Beyond the Script: Take 3

Beyond then Script Take 3 (BTS3) is both a revision and update of the previous edition of this title, with new content and references, including relevant online resources, revised literary texts and examples, and annotations, where appropriate, that relate to the Australian Curriculum: English, the Australian Curriculum: The Arts, and general capabilities.

There is much research and practice that demonstrates that the use of educational or process drama can enhance the development of English and literacy learning and outcomes (see for example O’Toole and Dunn, 2014; Baldwin 2012; Ewing, 2010 (a) and (b); Cremins and Wray, 2009; Miller and Saxton, 2004). Many primary teachers, however, remain tentative about using drama strategies in their classrooms partly because there has been a dearth of professional development in the Arts and an inequitable provision of quality arts resources in schools over the last two decades.

Over the years, the first two editions of Beyond the Script have been well and it is timely given the expectations of the Australian Curriculum in both English and the Arts that a revised print version be developed with the provision of an ebook.

The approach in BTS3 is that drama is both a discipline in its own right and as critical quality pedagogy (see Ewing, 2006). Quality literature is also a major focus of this book.

Beyond then Script Take 3 (BTS3) is both a revision and update of BTS with new content, references including relevant online resources, revised literary texts and examples, and annotations where appropriate that relate to the Australian Curriculum: English and the Australian Curriculum: The Arts as well as the general capabilities etc. Videoclips would also be valuable for teachers to support the work in Beyond then Script Take 3 (BTS3).

The book will be appropriate for early childhood educators through primary to the middle years (7-9).

About the Author

Professor Robyn Ewing AM is a former primary teacher, and teaches and researches in the areas of curriculum, English and drama at the University of Sydney, Faculty of Education . Robyn is passionate about the Arts and education and the role quality arts experiences and processes can and should play in pedagogy across the curriculum. Robyn's research and writing includes a focus on the use of educational or process drama with literature to develop students' imagination, creativities and critical literacies.

Dr Jennifer Simons , a former secondary drama and English teacher and Senior Lecturer in Drama Education at the University of Sydney, is co-author of the first two editions of Beyond the Script: Drama in the classroom. Now retired and living in the Southern Highlands, Jennifer has been involved in the University of the Third Age.