Programme Outline
The opening scene depicts a group of teachers responding to the task of getting into pairs in a role play, to empathise with how their own pupils may feel when asked to do the same thing. This is punctuated with shots of children playing in a playground. The teachers then discuss the feelings evoked, such as insecurity and rejection. The two schools featured are Whitehall School, an ordinary primary school, and Crusoe House School, an EDB (emotional and behavioural difficulties) school. There is then a general exploration of the use of improvised drama by pupils as a tool for deflecting conflict.
At Whitehall School
A bullying scene, a foul during football, and ‘three’s a crowd’ scenes are acted out. These are followed by ‘I-Time’, in which pupils discuss their feelings about a particular situation.
A ‘friends/enemies’ exercise explores how responses to different individuals may vary. There is also an exercise called ‘puzzles’, in which one pupil has a secret that the others have to guess, thereby demonstrating how guessing a secret can explain individual behaviour – many ‘secrets’ are based upon real situations the pupils have encountered.
Sometimes the role play leads to ‘circle time’ – a round-class discussion – for example, a boy discusses being teased about his hairstyle, and a girl discusses being teased about playing football. Circle time enables the pupils to express their feelings in a wider context.
At Crusoe School
Because of the pupils’ special needs, the role play occurs in smaller groups. There are games and exercises to build trust, and performance to build individual self-confidence in front of others. Improvised drama is applied to real conflict – for example, the case of two boys being competitive about goal-scoring, who start winding each other up and eventually fighting. The pupils then discuss with their teachers ways of avoiding a fight.
In both schools, ‘Seconds Out’ is adopted: the pupils involved in a conflict get others to act it out. Punishment is left out of the drama to leave room for discussing the feelings and behaviour of those involved, and to discuss alternatives to conflict.
The teachers conclude that Equal Voice Techniques are not only of benefit to the pupils, but equip themselves, as teachers, with a practical tool for creating a more peaceful school environment.
