Modalidad de la capacitación

Initial training is important in terms of ‘position-taking’ in the field of drama in schools (see Chapter 4.2.1.). For example, a drama teacher has become an agent of the subject position as a result of receiving training from a master drama teacher who is also an agent of the same position.64 This comes from Bourdieu’s theory of habitus – habitus is a ‘structured structure’ and a ‘structuring structure’. In other words, a drama teacher internalises her master drama teacher’s view of drama and then externalises it in action.

There were five cases. Eight of the eleven teachers learned drama education directly from a specialist.

64 _{However, some drama teachers may take completely different positions from their teachers as a result of} challenging them: ‘Established agents tend to pursue conservation strategies while challengers opt for subversive strategies’ (Swartz, 1997, p.124)

Fukuda:

In the late 1970s, we invited Toshiharu Takeuchi to Zengekiken [National Congress of Drama Education]... I learned a lot from him there, and this has become the core of my practice. (MPI, 30/08/2010)

After his first meeting with Takeuchi at Hitojuku, Fukuda came to attend Takeuchi’s lectures in different place. One of them was the Japan Drama Education Association, where Takeuchi gave his lectures to members of the association. After a while, Fukuda became a board member of the association, and had meetings with Takeuchi regularly, as Takeuchi worked closely with Tomita Hiroyuki, the president of the association. Fukuda mentioned that he also learned from Hiroyuki Tomita and other drama teachers. However, Takeuchi was the one who most influenced on him.

Fukuda is an agent of the method position: he uses drama for expression and communication (see Chapter 7.3.1.). It is no wonder that he became an agent of the method position because his teacher Takeuchi was also an agent of this position. In his Body, Theatre and Education, Takeuchi (1989) rejects the subject position and supports the method position as follows: ‘I had no intention to teach a method of producing a dramatic performance… Rather, I wanted [my students] to deepen their understandings of their own bodies, learn a manner of speaking to other people directly [without hesitation] and discover the meaning of life’ (p.18).

Takahiro:

Takahiro visited Takeuchi’s lessons regularly during his undergraduate studies. He also came to attend other lectures and workshops offered by organisations, such as Theatre Planning Network and Japan Drama Education Association. In these, he met drama teachers in other countries, such as Kenneth Taylor (England).

Takahiro is an agent of the method position: he uses drama to involve a wide range of human resources in learning (see Chapter 7.3.1.). This is because he learned from Takeuchi – we have just noted above that Takeuchi supports the method position. In my interview, Takahiro stated that he also learned various things from Western drama teachers – e.g. different types of dramatic approaches ‘have been systematised as methods or conventions’ (MPI, 23/08/2011) in their countries. In other words, he shows some understandings of the theories and methods of Western drama educations. However, in my interview, he stresses that in terms of the philosophy (or aim) of drama, Takeuchi had the greatest influence on him.

Yamamoto:

I went to Tokyo Gakugei University, and there was Shiro Kobayashi’s drama class... (MPI, 24/08/2010)

During his undergraduate studies, Yamamoto took the module of drama and learned it from Shiro Kobayashi, a professor of theatre directing. It was nothing to do with drama education. However, in my interview, he argued that Kobayashi’s philosophy of theatre has influenced his work (see Chapter 7.3.3.5.4.). During his master’s course, meanwhile, he visited schools in Australia and observed drama classes, and in doing so, deepened his knowledge of drama in schools. Above all, he stressed that he had learned many from Tasmania Media Centre’s A Framework for

Speech and Drama: An Introduction and Overview (TMC, 1980). After his master’s course, he met Hisao Dazai and learned about hyogen education from him.

Yamamoto is an agent of the method position: he uses drama for self-expression (see Chapter 7.3.1.). It should be noted that all three mentioned above are agents of the method positions. According to Yamamoto, Kobayashi argued that theatre is not about knowledge and skills of theatre but about humans (see Chapter 7.3.3.5.4.). Yamamoto (2010) also states that A Framework for Speech and Drama stressed ‘social health’ rather than theatre studies. Moreover, Dazai taught him that drama is about self-expression (we will analyse Dazai next).

Dazai:

I learned about drama and education and theatre for young audiences through Akira Okada. (Dazai, et al., 2010, p.19)

Dazai learned drama education from Akira Okada and Brian Way. In 1982, Okada invited Way to Tamagawa University and Dazai looked after him during his stay in Japan (Dazai, 1982).

