Further limitations of the contribution of drama and the arts to the well-being

In Section 2.5.3.4 of the Literature Review, I set out the parameters of what a research project such as mine can be expected to achieve. In doing so, I outlined some of the limitations of my project in order to provide a nuanced understanding of the impact of my initiative. Here, I offer further limitations of the project as these came to light during the analysis of my data.

a. Different children respond differently to dramatic activities and pedagogies. Therefore, I cannot anticipate a homogenous, positive response relating to their well-being. In the case of my project, this was particularly evident when comparing the responses of the YT children, who shared a love for drama and joined the workshops voluntarily, to those of the PS children, for whom attendance in the workshops was mandatory and who did not necessarily have a natural interest in drama. This limitation is brought to light by McLellan et al. (2012) with regard to arts-based approaches in schools for promoting creativity and well-being. They indicate that participants in the projects are not necessarily a homogenous group and that their social circumstances inevitably influence how they interact with such programmes (2012, p. 59). Winston (1996) makes a similar point for drama in particular, arguing that it has no single effect upon a group of children:

Responses can depend upon a number of variations within the individuals watching or participating: their personal cultural baggage, their past narratives and future aspirations, the social nature of the group which shares the drama; or as Robinson insists, whichever ‘self’ happens to be prominent at the moment in time. (1996, p. 195)

b. As mentioned earlier, the responses of my students regarding their well- being, offered before I embarked on the project, were generally positive. This renders my approach, not one which aims towards healing the damaged well- being of children, but one which is concerned with what contribution drama can make towards the personal, social and emotional growth of ordinary children who may already be flourishing in one way or another. Winston’s (2004) metaphors of drama are useful here. I am not looking at drama as a kind of medicine to tackle my students’ personal, social and emotional ills (2004, p. 1). I am rather looking at is as food; it helps us grow, flourish and, when consumed in the company of others, strengthen our social bonds (2004, p. 2). However, as is the case with food, the primary purpose of my dramatic approach was for children to enjoy the aesthetic experience (2004, p. 2). Unlike the practices followed in SEAL and SEE, I placed emphasis on children enjoying drama for its own sake, rather than on fulfilling instrumental objectives regarding their personal, social and emotional health.

4.9

Summary

In the second part of my Data Presentation and Results chapter (Subchapter 4.2), I offered some information on the socio-economic background of the participating students, as these were given to me by their teachers and other knowledgeable people. I consider this information to be essential in providing an informed picture of my students’ well-being, as this is affected by the various socio-economic factors. My findings suggest that the PS and YT students in their majority came from the lower middle class and enjoyed an average financial situation. The educational level

of their parents was relatively high. There were a few children whose families struggled financially and whose parents are either separated or divorced.

In the third part of the chapter (Subchapter 4.3), I focused on one of the key findings of my research which was the expansion of what the concept of child well-being involves. I presented the additional aspects of well-being that came to light during my fieldwork, namely play, beauty and children’s voice. Firstly, I offered the data which I gathered and which prompted me to include each of these categories under the umbrella of well-being. With regard to play, the students appreciated that it is an important element of their overall happiness and a reason why they enjoyed our drama workshops. As far as beauty is concerned, the teachers acknowledged that a beautiful educational environment can make learning and living in school pleasurable and greatly influences the emotional well-being of students. In relation to

children’s voice, student responses to The Red Tree drama workshop (28/5/11) revealed that it is essential for them to know that their opinions and feelings are taken into consideration in order to be happy. I supported the evidence with the theoretical writings of ancient and contemporary philosophers in order to illustrate how these three aspects link to well-being.

In the following part (Subchapter 4.4), I offered my reformed research questions in order to include the three aspects of well-being which came to light during my fieldwork.

