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Investigating the affinity between drama/theatre education and aretaic pedagogy : a phenomenographic case study of a teacher education programme

In synchronous educational discourse, teaching is predominantly perceived in terms of competences and scientific knowledge. In this thesis, I suggest an alternative understanding of teaching as an ethical, virtue-driven practice. This premise, while it is based on the idea of educating learners as persons, instead of simply teaching them knowledge and skills, postulates the practice of aretaic pedagogy. In drawing upon an Aristotelian view of virtue ethics and MacIntyre’s theory of practice, this study investigates the potential contribution of two courses, Drama Education and Theatre Education and Theatrical Play, to the promotion of the student primary teachers’ conception of teaching as aretaic pedagogy. Both courses are those I teach within the context of a teacher education programme at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. Two qualitative methodological traditions contributed to the design of this study: case study and phenomenography. The research participants were six student primary teachers who attended the courses. Data emanated from both narrative/text-based and audio-visual-based methods, over the course of one academic year. In attempting to satisfy the research paradigm of both methodologies, the schema of analysis that I adopted was constructed on open-coding strategies and categorical aggregation consistent with constant comparative analysis. Findings indicate that the courses’ ensemble-based artistic work is the poetic space, which enables participants to practice both personal and professional virtues. Their personal aretaic development can be defined by virtues originated by dialogue, the beautiful, the will and consciousness. A nexus of these virtues, such as joy, trust and friendship/love are embedded in their pedagogy of drama/theatre education, which fortify their communication, playfulness, vigilance and artistry.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:704110
Date January 2016
CreatorsHadjipanteli, Angela
PublisherUniversity of Warwick
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/86142/

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