华威大学

Course Overview

This MA programme offers students an in-depth insight into the ways drama and theatre education can enhance teaching and learning in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as in applied and community settings. We introduce you to a range of hybrid pedagogic strategies that are underpinned by rigor and that aspire to make learning accessible, playful, creative and engaging. We celebrate drama and theatre as subjects in their own right whilst also recognising the substantive body of evidence-based research into the ways drama and theatre can be used as pedagogical tools across the curriculum and for community purposes. This MA is aimed at practitioners, or aspiring practitioners, working in schools and colleges, and community and educational theatre settings.

The course of study provides a planned and structured programme, which is sufficiently flexible to respond to the needs of a wide range of pedagogic and cultural contexts. Practical activities are at the heart of our course structure, so there will be a number of opportunities to work with your peers, collaborating, debating, and researching practical solutions. Your interdisciplinary skill set will be developed throughout the MA, enabling you to pursue a diverse array of career pathways.

Teaching and Assessment

This course provides practical experience of a wide range of drama and theatre practices. The weekly practical workshops are run by Module Leaders, invited guests, and students themselves. These workshops give you hands-on experience of drama as well as methods and ideas for using drama and theatre in your workplace. The core modules on this course are assessed through a combination of essays and performances. You’ll also complete a dissertation based on an individual research project, with support from a member of academic staff. You will have 9 hours core contact time in Autumn and Spring Term plus rehearsal time and regular trips to local schools and theatres and guest lectures and performances throughout the year.

Skills from this degree

• Pedagogic, management and artistic skills you need to be an effective teacher and practitioner in drama
• Construct a framework for the effective delivery of a drama curriculum in your own professional context. This includes progression, assessment and course design
• Complete a small scale research project into an aspect of your professional work
• Understand the place of drama in the current National Curriculum Orders. Be able to devise policies and strategies for the implementation of drama
• Be able to draw on contemporary theory, practice and criticism in the field of theatre and evaluate its relevance to drama education
• Understand the theoretical and practical relationships between drama in education and other genres of theatre; particularly community theatre and Theatre in Education

Careers

Graduates from these courses have gone on to work for employers including: Academy 360; Ark Schools; British Council; Department of Education; E-Act; Oxfordshire County Council; PricewaterhouseCoopers and Royal Academy of Engineering. They have pursued roles such as: actors, entertainers and presenters; business, research and administrative professionals; chief executives and senior officials; education advisers and school inspectors; further education teaching professionals and vocational and industrial trainers and instructors.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

• Careers in Education
• Careers with Children and Young People
• Warwick careers fairs throughout the year