Dazai is an agent of the method position: he uses drama for self-expression (see Chapter 7.3.1.). However, he is also concerned with the creative-and-cultural position: he invites professional artists to his youth theatre production, and develops a dramatic performance with them. It is no wonder that Dazai has become an agent of the method position, because both Okada and Way are agents of the method positions (see Chapters 5.2.3.1. and 5.3.). However, he has extended the method position to the creative-and-cultural position by modifying the theories and methods of Okada and Way.

Takao:

In 1998, I met Keith Johnstone... He offered us a different type of improvisation from what I had imagined... Keith Johnstone rarely came to Japan, so I explored his work by myself and with my friends... Two years later, in 2000, Rebecca Stockley [a student of Johnstone] visited Japan... I learned about Keith Johnstone again... I said to her, ‘I want to study more about your work’. She said, ‘Please come’. Two months later, I was in the U.S.A. (MPI, 12/08/2011)

Before meeting Johnstone, Takao, as noted, had known the likeness of drama education through Jun Watanabe (see Chapter 7.2.1.). He also attended Yuriko Kinugawa’s improvisation workshop.65 Moreover, Takao (2000) wrote a master’s dissertation under the title, What Does Learning Mean in Educational Practices Involving Dramatic Methods? However, in my interview, he said that the first proper training for drama education (improvisation) he received was from Johnstone and especially Stockley.

Takao is an agent of the subject position: he teaches Johnstone’s philosophy of improvised theatre as an art as far as possible (see Chapter 7.3.1.). However, since he has received an influence from Jun, who is an agent of method position (We will see Jun’s position in a later section), Takao seeks to improve the learning environment through improvisational theatre as well.

Kumagai:

[Hiroyuki Tomita] had an office near the university... And for some reason, he often invited me to the office... To be precise, study meetings

65 _{Yuriko Kinugawa is one of pioneering and leading improvisational theatre practitioners in Japan (see Kinugawa,} 2002, 2005).

of different kinds were held in the office – some are about drama education; others were more about theatre in general... So, I came to visit his office very often...

Kumagai received his training from Tomita. However, he was not so interested in drama education at the time: ‘I felt that drama education was dull and it was full of deceptions, because I was a man of [professional] theatre’ (MPI, 13/08/2011). After graduating from university, he came to pay more attention to Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal, with the result that his employer (the National Institute for Japanese Language) asked him to develop a method of drama to teach foreign people the Japanese language (see Chapter 7.2.2.).

Kumagai is an agent of the method position, with some elements of the subject position: he develops a drama on the basis of the interests of participants (see Chapter 7.3.1.), whilst often introducing (not teaching) applied-theatre, or Boal, approach to participants. We may identify the influence of Tomita (an agent of the method position, as noted) on him, although this is not obvious, in that he rejected drama education itself when he visited Tomita’s office.

One teacher received his initial training from drama organisations. Instead of attaching himself to a particular master drama teacher, he learned from a variety of specialists at first:

Takayama:

I received training from people Kaori [Nakayama] invited… (MPI, 11/08/2011)

interview, Takayama stated that he had attended the lectures and workshops of Kenneth Taylor (England), Helen Nicholson (England) and some other drama teachers in other countries. However, while doing so, he went to Gakugei University for his master’s degree, and then Nihon University for his PhD degree, as he felt the need to understand the theories of drama education. Above all, he did his PhD under Ayako Sato, a professor of performance studies, at Nihon University. Moreover, he has more recently become a member of Jun Watanabe’s study group, and has imported ideas from Jun.

Takayama is an agent of the method position: he uses drama to create a learning space where active communication takes place (see Chapter 7.3.1.). In my interview, he explained that although he learned many things from Western drama teachers, he received the most important influence from Ayako Sato. According to him (2006), Sato is an agent of the method position: Sato defines performance as the ‘presentation of the goodness of the self in everyday life’ and uses it as a ‘method’ of improving non-verbal expressions, including eye contact and facial expression (p.62).66 Based on this, Takayama’s position as an agent of the method position has since been strengthened by Jun, another agent of the method position.

In the third case, people went to study abroad.

