208 pages
228mm x 145mm
ISBN-10: 1 85856 310 0
ISBN-13: 978 185856 310 7
October 2004

Teacher-in-role is ripe for re-evaluation and Judith Ackroyd's research into the concept is valid, exciting and challenging. She shows that a strict distinction between teacher-in-role and acting can no longer be sustained. Teachers working in role are acting.

The case is argued by critiquing and deconstructing the teacher-in-role work of well-known education practitioners, most notably Dorothy Heathcote, then applyng the same systematised approach to a famous actor acting. Like Zarilli, Dr Ackroyd argues that definitions applied to the dramatic art form have to accommodate diverse and developing practices because arts practices do not stand still.

This reconsideration of role has urgent implications for the training of drama teachers. Examples of practice designed by leaders in the field provide materials for teachers to use in the classroom.
The new understanding of teacher-in-role as acting provided in this book will have a liberating effect on classroom practice. Role Reconsidered will be essential reading for teachers and teacher educators and for all those who follow developments in the field of drama.

Dr Judith Ackroyd is the Director of the Centre for Applied Arts Reseach at Unversity College Northampton.

'...perceptive and enlightening...she has opened up a dialogue, she has set me thinking.' - Journal of Drama in Education