In recent years, there has been a growing recognition that traditional models of teacher development often fall short. Workshops are delivered with enthusiasm, participants respond positively, and yet when asked if they will use what they’ve learned, many teachers hesitate. “It was a lot of fun,” they say. “But it’s not really for me.” Why the disconnect?

This handbook and my upcoming online course is my response to that question. You can access all these resources by joining our free community on this link

My name is Dr. Tom Godfrey. I am a teacher, teacher educator, and theatre practitioner. Over the past three decades, I have worked in classrooms and training rooms across the globe. In that time, I have come to believe that sustainable teacher development requires more than exposure to techniques. It requires space for reflection, ownership of content, emotional engagement, and a willingness to see teaching not just as the transmission of knowledge but as a fundamentally human, creative, and performative act.

Performative Pedagogy and Community Forums for Teacher Development introduces a practical framework for participatory, teacher-led professional development grounded in the principles of applied theatre. This approach invites educators to draw on their lived experiences, explore their challenges through movement, voice, and image, and engage in dialogic reflection with their peers. The goal is not merely to improve performance in the classroom but to reimagine what teacher learning can look and feel like when it is embodied, collaborative, and emotionally resonant.

The core methodology—Community Forums—is inspired by Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre and Paolo Freire’s pedagogy of critical consciousness. In adapting these powerful models for teacher education, we create opportunities for teachers to share and re-enact their own stories of challenge, to experiment with alternative actions, and to build facilitation skills that support genuine dialogue and transformation.

This handbook outlines the structure, philosophy, and activities of a series of workshops I have delivered at our training centre in Istanbul and in various online contexts. It is intended for teacher educators, facilitators, and anyone interested in developing a humanistic, embodied, and participatory approach to teacher learning.

If you are interested in drama and innovative teaching approaches join our ‘free’ community on this link