'Teaching is performing' a case study of secondary performing arts teacher trainees' perceptions of role

Abstract

This thesis examines teacher trainees' experiences during a pre-service graduate secondary performing arts course in 1995. It explores the trainees' perceptions of the roles they adopted during the year - as performers, teachers and trainees. It also discusses the role conflict they encountered and the place that reflection played in their learning about teaching. A class production in the middle of the year provided complementary data to that collected during the year. It is suggested that the production could be described as a metaphor for the year. One of the major themes which emerges in relation to role adoption concerns the relationship between performer and teacher. A sub theme to emerge from this is whether or not teachers need to be good performing artists in order to teach the performing arts well. To what extent secondary teachers should continue as performers of their chosen art form whilst they are teaching is a further sub theme. The grounded theory which emerges from this study suggests that people who have experience in performing will readily adopt the roles required of teachers because their performer experiences have taught them the processes of role taking. Likewise they should have no difficulty in becoming reflective practitioners because the processes of reflection are integral to successful performance. The thesis looks at the issue of personal versus professional development and proposes that given the time constraints of a one year teacher training programme, it might be as profitable to design a course which focuses on personal and interpersonal skills rather than pedagogical ones.