Sexism: an examination of the role of the teacher in drama in education

Abstract

This study examines three elements: sexism, drama in education and the role of the teacher, towards increasing understanding of how sexism is reinforced. It focusses on one curriculum area; drama in education; and examines the unconscious or covert sexism that is manifest in everyday drama teaching. While recognising that both teachers' and pupils' assumptions contribute to sexism, this study focusses on the teacher using the medium of drama. The lessons described and discussed are taken from one of three sources: video recordings, published accounts, personal observations in schools. These lessons are analysed from feminist perspectives and relate findings to the broader research on sexism in education. The analyses seek to a) show how an individual teacher's assumptions and values shape students' potential learning in drama, and b) examine taken-for-granted pedagogical assumptions inherent in drama in education's philosophy and practice. The study reminds drama teachers that they are in a powerful position to influence values and attitudes and encourages them first to make conscious their own values in education, before adopting drama methods and strategies which are themselves implicitly value-laden.