Critical Curriculum Podcast

In the first episode of the Critical Curriculum podcast series, our hosts chat to special guests Hannah Joyce and Aileen Gonsalves about drama as a subject and a tool to utilise across the curriculum.

With awareness of the reticence some teachers may have, Hannah and Aileen give insights, strategies and techniques for teachers to takeaway and utilise in their classroom, including ideas for games, warm up exercises and teacher-in-role style activities.

If you’re already an experienced performer in your classroom or dipping your toe into dramatic waters for the first time, this podcast will support you in exploring your uniqueness as a teacher and how utilising drama can support your students in many different ways.

Resources and Mentions

• Voice 21
• Dorothy Heathcote and Mantle of the Expert
• Windmill Cluster
• Gonsalves Method
• Butterfly Theatre
• Shakespeare and Meisner: A Practical Guide for Actors, Director, Students and Teacher by Aileen Gonsalves and Tracy Irish
• National Drama

Aileen Gonsalves has worked as a theatre practitioner for over 25 years. She specialises in authentic connection between actors, directors and the audience. She has developed an innovative new acting approach called The Gonsalves Method with its pioneering 5 conditions for authentic connection.

She works internationally with teachers and artists doing masterclasses and CPD and the method is being adopted by universities in the UK like Northampton University and the newly formed London drama school Collective which specialises in working with under-represented groups. Twelve years ago, she founded Butterfly Theatre Collective, an immersive theatre company performing Shakespeare productions in caves, forests and places of extraordinary beauty. She has worked with the RSC for over 20 years as a director, actor and educational associate practitioner. More recently, she has co-written Shakespeare and Meisner for Bloomsbury and Arden for teachers and artists and is an associate artist with Kali Theatre which develops South Asian women writers. She is now working with non-artists using the Gonsalves Method including teachers, lawyers, doctors, politicians and anyone who uses communication in their work.

Hannah Joyce is a teacher and creative facilitator based in Lambeth. She has been working in schools for the last 25 years, both as a class teacher and a creative facilitator for major arts companies and programmes such as Steve McQueen Year 3. She has a wealth of experience of using expressive arts in her teaching and feels passionate about drama being an integral part of a child's education. More recently, she has been delivering a drama and emotional literacy programme for the Windmill Cluster in Lambeth.

In the second episode of our brand-new Critical Curriculum podcast series, hosts Andria Zafriakou and Naranee Ruthra-Rajan chat to Betsy Dadd and Toby Peach about the benefits of play on children and young people’s development and creativity, and why educators should make space for play in the classroom.

Improved wellbeing, confidence, agency, and engagement with learning; the ability to explore and become change-makers, are some of the benefits of play highlighted in this discussion. These have an impact on the development of children’s creative skills, which are desirable to future employers and help build a greater society.

Considering how teachers can be reluctant to encourage play in schools after the early years due to pressures around targets or a nervousness in how to go about it, and how young people are less likely to engage in external creative projects post-covid, the speakers discuss the benefits and barriers teachers face around giving children permission to play.

Betsy and Toby give strategies and examples of games and projects to support teachers in creating a positive environment for play, noting the importance of understanding how children play, stepping back, giving more choice, and lifting boundaries.

Whether you already incorporate play in your lessons, or if you want to foster a more playful culture in your setting but don’t know how to get started, this podcast will support you to explore how to play more in the classroom and articulate the many and significant benefits it has on your students.

Resources and Mentions

• Drawing Room
• Coney
• Penny Wilson – The Playwork Primer
• Lucie MacGregor’s paper pulping project in ROCK PAPER SCISSORS
• The Undercover CareTaker Agency
• Playful Activism
• 16 play types developed by Bob Hughes
• Circle game Wah!
• Company Three
• Playful Activism and the climate crisis
• Gelli plate printing

Toby Peach is the Associate Director at BAFTA award-winning arts and social change charity, Coney. Coney are a group of artists, thinkers and makers on a mission to spark change through the power of play. He works regularly with Coney’s resident group of young makers, the Young Coneys, and has developed a Playful Activism programme over the past few years, exploring the passions of young people and giving them the tools to spark change through play. He has made interactive adventures and games for young people across the UK, from National Trust grounds, inside Alexandra Palace to arriving in mysterious

Betsy Dadd is Learning Curator at Drawing Room, an arts organisation based in Southwark, that specialises in contemporary drawing. In 2019 she set up the ROCK PAPERSCISSORS programme which connects artists with local children, teachers and families, working across the various structures within children's lives and reimagining how drawing can be implemented within primary education as a creative learning tool. She is also half of artist-duo KALEIDOWORKS who collaborate with children, young people and community groups to explore forms of drawing, sound and moving image.

In the third episode of our Critical Curriculum podcast series, hosts Andria Zafriakou and Naranee Ruthra-Rajan chat to Simon Pittman and Bryn Llewellyn about the importance of physical movement in school, highlighting the benefits and providing strategies to get your students moving more.

Despite being popular with students, the amount of physical activity children participate in at school is declining dramatically, including dance and PE, due to lack of access and loss of funding. Research suggests that physical movement in schools not only tackles inactivity and obesity levels but also impacts positively on academic performance.

Simon and Bryn provide examples of how their work with young people overcomes barriers teachers face such as lack of time and fear of how to get started, demonstrating how incorporating simple movement can be done in classrooms safely with purpose and meaning.

No matter the subject you teach, this podcast will provide you with inspiration for using creative movement games for teamwork, critical thinking skills, memory, listening and understanding concepts such as literacy, mathematical patterns and spelling; with advice for teachers in building an environment for physical learning through accessible and simple tasks to empower your students.

Resources and Mentions

Tagtiv8

Move & Learn (CIC)

Frantic Assembly

Frantic Method

Frantic Assembly Studio

How to Move & Learn: An evidence-based guide to embedding physically active learning in your school by Bryn Llewellyn , Ian Holmes , Richard Allman

Dr Andy Daly-Smith and Bryn Llewellyn’s TEDx Talk

Now Press Play

Bryn has worked in various UK schools for over 20 years as a teacher and school leader. In 2013, he founded Tagtiv8. His pioneering approach to Physically Active Learning (PAL) provides an enjoyable alternative to classroom based learning. Bryn is co-director of Move & Learn (CIC) - as well as advising the BBC and the Premier League on their education content. 

Simon Pittman is a theatre director, movement director and creative associate at Frantic Assembly, known for its accessible and empowering approach to physicality and collaboration. The Frantic Method and the recently launched online platform Frantic Assembly Studio, seek to bridge the gap between the professional rehearsal studio and the classroom.