EDUCATION
Schools Outreach Citizenship Programme
A DVD and Education Pack promoting Jewish/Muslim cross-cultural understanding and anti-racism was produced and developed for outreach to schools across the UK. The DVD features a short documentary of the Tricycle Young Muslim Jewish Theatre Group exploring the impact of working together, including scenes from the group’s “Tunnel Vision” production. An accompanying education pack was distributed to 10 schools across the UK in a pilot programme.
This pack, which aims to be a teaching resource for KS3 and KS4 citizenship, RE, English and PSHE, includes a summary of issues raised, suggested areas of debate and discussion, lesson plans, activities, worksheets and advice on how to cope with conflicts or personal issues that may arise.
One to One Children’s Fund has identified the need to develop a drama techniques support toolkit to accompany the education pack and facilitate the work of teachers in the schools identified for the pilot. This toolkit has been prepared, in conjunction with Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, following their successful citizenship INSET day on 26 June 2008, sponsored by One to One Children’s Fund.
The INSET day for secondary and FE teachers focused on using drama as a vehicle to explore themes and issues of conflict and conflict resolution, which are key themes in the Citizenship National Curriculum. One to One Children’s Fund asked teachers to pilot the Tunnel Vision Education Pack in 2008-2009. The feedback was positive but the resource needs to be improved to facilitate the work of teachers and One to One Children’s Fund contracted experienced education and drama members of MUJU to:
- Review of the content – an edit of the pack
- The creation of lesson plans using current content
- Workshop some of the material and devise new work
- Devise other workshops inspired by the pack – drama and writing to offer alongside it
- Prepare teachers notes
Bradford Drama Initiative
In spring 2009, One to One Children’s Fund approached the School Linking Network (SLN) in Bradford to assess the Tunnel Vision Education Pack.
SLN and One to One Children’s Fund subsequently agreed to work with the Theatre in the Mill (Bradford) and schools children to develop a piece of exploratory theatre about issues of conflict and conflict resolution in their lives. From January 2010, the Theatre in the Mill (TIM) worked with 26 students from 11 to 18 years old, over a six month period after which a performance was put on at the TIM and in both schools. The intention was also for the lessons from the project to be spread more widely in the two schools.
Project aims:
- To explore conflict and methods for resolving it.
- To link schools with a different ethnic and social mix - The Titus Salt School, Saltaire and Grange Technology College, Bradford.
- To explore ideas, knowledge and experiences of conflict in relation to self, family and friends, society, the world and war.
- To stretch the students understanding of contemporary theatre practice as a means of developing a broader vocabulary of self expression.
- To present the performance at the TIM and in both schools
see
our work in action“We provide questions, not answers… What we’ve always done is leave with asking questions, leave the audience wanting to answer them.”
Muju crew member
“We found a structure in terms of 4 areas of conflict - personal/internal, familial conflict, societal conflict, world conflict/war. The process was very rich and the students showed a very positive and enthusiastic attitude to the work.”
Iain Bloomfield
Artistic Director, Theatre in the Mill