Children's Theatre (2006) Journal Two

'Managerial reform is being driven by industry and a political ideology committed to privatisation and cost cutting’.[1]

Some important findings have surfaced this week. Through lengthy discussions with my friend, and editor, Tiffany, I was able to better understand the paradox that I had discovered in last week’s opening quote. How can the ‘idea’ of Outcomes Based Learning be accepted as a ‘good one’ yet it yields so many issues and problems in practice? As I understand it, the new system relies on a bottom-up approach to student learning and achieving outcomes. From what I have now found, the problem arises because the assessment components are still relying on a top-down approach. Can the new system work successfully if both conflicting approaches are conducted simultaneously?

The new managerialist approach is beginning to sound extremely politically motivated… I know… shock horror! All of the positive comments that I have discovered so far tend to be vocalised from politically backed corners of society. For instance, Alan Carpenter commented on the new system stating that ‘this change is absolutely critical to the long term interests of our students… it’s a change that will work’.[2] Even David Axworthy from the Western Australian Curriculum Council supports the system as it offers students ‘courses of study that are far more relevant and interesting to their needs’.[3] These comments are positively glowing, but what is the cost to the teachers’ workloads and the school environment in general. ‘One of the major proponents of the new managerialism asserts that the system aim should always be to get more from less’ (Davies, 1996:13). Could that be true in this case?

One thing I am noticing is the lengthy, and negative responses to the new outcomes system; it just seems that everyone wants to ‘stick the boot in’. So, as a result I will set two constraints on such commentary. By next week I plan to present all of my current research and discuss the negative aspects of the Outcomes Based Education that I can find. Then later in the semester, I plan to construct, carry out and report back the findings of a class survey. I will only confine my discussion about the negative aspects of the system to these two weeks, thus allowing me to talk about the other aspects of my objectives. At this point in time, all I seem to talk about is why the new system doesn’t work, defend why I think it does and then run out of time to discuss how I feel I can improve it.

With that in mind, this week I want to talk about how I will go about meeting the objectives related to the Educational Pack. To begin with, the contents of the pack provide the teachers with information and a guide to develop learning in their classroom after their students see the production. In previous years, the themes of Australian animals, Olympic events, Pirates and the general ED Pack information have been based on tangible concepts, if not ideological notions. Fairies and Goblins are mythical, and are therefore difficult to report upon. How can teachers take the ED Pack seriously if its content is based on fictitious information? How can I tie it into the Outcomes Based Learning system?

Over the last month I’ve questioned this problem, and believe an important approach to creating the ED Pack will be to focus upon the fairies surrounding environment. Creating activities like ‘How to make your garden fairy friendly’ could use the child’s interest in fairies (or the production) to help look at the student’s immediate environment (i.e. Arts in Society). Furthermore, in the information section, blatant ‘facts’ about fairies would be useless for teachers; perhaps an investigation of the history of myths and fairytales would be of more use. By studying, say, where goblins originated in folktales, we would be able to provide teachers with a history and factual representation of the geography in question. In this instance, Arts in Society could be expanded upon.

Before I go, I must mention the events of today, namely the Circus Skills workshop. Often the highlight of the semester (not suggesting it’s all down hill from here), Reg’s ‘style’ of teaching is so fantastic to watch. Declaring right from the start that a considerable fraction of what he tells you will not be the truth, I find Reg’s pedagogical approach to be very clever. He grabbed our attention, and step-by-step, took us through each trick individually. Each piece of equipment had a story, which allowed the students to easily remember how to use it; and even step-by-step activities didn’t always start from the beginning. For juggling, Reg started with two-ball, then three-ball tricks, and then digressed to scarves (which is, of course, easier). Pedagogical advice often warns potential teachers to avoid such approaches, however it works for Reg. It shows me that the pedagogical suggestions or advice that I intend to provide this semester may work for me, but it may not necessary work for all.

[1] O’Brien, P. and Down, B. (2002) ‘What are teachers saying about new managerialism?’ in Journal of Educational Enquiry, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2002, p.18

[2] Alan Carpenter, Western Australian Premier, interviewed on Seven News, Network Seven, broadcast on the 1^st of February 2006

[3] David Axworthy, Western Australian Curriculum Council, reported on Seven News, Network Seven, broadcast on the 31^st of January 2006.

‘…they are very much a part of the “skill set” students need to become productive workers’ [1]

Just a quick note on the charcoaling process today. As basic as the activity is, I had never seen it in action previously. It will be a useful skill as it will be great to use in future school productions and alike, however it also works through the hidden curriculum. The hidden curriculum looks beyond the set objectives, and deals with the results or improvements that the student can achieve through such interactions. In this case, the students’ process can create pride and ownership of their work, thus self-esteem and self-motivation can be encouraged. These outcomes are just as important in the school process as they can also encourage accountability and self-discipline through individual student learning.

