Drama as education is a relatively young concern, which has been primarily occupied with developing a strong tradition of practice. As a result it has suffered from a dearth of theoretical and critical engagement. This situation has led to the existence of a range of unquestioned beliefs and practices that underpin much of the governance, traditions, knowledge and operation of drama in educational settings. The thesis examines the existence and location of the community of drama as education, reviews the discourse of the community, and seeks to understand previous attempts at demythologising. This thesis proposes a critical understanding of the idea of myth in order that it can be used in a positive and beneficial manner. Utilising a post-modern critical research methodology, it constructs a bricolage of theoretical perspectives that collectively are used to locate, identify and interrogate areas of myth. A new typography of myth reveals four dominant areas of operation, and examines the manner in which myths impact upon the educational and cultural institutions in which they occur. The forces that conceive of, operate and perpetuate myth are understood to be language, power and ideology. These elements operate in conjunction with each other, with human agency at the helm. The thesis is in nine chapters. Chapter 1 sets the scene and introduces the range of the research. It is followed by Chapter 2 which seeks to put in place a range of theoretical perspectives upon which the methodology is constructed. Chapter 3 provides further theoretical insight into the location of the research, and Chapter 4 constructs a critical mythic bricolage, defines its usage, and proposes a contemporary typology of myth. Chapter 5 identifies the ‘Point of Entry Text’ – the primary school drama curriculum in the Republic of Ireland, and deals with the category of governing myths. Chapter 6 is concerned with traditional myths, Chapter 7 examines epistemological myths, and Chapter 8 teases out operational myths. Finally, Chapter 9 looks to the future of myth after demythologising, and seeks to begin engaging with the inevitable process of remythologising.

Musical activities are at the centre of Music on the Lap, a Dutch approach to early childhood music education. The present study takes an in-depth look at the role of movement in these musical activities and thereby focuses on the representation of musical elements through movement. This study has among its aims the raising of more awareness for the conscious use of movement in early childhood music education. Departing from an embodied approach within an interpretative design, the premise of the current study is that movement should be considered an important form of kinaesthetic representation through which preschool children can come to understand and learn different aspects of music. The musical movement responses of children aged 18 to 36 months in a regular Music on the Lap setting were investigated. The musical movement behaviour of the children, during specific musical activities, was captured on DVD and the individual responses of 27 children were analysed. Interviews with the participating teacher provided important additional information. Through microanalysis of the children’s movements, the study arrived at a theoretical interpretation: movement responses to music can be considered enactive symbols, creating direct and indirect representations of musical characteristics. To further musical learning the movements should be firmly based in a temporal framework of aural and verbal connotations in order to stimulate purposeful movement responses. This temporal framework should be structured by the teacher through a process of appropriate movement models and verbal guidance to arrive at meaningful movement actions, which can consequently generate implicit and explicit musical kinaesthetic and musical representational knowledge. In this process the children are actively participating to construct with body and mind their own musical knowledge.

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This study sets out to interpret pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions about learning in visual arts in the context of the third year visual art class of one of the three specialist arts schools in Greece. The rationale for the research was to understand how pupils and teachers in this type of specialist arts school perceived the learning process, which could have some transfer value to other contexts of learning in the visual art subject. The research may contribute to the body of knowledge and the practice of art education in Greece, and possibly inform future curriculum development in the subject. In Greece, since 1985, the development of art education and pupils’ aesthetic understanding has been one of the five fundamental aims for secondary and primary education. To improve art education at the primary and secondary level, the Greek Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs has undertaken several initiatives. One such initiative has been the development of specialist arts schools. These alternative specialist schools exist in several European countries. In 2003 the Greek Ministry of Education announced the establishment of the first arts school of the country. The year the research was conducted 2008-2009, three arts schools were operated in Greece. The research endeavoured to understand issues related to the learning process in one of the new specialist arts schools, as perceived by third year pupils (aged fourteen and fifteen years old) and their visual art teachers. The research used the interpretive research paradigm, as it is the most suitable method to explore the socio-cultural reality in which the pupils and teachers are situated. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews, observations, and focus groups. The analysis of findings revealed a learning experience very closely related with the philosophy and the content of the Greece’s national curriculum of visual art. However, according to the findings of this study further attention needs to be given to the issue of developing imaginative thinking, within the framework of the art curriculum. The study proposes an alternative version of the art curriculum, with a view to facilitating imaginative thinking, in the art curriculum of specialist arts schools in Greece as well as the teaching of art in normal secondary schools. It is hoped that the results of the study will offer ground for discussions and oppositions in the area of art education in Greece, in which area not much research has been undertaken. The study’s proposal for the revisions to the existing art curriculum for the specialist arts schools, as they are resulted from evidences embedded in pupils and teachers views, stress on the significance and the originality of the findings and for this reason it is hoped to concern the writing aspect of Greece’s future curriculum writers. This will add to the development of art education in Greece and further will foster relationships between the members of the particular school where the research was carried out.

