Education
About Education
Introduction
It is becoming increasingly recognised that the youth theatre process makes a valuable contribution to the educational development of young people, in both formal and informal settings. West Lothian Youth Theatre (WLYT) is at the forefront of developing techniques within the youth theatre process which maximise educational benefits to participants and which can be developed and refined for application within formal education.
In Depth:
WLYT is committing significant resources to develop strategies to ensure the values of the youth theatre process in formal and informal education. Key features of this development are:
• the creation of a skills based youth theatre curriculum and accreditation scheme to ensure the achievement of specific drama skills by participants;
• the development of strategies within our approach to workshop planning which ensure that the educational benefits of the youth theatre process are maximised; and
• the application of youth theatre techniques within formal education as an aid to traditional teaching methods.
The WLYT curriculum is a games based curriculum which encourages the development of drama skills in a fun and informal environment. Skills are taught at an age appropriate level, using games and simple exercises as a starting point for the work. Within any one academic year, ample time is left for consolidation of skills learnt through the creation of devised pieces and the performance of these at a level appropriate to the participants' own desires.
The goal of maximising educational development through the youth theatre process is achieved through a number of strategies:
• a physical warm-up at the start of all workshops helps to develop physical coordination, balance, rhythm as well as strength and flexibility;
• simple games are an aid to active learning;
• more complex drama-based games are an aid to creative learning; and
• engagement in the devising of theatre pieces requires the development of creativity, a key requirement identified by employers from future employees.
The application of the youth theatre process within the formal education sector is being developed in the following ways:
• the delivery of drama and video workshops to young people engaged in the Alternative Curriculum at James Young High School in Livingston - teachers reported that students consistently achieved high attendance levels in school on the days on which WLYT workshops were delivered;
• the delivery of Continuous Professional Development workshops on specific curriculum related issues to teachers of drama at secondary level - these score highly in teacher evaluations; the delivery of Continuous Professional Development workshops on the use of drama across the curriculum to primary school teachers - there is a huge demand for these;
• the delivery of Theatre in Education projects - currently a healthy eating project combining teacher CPD, schools workshops and performances of Life's A Pizza.
• The Blackburn project - weekly workshops for two years in two primary schools in Blackburn in collaboration with the National Youth Choir of Scotland, to assess the impact of the regular use of singing and drama games on general levels of achievement and attainment across the school.
• The development and delivery of a project to assess the benefit of using youth theatre techniques to deliver the French curriculum at S1 and S2 in Broxburn Academy - thereby promoting arts across the curriculum.
WLYT has delivered a number of different education projects to young people in West Lothian including:
The Alternative Curriculum This project involved working with pupils using video and drama techniques on the Alternative Curriculum (working with pupils' disaffection with, and disengagement from, the 'normal' curriculum), programme in Armadale Academy and James Young High School. The teacher leading this project said that attendance levels were higher than normal when WLYT were leading some of the sessions.
It is becoming increasingly recognised that the youth theatre process makes a valuable contribution to the educational development of young people, in both formal and informal settings. West Lothian Youth Theatre (WLYT) is at the forefront of developing techniques within the youth theatre process which maximise educational benefits to participants and which can be developed and refined for application within formal education.
In Depth:
WLYT is committing significant resources to develop strategies to ensure the values of the youth theatre process in formal and informal education. Key features of this development are:
• the creation of a skills based youth theatre curriculum and accreditation scheme to ensure the achievement of specific drama skills by participants;
• the development of strategies within our approach to workshop planning which ensure that the educational benefits of the youth theatre process are maximised; and
• the application of youth theatre techniques within formal education as an aid to traditional teaching methods.
The WLYT curriculum is a games based curriculum which encourages the development of drama skills in a fun and informal environment. Skills are taught at an age appropriate level, using games and simple exercises as a starting point for the work. Within any one academic year, ample time is left for consolidation of skills learnt through the creation of devised pieces and the performance of these at a level appropriate to the participants' own desires.
The goal of maximising educational development through the youth theatre process is achieved through a number of strategies:
• a physical warm-up at the start of all workshops helps to develop physical coordination, balance, rhythm as well as strength and flexibility;
• simple games are an aid to active learning;
• more complex drama-based games are an aid to creative learning; and
• engagement in the devising of theatre pieces requires the development of creativity, a key requirement identified by employers from future employees.
The application of the youth theatre process within the formal education sector is being developed in the following ways:
• the delivery of drama and video workshops to young people engaged in the Alternative Curriculum at James Young High School in Livingston - teachers reported that students consistently achieved high attendance levels in school on the days on which WLYT workshops were delivered;
• the delivery of Continuous Professional Development workshops on specific curriculum related issues to teachers of drama at secondary level - these score highly in teacher evaluations; the delivery of Continuous Professional Development workshops on the use of drama across the curriculum to primary school teachers - there is a huge demand for these;
• the delivery of Theatre in Education projects - currently a healthy eating project combining teacher CPD, schools workshops and performances of Life's A Pizza.
• The Blackburn project - weekly workshops for two years in two primary schools in Blackburn in collaboration with the National Youth Choir of Scotland, to assess the impact of the regular use of singing and drama games on general levels of achievement and attainment across the school.
• The development and delivery of a project to assess the benefit of using youth theatre techniques to deliver the French curriculum at S1 and S2 in Broxburn Academy - thereby promoting arts across the curriculum.
WLYT has delivered a number of different education projects to young people in West Lothian including:
The Alternative Curriculum This project involved working with pupils using video and drama techniques on the Alternative Curriculum (working with pupils' disaffection with, and disengagement from, the 'normal' curriculum), programme in Armadale Academy and James Young High School. The teacher leading this project said that attendance levels were higher than normal when WLYT were leading some of the sessions.
West Lothian Youth Theatre
The Playshed
Maree Walk
Craigshill
Livingston
EH54 5BP
The Playshed
Maree Walk
Craigshill
Livingston
EH54 5BP
2005 West Lothian Youth Theatre | xhtml
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