[1] Eisner, E. W. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind, Yale University Press: New Haven and London, p34.

‘Today in my suitcase I packed… a rubber duck, a German tourist, a set of bathroom scales, a kite, a half eaten Mars bar, a tortoise, a Mills and Boon novel, a set of encyclopaedia (except for the ‘K’), a spare light blub, a spare light socket, a half painted Children’s Theatre backdrop, a set of fine crystal glassware and sauerkraut for the German tourist’

I was again in Nexus today, this time painting. It is such a great activity, however more importantly, it is vital in the whole process of the production. Activities such as painting and set construction are examples of real jobs that students will experience if the continue in the theatre business. In the school environment, authentic assessment reproduces ‘real world’ activities that correspond to actual employment responsibilities. This is probably my biggest area of focus with my lesson planning; how does this activity/assessment connect with the real world? All students need to learn skills that will improve their job opportunities in the future, such knowledge in painting (as basic as it sounds), will become useful and empowering.

'Plato viewed education in the arts as dangerous to the social fabric of society' [1]

Auditions today, and perhaps one of the first times that I didn’t feel at all nervous. The group this year is quite an intimidating lot, however the talent is extremely high. I guess I felt happy I wasn’t Jenny or Darren; trying to cast this year looks impossible. As I stated today, last year (and the previous one) I didn’t audition for the character I received. My talents, or skills, will be placed where they are needed. If it’s a non-talking role that focuses on Commedia del Arte, then that is my part. I somehow fit into this production, but I wasn’t going to get nervous trying to find out where.

Before I go on school experience next week, I wanted to address some very relevant issues to do with my research and teaching in general. Education is, and should always be, critically examined by society. Maybe not to the extent of Plato in the above quote, however when we are teaching the ‘new generation’, we should always question the way we intend to do so. A report by Phyllis Schlafly (1993) outlines some major concerns of the new system. I found it through, funnily enough, PLATO(WA) (People lobbying against teaching outcomes). [2] The report, titled ‘What’s wrong with Outcome-Based Education?’, presents ten reasons why the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) system is failing.

To address such a report with respect, I feel it is important to list most of the objections, be it only briefly. To start with, Schlafly suggests the system is ‘packaged in a deceptive language’ (Schlafly, 1993) and it misleads parents. From what I’ve seen it can also confuse teachers, which impedes them from successfully doing their jobs. The list also states that the ‘OBE uses students as guinea pigs in vast social experiments’ (Schlafly, 1993). This point, however, is possibly the one I agree with the least, as school itself is one large social experiment. Socialization of ethnicity and gender, indoctrination of school or cultural pride are frequent ways ‘experiments’ are seen in our schools; through implicit and explicit teaching. How can one ‘view’ of ‘guinea pig experiments’ be accepted, while the other is opposed?

The report goes on to suggest that the ‘OBE offers no method of accountability to students, parents, teachers, or taxpayers’ (Schlafly, 1993). This is a tricky point, and it is something that will lead most of my investigation throughout the semester. I would like to examine ways to demystify the approach taken in the OBE, as I agree that the ‘vague and subjective “learning outcomes”… cannot be measured objectively by standardized tests’ (Schlafly, 1993). I would like to find an approach that fulfils aspects of the learning outcomes, and successfully meets with assessment criteria.

The report also states that the OBE replaces factual subject matter with subjective learning outcomes, and suggest it is a ‘dumbed-down egalitarian scheme’ (Schlafly, 1993). In addition, these ‘outcomes’ are concerned with values rather than objective information (Schlafly, 1993). The notion of unrestricted teaching is a dangerous area, how can a consistency of education occur? This is a direction to delve into and perhaps suggest some ways to improve approaches. For instance, ‘self-esteem’ is listed as a ‘major attitudinal demanded by OBE’ (Schlafly, 1993). This brings up the issues of how you can measure and assess such an outcome, yet still focus on teaching children; not just babysitting them.

Unfortunately, that’s what Outcomes-based Education is – a process for government telling our children how to live, what to say, what to think, what to know, and what not to know… what they do not know will be everything else. And because they won’t know the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, they won’t be able to find out (Schlafly, 1993).

I understand that there are problems with the system, however we must make it work for the students we teach. To say it doesn’t work (whether that opinion is right or wrong) will not help our students. Now that I have addressed a number of oppositions to the new system, I intend to look at possible solutions for the classroom, especially in the area of Drama. I will try to avoid addressing the pros or cons of the system, and rather focus on creating meaningful pedagogies and assessment pieces for students and teachers.

[1] Gardner, H. (1990) Art Education and Human Development, The J. Getty Museum: Los Angeles, ix

[2] http://www.platowa.com/

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