DEMO:DRAM Project
Summary
Democracy Through Drama is an exciting Erasmus funded project to explore the use of dramatic pedagogies in secondary schools across Europe.
Aim of the project
DEMO:DRAM aims to create a bank of pedagogical tools to assist secondary school teachers of the arts and humanities to work with their students in exploring issues of social justice and student voice: issues at the heart of a well-functioning democracy.
Background
The partners in Democracy Through Drama are united by a common concern about the state and status of democracy in Europe as time pressures on teachers increase and space for discussion of crucial issues is so often closed down.
Purpose of the project
By drawing on dramatic pedagogies we believe it is possible to recreate space in the classroom for discussions which are both informed by, and model, democratic processes and values. It is hoped that the impact of such an approach will be to capture the democratic imagination of students and encourage critical civic engagement in communities across Europe, strengthening the very core of democracy, the people.
Birmingham City University is the lead partner of Democracy Through Drama and has responsibility of overseeing the project as a whole and producing an open-access e-book of teacher resources developed in conjunction with secondary school teachers throughout Europe.
Each partner organisation heads a discussion group of secondary school teachers of the arts and humanities in order to better understand the complexities of the issues facing teachers in each country. If you are interested in joining one of these discussion groups please contact the relevant partner via the e-mail address found on the partner pages.
Partner Profiles
Heartlands Academy, England
Two Heartlands Academy staff are involved with the Democracy Through Drama project, Edward Lee and Miss Orlagh Russell. Mr Lee is a drama teacher (Head of Department) of 5 years’ experience and also a ‘Specialist Leader in Education’ with focus areas of drama curriculum and assessment. Miss Russell is in her second year as a Drama teacher and is valued by the academy as an outstanding practitioner.
InSite Drama Nonprofit Kft, Hungary
Adam Bethlenfalvy (PhD) works as project leader, theatre and drama education practitioner; Adam has worked in theatre in education in Hungary and the UK since 1998 as facilitator, actor and director. He was Chair of OMC expert group on the promotion of creative partnerships (2012-2014) and has been International Officer of Hungarian Drama and Theatre Education Association (2006-2010).
Adam Cziboly, PhD was project manager of 14 larger international projects and another approx. 150 smaller projects in the past ten years as the strategic leader of Káva Drama/Theatre in Education Association. He led a Comenius Multilateral Project called "DICE" with the participation of 12 countries, the first in-depth research into the impact of drama and theatre education methods on Lisbon key competencies. He worked in the field of advocacy for drama education both in Hungary and at EU level in Brussels. He has organised and also participated in master classes of drama education, facilitated drama projects and training for organisations as well.
More info: InSite Drama Nonprofit Kft
Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA), Greece
Stephanos Cherouvis holds an MPhil in Linguistics from Trinity College Dublin and has recently submitted a PhD in Philosophy of Science in University College Dublin. He has worked as a Senior Tutor in Philosophy and Linguistics in UCD and as a Visiting Lecturer in Academic Writing in Birmingham City University. He has experience as a Local Authority Advisor on Educational Policy and Ethics. He has also worked as a Consultant on Language & Transferable Skills and as a TV Educational Content Manager. He has designed and delivered numerous training courses in Critical Reasoning, Writing Skills, Informal Logic, OERs and eLearning. He has a long interest and experience in good practices, in supporting teachers as change agents and in community building in education across Europe mostly as part of European projects. He has been conducting extensive research on school innovation, parental engagement, organisational intelligence, inclusion and the growth and impact of online Teacher Learning (T/L) communities and their role in the continuous development of teachers.
More info: Ellinogermaniki Agogi
The Children's Rights Knowledge Centre, (KeKi), Belgium
Ms. Sara Lembrechts finalised her specialisation MA in Childhood Studies & Children's Rights from the Free University of Berlin in August 2013. She also has an LLM in International & European Law and a BA in European Studies, both from the University of Maastricht. She worked as an intern with Amnesty International in New Zealand, with UNICEF in Geneva and with the Belgian National Commission on Children’s Rights (NCRK). Sara has been a researcher and policy advisor at KeKi since 2012. Sara is also a trained actress involved in the theatre group Tink Tank Performances, which employs the methods of "Theatre of the Oppressed" to engage with a socially vulnerable public on challenges encountered when upbringing children.
Ms. Nele Willems studied Pedagogical Sciences with a specialisation in Social Welfare Studies at Ghent University. She worked as attaché for the study department of the League of Families from 2000 to 2005. There she was responsible for the preparation and monitoring of files relating to education and training, youth and children. In 2006, she took up the coordination of the Children’s Rights Coalition Flanders. She worked out several thematic studies, including "violence against children", "failure and exclusion at school” and “perceptions of children and young people”.
More info: The Children's Rights Knowledge Centre
Roma Tre University, Italy
Gilberto Scaramuzzo is head of the MimesisLab – Laboratory for Pedagogy of Expression and director of the Master in Pedagogy of Expression at Roma Tre University - Department of Science of Education. He is lecturer of Philosophy of Education, Theatre and Education, Modern Theory of Education and Pedagogy of Expression. He has been visiting researcher and professor at the University of Valencia; visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. He is an actor and a director and was the principal of a school training professional actors in Rome. For ten years he was a street performer and performed as a mime artist in several European Countries. He used to work as an educator with people with disabilities and with youth entrusted to educative institutions. He was a member of the board of directors of Istituto di studi pirandelliani e sul Teatro contemporaneo (Institute of studies on Pirandello and on Contemporary Theatre) and a member of the Scientific committee of the Department of juvenile justice of the Ministery of Justice in Italy.
More info: Roma Tre University
Contact Details
For more information on the DEMO:DRAM Project please contact Eleni Kanira on:
- Email: Eleni.Kanira@bcu.ac.uk
- Phone: +44 (0) 121 331 7756