandler for his advice regarding my research into the experience of Indigenous students in NSW. To the Sydney University librarians for their support and patience with my needs as a distance education student. My colleagues, Geoff Perrem and Suzie Taplin, for their insight, companionship and confidence during international presentations and workshops on my thesis and its evolution. The staff, students and community members interviewed for my study; their trust and belief in my project has been integral to its success. To Lexie Meyer for her lucid advice regarding referencing and editing sources and Ian Dawson for his patience, technological support and guidance. And lastly to my mother, Diana Guthrie, my children, Jake and Jordan, my partner and my extended family for their unflappable tolerance, perseverance and serenity in the face of a sometimes very perplexing journey. Their belief and confidence in my abilities and thesis subject matter has been fundamental in the successful completion of this project. Their encouragement has been inspirational. Sharon McCutcheon 27/02/19 iv ABSTRACT This thesis explores the effects of a large-scale, site-specific, community modelled arts production called The Journey, staged within a New South Wales public High School in July, 2012. The purpose of this research is to answer the question: Does site-specific, community theatre create change in an educational framework and how is this change demonstrated? The experience of staging this production and its’ immediate legacy has provided evidence of the potential of the arts as a tool to improve student engagement, teacher satisfaction and the community perception of schools and their inhabitants. The findings chapters in this thesis consider the perspectives of the staff, student and community participants; examining their views on self-development and the development of their school and community, pre and post The Journey production. The theatre model which informed The Journey is based on Freire’s model of education or “conscientization” proposed in his 1970 text Pedagogy of the Oppressed. This model rejects what Freire calls “banking education” (which presumes participants are empty vessels like “piggy banks” that need filling); and instead draws on the existing knowledge and skill base of the participants to encourage authentic learning and critical thinking. The predominant themes that emerge in this thesis are derived from the central finding that The Journey had a positive effect on its’ host school and that it is the model of community theatre which was responsible for the constructive transformation of many established relationships amongst the study participants. The community theatre model removes status as a management tool and instead relies on reciprocated learning, shared responsibility and an authentic unity of all participants to work successfully towards a common goal. Another key theme that emerged through this research project is the potential of site-specific theatre to challenge and re-define the school’s spaces and thus the role and politic assigned to these spaces by the individuals involved in the production. The study shows that site-specific theatre influenced the school’s learning culture and re-framed the wider community’s attitude towards the school, its inhabitants and function. The interview research for this dissertation was completed one year after The Journey had concluded when the legacy of the community arts event was still contemporary to the school context; therefore, providing evidence as to the immediate effectiveness of this kind of arts project in a High School. However, it also highlights the need for a longitudinal case study to consider how long these positive effects last and the long-term ramifications for the school’s immediate and wider communities combined. Sharon McCutcheon 27/02/19 v Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 1 Chapter 2 - Literature Review Page 6 Chapter 3 – Research Methodology Page 46 Chapter 4 - Context for Study Page 70 Chapter 5 - Staff Findings Page 78 Chapter 6 - Student Findings Page 112 Chapter 7 - Circus Findings Page 140 Chapter 8 – Indigenous Student Engagement Page 168 Chapter 9 - Community Findings Page 185 Chapter 10 - Family Findings Page 206 Chapter 11 - Conclusions Page 223 Reference List Page 236 Appendices Page 264 1) Sydney University ethics approval Page 264 2) Archival research (sample) newspaper article Page 265 3) Interview transcript (sample) Page 270 4) Research journal (samples) Page 272 Sharon McCutcheon 27/02/19 vi GRAPH Graph 1. The Journey Research Design Page 54 FIGURES Figure 1. Bob invites staff and parents into his senior computing class, Duruga High School, November 2013. Page 110 Figure 2. Matthew (on tissu1), at eye level with the audience before his ‘drop’ The Journey, July 2012. Page 126 Figure 3. Remi (Odysseus) and Annie (his side kick), ‘sailing’ into a playground stage space filled with family and community members as audience during The Journey, July 2012. Page 137 Figure 4. Eliza and other members of the school’s circus troupe twirling fire during The Journey, July 2012. Page 146 Figure 5. Matthew and Adam, Hannah and Eliza performing an aerial tissu or silks routine in The Journey, July 2012. Page 153 Figure 6. Adam and Matthew lifting Eliza and Lucy in an adagio2 routine in The Journey, July 2012. Page 154 Figure 7. Circus students from the school’s troupe lift aerialists onto the triple trapeze during a scene entitled “underworld” during The Journey, July 2012. Page 158 Figure 8. Lucy stands on top of a three-high pyramid during a scene entitled “underworld” during The Journey, July 2012. Page 159 1 The tissu or silks is an aerial circus apparatus made up of suspended fabric. The fabric is a specialised material known as ‘carol’. A length twice the required height is passed through a rated swivel and a protective sleeve to the mid-point then knotted in a figure eight. All tricks on this apparatus are done at several metres above the ground. (McCutcheon, & Perrem, 2003) 2 Adagio is a circus discipline that requires hand to hand balancing (McCutcheon, & Perrem, 2003). Sharon McCutcheon 27/02/19 vii Figure 9. ‘Poseidon’ is lowered through a sky light inside Duruga High School to seek revenge on ‘Athena’ in the ‘Battle Scene’ The Journey, July 2012. Page 192 Figure 10. ‘Athena’ stands on the roof of the walkway or ‘Valhalla’ and challenges the audience to help her. Page 194 Figure 11. Interval of The Journey in ‘Hades’ where cast, crew and audience members stood around fire pits eating, drinking and talking together. Page 198 Sharon McCutcheon 27/02/19 1 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Nature of Schools Schools are social institutions and education is a process where the child is guided through the practice of coming to share in social consciousness through the regulation of their behaviour (Dewey, 1897). Schools are populated by students and staff collectively which operate largely within in the confines of the school buildings. What makes schools challenging places to undertake learning is the diverse nature of their inhabitants and the various cultural and personal beliefs they bring to their place. This observation is also true of workplaces; however, work situations tend to involve adults who theoretically have the freedom to move between occupations if they feel uncomfortable or undervalued. In other communities, people tend to self-regulate in terms of age, race, gender or other cultural and social beliefs. However, in schools, people are forced to work cohesively to function effectively and complete the goals of societies’ educational establishments. School is a place of compulsory attendance where staff are often seen as the “oppressors” or enemy by the students (Johnson, & O’Brien, 2002), a label imposed when staff assume a higher status, commanding authority based on position and power. As Freire argues (1970), when students view teachers as powerful beings who impose knowledge, rather than promote authentic, critical thinking based on understanding, experience and invention, schools cease to work as effective educational institutions. Freire (1970) argues people (all people) need to have a “voice”, and when they have a voice that is being heard in an authentic, constructive way they are more likely to speak, teach and learn from others. 1.2 The Arts in Schools One method of raising positive social interaction and promoting creative, critical thinking is through the arts (Anderson, 2012; Caldwell, & Vaughan, 2012; Ewing, 2010a, 2010b). The literature in this area (reviewed in chapter 2 of this thesis) already establishes a firm foundational understanding of such work as potentially transformative. This transformation is examined through literature reviewed in 3 basic sections: 1) ‘Personal Transformation’ with a focus on the arts in schools, 2) ‘Physical Transformation’ through the medium of site-specific theatre combined with the model of community theatre and 3) the ‘Transformation of Learning Culture in Schools’.