ABSTRACT
This chapter, which echoes Desmond Hogan’s view of the negotiated curriculum, is concerned with helping teachers increase their professional effectiveness. It focusses on problems of theory and practice as two interactive parts of a ‘theory of action’ which governs each teacher’s practice.
The chapter is in two parts. The first considers the practical problems facing teachers who wish to improve their practice in an education system which encourages learning by students but positively discourages learning by teachers. The author argues that in spite of the many constraints placed upon them, if teachers wish to enhance their effectiveness in the classroom, they need to learn to identify and take responsibility for inconsistencies between their intentions and practice.
In the second part a number of discovery-based teaching models are presented then examined within the context of various orientations of dramatic activity. By this means, the author makes explicit a number of principles underlying drama thinking and practice, and challenges teachers to evaluate their work by reflecting on themselves both as educationists and as practitioners.
Throughout, the author contends that in any consideration of teaching we must not only discuss ‘the what’ but also – perhaps more importantly – ‘the how’ of teaching. He thus raises two of the most significant issues in education: the problem of clarifying teaching values and translating these into classroom practice.
