The Training of Teachers in Citizenship Education Through Theatre and Dialectical Method

This paper presents the results of an evaluation of a professional development programme to promote teacher skills in fostering young students’ active participation in democratic society through the dialectical method and drama techniques. The blended training has been designed within the framework of the Erasmus+ project EAR (Forming active European Citizens through the dialectical method and theater) that addressed about 500 teachers in five European Countries. Data collection tools such as questionnaires addressing the trainees and focus groups with pupils provided quantitative and qualitative pre- and post-data to evaluate the training programme. The discussion of findings focuses on the educational value of EAR pedagogical approach, teachers’ perceptions of changing dynamics in the classrooms where EAR methodology was implemented and their confidence in teaching and evaluating citizenship education.