In the fifth part of the chapter (Subchapter 4.5), I presented evidence from my project to discuss the factors negatively influencing each one of the areas of children’s well-being that my thesis dealt with, namely happiness and pleasure, children’s

voice. I then supported my evidence mainly with the findings of the Good Childhood report and the Cambridge Primary Review. As my data has revealed, opportunities for the happiness and pleasure of children are reduced because they are a thrown into a battle to succeed academically. They suffer an overload of teaching material, an excessive amount of homework and numerous private afternoon lessons which result in them having little time left for play and pleasure. The sociability and social skills of children are negatively affected by the wave of excessive individualism which encourages them to be self-contained, competitive and unkind towards one another. The new technologies offered to children have changed the face of their play, making it less sociable and more solitary. Moreover, the social and economic inequality among students has been reported to contribute to social exclusion. Literature on the self-esteem and self-confidence of students claims that these areas are affected by their experiences in the testing and assessing of their academic efforts. The majority of the children participating in my research reported to be feeling content with their school progress, while a few expressed their worries regarding school evaluation. With regard to play, children and their parents acknowledged that the former are deprived of their play time. This is not only because of the overload of homework and private afternoon lessons, but also because of the lack of quality play spaces. The beauty of the learning environments in Cyprus is concealed under a pattern of straight lines and dull colours. In an effort to beautify the learning environment of the primary school in my project, the students and teachers created murals on the walls. Opportunities for the expression of

children’s voice were reported to be limited. Teachers acknowledged that this occurs because children have no one to talk to, or because adults lack the patience to listen to them. As a result, the latter end up doing most of the talking and often

replace children’s voices with their own misplaced assumptions as to what children think.

In the sixth part of the Results chapter (Subchapter 4.6), I turned my attention to the educational effort to address the well-being of Cypriot students; the Social and Emotional Educational (SEE) module. In discussing its evidence of impact, the majority of teachers found that it helped their students flourish in different ways: In the development of their social skills; in learning how to manage difficult situations; in expressing their feelings; in achieving conflict resolution; and in dealing with bullying. Nevertheless, some important limitations regarding SEE’s contribution came up. These include difficulties in assessing its impact, the need for its long-term and frequent teaching, as well as the possible overwriting of its contribution by more powerful factors such as those of social inequality and family environment. I concluded this section with the criticisms of SEE offered to me by the teachers, as well as my critical perspective of it informed by my observation of a SEE class. An important point raised by the teachers is that SEE often assigns them the role of a psychologist because it invites sensitive issues for discussion and because it encourages students to share their personal experiences. In my observation, I realised that the students lacked the empirical understanding to contribute to the discussion on the issues raised in class.

The seventh part of the chapter (Subchapter 4.7) was concerned with the contribution of drama to the particular aspects of child well-being that came to light during my research: Play, beauty and children’s voice. Even though in this section I did not offer any data from my research, I believe it was important to provide the theories supporting the contribution of drama to these areas in order to establish a

solid theoretical basis for my in-depth analysis and discussion of findings which will occur in Chapter 5.

In the last part of the Results chapter (Subchapter 4.8) I outlined further limitations of my project as these came to light during the process of data collection and analysis. Firstly, I realised that different children respond in different ways to the dramatic activities. Therefore, I cannot expect a homogenous response regarding the impact of drama to my students’ well-being. How a child responds to drama and how drama influences the various aspects of her well-being is also associated with her socio-economic and family background. Secondly, the responses of my students regarding their well-being before I embarked on my project were generally positive. This renders my approach not as one in which I use drama to heal the suffering well- being of children, but one in which I am interested in finding out what drama has to offer to children who are already happy and flourishing.

In the following chapter (Chapter 5), I will focus on three key issues that, in my view, best highlight the contribution of drama to the well-being of my students: The choice of stories on which the drama workshops were built and how these influenced my students’ well-being; the types of play drama accommodated and their impact on the participants’ well-being; and the opportunities offered in drama for children to express their voice and to flourish through this process. In order to mount my arguments, I will use evidence from my research, some of which I already offered in the Results Chapter and which I will support with interdisciplinary theories.