Kobayashi:

I decided to go to the U.S.A. because I was attached by the sound ‘Creative Dramatics’… (Kobayashi, 2011, p.31)

After completing her undergraduate studies at Gakugei University in 1980 and

66 _{Takayama quotes Ayako Sato’s definition of performance from her The Concept and Aim of} Performance/Performance Studies (Sato, 1995)

then her postgraduate studies at the same university in 1982, Kobayashi moved to the U.S.A. and studied for her MA and MFA in Drama/Theatre for the Young under Virginia Glasgow Koste at Eastern Michigan University. According to Kobayashi, ‘Koste focused on common points between child’s dramatic play, drama and theatre, while recognising drama and theatre as ways in order for humans to continue to play’ (ibid, p. 32). After studying creative drama under Koste until 1988, she came back to Japan and taught creative drama as a part of nursery education at some universities. However, she gradually became sceptical of creative drama: ‘Participants look fun. But, is that all? While teaching creative drama in Japan, I started to think what the next step would be’ (ibid, p.32). Kobayashi later met Jonothan Neelands at a conference in the U.S.A. and was shocked by his workshop: ‘It was not the mere recreation of the story, but such a drama activity that allowed us to bring ourselves to the story and imagine our own stories within it’ (ibid, p. 32). Since then, she has come to import ideas from the Drama-in-Education, especially Neelands.

Kobayashi is an agent of the method position: she uses drama to promote changes in children’s words, deeds and insights (see Chapter 7.3.1.). This is because both creative drama and Drama-in-Education are agents of the method position. Drawing on Dewey, Winifred Ward (1930), a pioneer of creative dramatics, mentions that the aim of creative drama/dramatics is not to teach the knowledge and skills of theatre but to develop the whole child: ‘The whole child must be developed if he was to reach his maximum growth’ (p.2). And as we also noted, Drama-in-Education has played an important role in the development of the method position in the English field of drama in schools (see Chapter 5.3.).

Three teachers have had no initial training: as noted, one day, Tadashi became an advisor of the drama clubs, because he was a teacher of Japanese Language. In contrast, while looking at his students introducing drama to the presentation of their independent research, Jun gained the idea that it might be possible to introduce drama to their lessons.67 On the other hand, Hirata applied his theory of theatre to drama education.

Tadashi is an agent of the method position: he uses drama for communication (see Chapter 7.3.1.). Originally, he was an agent of the subject position: as noted, he taught students warm-up exercises, vocal and acting training, and the making of a dramatic performance as an advisor of the drama club at school. He then introduced drama into his Japanese Language class. Now, following the communication education movement (see Chapter 5.2.3.3.), he uses drama for communication (we will see this point later). In this way, he shifts his position from the subject to the method position through the drama-as-Japanese position. He may be flexible, because he has not learned from any particular master drama teacher.

Jun is an agent of the method position today. This is not because he learned from a particular master teacher, but because he is originally a teacher of pedagogy. As mentioned above, he considered that drama might be used as an effective pedagogy.

Hirata is an agent of the drama-as-Japanese-Language position today (see Chapter 7.3.1.). However, he is originally an agent of the subject position. He teaches his theory of contemporary colloquial theatre to students at universities and other

67 _{In the early 2000s, Jun invited various drama teachers, including Western drama teachers (e.g. Jonothan} Neelands), to his study group. However, he modified their theories and methods as part of his acquisition-oriented education, rather than receiving training from them (e.g. J. Watanabe & Neelands, 2009).

places as a professional artist. However, he has worked as an agent of the drama-as-Japanese-Language position, for Sanseido Publishing asked him to develop a teaching material for the Japanese Language class. Therefore, he has shifted his position from the subject position to the drama-as-Japanese-Language position, at least at elementary and junior high school levels.

One of the most important points in this topic of initial training is that there is no common agreement for educating drama teachers in Japan. In England, there is a common agreement among PGCE Secondary Drama courses68 because of the GCSE examination: they need to teach secondary students appropriate skills and knowledge of theatre in order that the students pass the examination. This then raises the following question to Japanese drama teachers: Do they need to develop a common agreement for educating drama teachers? In my view, there may be no need for Japanese drama teachers to establish a common agreement, as there is no official examination of drama at school. However, I argue that they must know what is going on in the field of drama in schools, and understand their own positions within it – that is why I am writing this thesis. Otherwise, what they offer students may disempower them unexpectedly, since they organise their teaching materials based on their interests and preferences.

7.3. Question 2: How Do You Work Today?