Within the framework of education of Music Technology for 16-18 year olds there exists a lack of thorough teaching and learning resources sufficient for a broad understanding of the basics of audio and electronic synthesis. This PhD submission outlines the role of the composer in the classroom in addressing this fundamental issue through the development of a curriculum containing pedagogic composition and interactive software. There will be a discussion of the principles of pedagogic methodologies developed by various composers and of the current model of learning provided in Music Technology Alevel. The programming tools used to develop the software are investigated, as well as an exploration into the current learning psychology that informed the curriculum development. This submission consists of a written thesis that accompanies a set of compositions and a multimedia DVD, which includes the software for the CuDAS curriculum. Within this software is contained a presentation of a series of interactive tutorials alongside compositions in the form of scores, recordings and interactive exercises. There is also include written supporting documentation and sound files of techniques and recordings from contrasting genres of music history.

In the increasingly popular area of research into creativity in education; students’ perceptions of creativity are an important consideration for developing a creative environment. Consequently, student’s perceptions of creative thinking and practice are a key resource for educators to be innovative in creating educational excellence. The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ perceptions about their art classroom environments which either stimulate or inhibit the development of creative thinking and practices, in girls’ intermediate schools (12-15 years) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It addresses the following research question: Is it possible to improve perceptions of creative thinking and practices, of adolescent girls in Saudi Arabia, through control of art classroom environments? There were three parts to this study: firstly, the pre-intervention study to explore and identify a range of factors with potential to influence perceptions of creative thinking and practices; secondly, the main part of the study was the intervention to determine the impact of manipulating classroom variables with potential to influence perceptions of creative thinking and practices; and thirdly, follow up visits to determine whether the environmental changes, and the changes in perceptions, had continued. The samples used in the intervention study were students (n = 225) all from second year classes in nine secondary schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The research findings were obtained by observation using behaviour mapping and Likertscale questionnaires indicated that students’ perceptions of creative thinking and practices were improved through changing table and seating arrangement and wall displays. The contribution to new knowledge in this study will inform participants working within and related to the field of education and in particular art education, proposing considerations for appropriate improvements to learning environments by: · Developing a research process for identifying and testing environmental influences upon the perception of creative thinking and practices. · Evidencing how table and seating arrangement, and wall display, can improve perceptions of creative thinking and practice in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

This study was an exploration of the professional identities of secondary school mid-career art educators through arts-based educational research [ABER]. The aim of this research was to gain understandings of mid-career art educators’ perceptions of their professional identities. Inspired by my personal experiences as an art educator, this study engaged other art educators to visualise their professional identities, as secondary mid-career art educators in England, and contribute new perspectives to the research community. Theoretically, this study is aligned with the writings of Dewey (1934, 1944), Deleuze and Guattari (1987, 1994). Deleuze and Guattari’s post-structural concept of the rhizome formed the basis for the development of the ideas associated with identity. As an assemblage, the rhizome is a complex system based on non-linear, reactionary growth patterns. The non-linear growth of the rhizome is facilitated by the activation of the in-between. As such, the rhizome connects to a view of identity as an unstable, flexible and fragmented entity that is in a constant state of becoming (Bauman, 2000). Dewey’s pragmatism was connected with Deleuzian post-structural theory through the writings of Semetsky (2006). Dewey (1944) and Greene’s (1973, 2003) writings associated with democratic education and artistic development connected these theoretical considerations with constructivism, the arts and education. Sachs’ (2003) writing on progressive and bureaucratic education provided a framework for the discussion of professionalism and professional identities. As a contribution to ABER this study was based on a/r/tography (Springgay et al., 2008) as a methodology and actively integrated image and text to the data collection and data analysis. Collage was used as the main arts-based method to develop responses from the participants and to visualise the participant data. This research asked mid-career art educators with busy lives and demanding occupations to consider who they are and express their views through art. These images of identities reflected the complex in-between-ness of professionalism in education.