Research Centre

Study, discuss, explore and experiment with educational drama workers all over the world.

Research-based practice has played an important role the first ten-years’ experience of Drama Rainbow Education, and all practices of the Centre are underpinned by theories of pedagogy, philosophy, psychology, as well as drama and theatre methodology. The DRE Centre has been involved in group and individual analysis of children and families, debating and exploring drama through educational methods, and in the production of the “Creative Curriculum” developed for use in kindergartens and primary schools. The Centre has, up to this point, created six courses of the “Creative Curriculum” for kindergartens (KLCC), based around picture books, and twelve courses for primary schools (PLCC), based around original commissioned short stories. It is under the auspices of the Research Centre that Cao Xi has edited Carmel O’Sullivan’s Drama in Education: Practical Guidance and Curriculum Plan (three volumes) and translated David Davis’ Imagining the Real: Towards a New Theory of Drama in Education, and the Drama Improves Competences in Education (DICE) EU project research findings.

The Drama Rainbow Education Research Centre has archived seminal articles and other materials from the history of DiE and TiE as they have developed throughout the world. Many of these materials are difficult to source, as a large part of the most significant theoretical developments occurred before the digital and Internet age, but the Centre continuously seeks to add, update and digitalise the archive. Furthermore, it provides theoretical support for the practice for all Five Centres of Drama Rainbow Education. We are also actively recording the theoretical development of our own practice over the past ten years while we are creating it. The spirit of the Research Centre is not only reflected in the specific research our teacher-facilitators undertake, but also in our mechanisms for recording our daily operations and day-to-day running of the DRE Centre.

Theory-based practice

To challenge conventional educational values through drama as a learning medium, our practice must be fully supported by theory, which is why the Centre requires that every drama teacher-facilitator becomes a reflective practitioner and an active researcher.

Chinese publications

Publications

抓马十年的经验汇集于这三本书。

《教育戏剧:实践指南与课程计划》

《想象真实:迈向教育戏剧新理论》

《见学 教育性戏剧与剧场工具书》

As the first company in China to systematically research and practice DiE, Drama Rainbow Education has tried to publish as much of its first ten-year experience as possible. Most significantly, DRE has translated the following publications through the Research Centre: Drama in Education: Practical Guidance and Curriculum Plan” (Three volumes),and Cao Xi translated Imagining the Real: Towards a New Theory of Drama in Education by David Davis, which provides a new direction for current practitioners of DiE. Between 2016 and 2018, the Research Centre in partnership with JianXue has also produced and shared materials for study in three volumes of Educational Drama and Theatre Handbooks. These handbooks, which theorize our own practice, will influence many drama and TiE practitioners in China.

Facing the Gap —— EU Cooperative Education Programme

Professor Davis’ drama theory has always influenced the educational drama practice at the Drama Rainbow Education Centre

From 2014 to 2016, Drama Rainbow Education sent more than ten teachers to participate in the Facing the Gap project, funded by the EU’s Erasmus + Action Plan II Education Programme. DRE was the only non-EU participant, conducting this two-year study programme of action research between theatre and drama educators from four countries with young people. The project targeted non-formal education settings in the EU and other parts of the world as part of the European commission’s goal of enhancing international cooperation.

Initiated by InSite Drama from Hungary, and including The Gap from the UK, UnifaunTheatre from Malta, and Drama Rainbow Education, the project consisted of training and youth exchanges between countries and workshops in Beijing, Birmingham, and Valletta. The project culminated with an international Facing the Gap Conference in Budapest in July 2016. At that meeting Cao Xi proposed a further extension of the Conference and as a result Drama Rainbow Education hosted the International Facing the Gap Conference in Beijing in July 2019 to coincide with the 10th Anniversary celebrations of DRE.

Facing
the
Gap

Conference on Facing the Gap / Forum on the 10th Anniversary of Education