I am convinced that in educational and training contexts there is vast scope in exploring how human experience and emotions accord with Teacher Education. Applied Theatre encourages participants to ‘feel’ and express emotions, not necessarily as ‘raw’ felt emotions but rather to re-enact experiences to stimulate learning. I determined that I need to run some diagnostic workshops with teachers to explore how teacher education can utilise Applied Theatre to stimulate reflection on one’s teacher identity and raise awareness of self and others while activating transformative learning.

In my quest for a framework and methodology that fosters participant-led, solution-oriented teacher professional development, the work of Augusto Boal, the esteemed Brazilian dramatist, emerged as a promising resolution. At the core of Boal’s educational philosophy is the conviction that learning starts with an awareness and analysis of the present context and involves reflection and action (praxis) to promote change. Although Boal uses the medium of theatre to wield this change, the underlying sentiment mirrors my conception of teacher development.

A cornerstone of Boal’s philosophy is the concept of “forum theatre,” a practice where participants grapple with real-life challenges by intervening in scenes and proposing alternative courses of action. Boal was influenced by the pedagogue Paolo Freire who sought to liberate individuals from the constraints of ignorance, empowering them to become agents of change in their own lives. Freire believed in the importance of dialogue and critical thinking in the learning process. He viewed learners as active participants in the co-creation of knowledge (rather than passive recipients) and encouraged learners to question, analyse and reflect upon their reality. This is a philosophy that undoubtedly resonates with teacher educators.

These participatory arts grounded in Paolo Freire’s participatory education model, and Boal’s Forum Theatre, offer a means of expression that facilitates collaborative decision-making processes and fosters dialogue, self-reflection, and community introspection. Drawing inspiration from the principles and rationale of Forum Theatre, I have ventured into the utilization of participatory methodologies in teacher professional development through a series of workshops at our teacher training center in Istanbul. These workshops centre around what I term “Community Forums,” an adaptation of Forum Theatre pioneered by Augusto Boal in 1973, and they aim to unearth authentic teacher experiences thereby stimulating community discourse and problem-solving. Community Forums serve as a means to elucidate participants’ comprehension of their circumstances and offer avenues for devising solutions—effectively providing a framework for both addressing the issues teachers encounter and engaging in reflective dialogue.

If you want to know more, watch the video.