BA (Hons) Performing Arts Education

Course Overview

If you have a passion for the challenge of performance and want to share this with others, this performing arts degree is for you. The course will help you to understand how to bring out the best in people through participation in dance, drama and music, as well as developing your own performance skills. You’ll learn how to help them to overcome challenges such as vulnerability or lack of confidence, and you’ll provide memorable experiences in which others can discover what they are really capable of.

As a member of The Actor's Wheel Theatre Company, you’ll train intensively in music, dance and acting alongside our actors and actor musicians, and benefit from our excellent track record in teacher training as you work alongside students on our education degrees to explore how people of all ages learn. Through projects in educational and community settings you’ll perfect your practical teaching and facilitation skills, preparing you for employment or to set up your own business as a community arts practitioner. You’ll explore your love of the arts, perhaps discovering career paths you hadn’t previously considered, and have the opportunity to perform yourself as well as facilitating others’ performance.

Why this course at Marjon?

Opportunities to develop work for and with a range of groups through our close links with hundreds of schools and community groups.
Intensive training in drama, music and dance led by industry professionals.
Perform in our 300 seat theatre and black box studio theatre.
Long history of creating exceptional teachers, blended with an innovative and inspirational performing and acting community.
Taught by practicing professionals in teaching, performance and applied theatre.

Perfect if you're curious about:

Is talent born or made?
How can performance lead to social change?
Which is more important in a school play: high quality or participation from everyone?
Why does creativity in communities matter?
How can performing arts help children learn other subjects?
Why use performing arts in prisons, rehabilitation centres or special education needs schools?

Book an Open Day How to apply for this course

Course Snapshot

Sarah McAdam - Director of the School of Arts and Humanities

"During your first year you will learn the fundamentals of education and explore how music is used in an educational environment. You'll also learn about the origins of theatre while working towards a performance. In the second year you will learn how childhoods differ around the world; discover different attitudes to education over time and learn how to lead acting workshops in the community. The third year has a focus on developing your own philosophy of education. Modules are also run on theatre production, music and supporting young people in schools."

Modules

* denotes an optional module:

1st Year

Craft and Discipline
Begin to develop your actor’s tool kit, with a foundation in core rehearsal techniques and skills in voice, movement, acting and improvisation that you can utilise and develop throughout the course and your career.
Dance Technique and Improvisation
Practical dance training focussing on a range of contemporary techniques and development of individual creativity through exploring the process of choreography from stimuli through to performance.
Singing and Music: Theory and Practice 1
Introduction to the core singing and music skills of the Actor Musician, focusing on developing the technical skills as both a solo and ensemble performer.
The Interdisciplinary Practitioner 1
Development of core practical skills for the educational performer including movement, music, acting and storytelling with a focus on understanding how these skills can support and develop creative practice through a creative project in a community or educational setting.
Children’s Literature and Drama in Education
Students look at a variety of picture books and design a dramatic performance of one to take into school for a literacy festival and character lunch.
Introduction to Education Studies
Students are given a question each week that they explore during their module. This module ties together all the information and provides an opportunity to give answers.

2nd Year

Theatre for Social Change
Develop and apply facilitation skills, leading workshops and theatre for social change projects with groups in community or educational settings.
Singing and Music: Theory and Practice 2
Intensive development of singing and music skills for performance, focusing on extending technical skills as both a solo and ensemble performer.
The Interdisciplinary Practitioner 2
Building on the Interdisciplinary Practitioner 1 this module creates a framework for students to develop a portfolio of performing arts workshops, suitable for a range of formal and informal educational contexts.
The Actor as Theatre Maker
Explore a range of improvisation, devising, and creative processes within acting and directing leading to the creation and performance of an original piece of theatre.
Delivering dance in the school and the community with inclusive practice
Learn a variety of different ways of delivering dance in schools from primary through to secondary. Explore delivery of dance in a community setting to enhance engagement with physical activity.
Educational Research
Apply an understanding of education theories and research methodologies the development of a piece of social research.

3rd Year

Portfolio Career Management
Gain the creative marketing and business skills necessary to build a portfolio career as an applied arts practitioner. Develop an understanding of networking, legal and financial requirements. Create your brand, and develop a business plan and marketing materials with which to launch your portfolio career.
Acting Through Song*
Apply acting skills to the exploration of plot, character, context, relationships, and subtext to the development of songs and scenes for performance.
Developing a Personal Philosophy of Education*
What is important to you? What drives you to be interested in education? You will articulate what you believe about education and how you see that playing out in your practice in the classroom.
Supporting Children and Young People*
What are the various ways you might support children and young people in schools to cope with the pressures of their lives?
Performing Arts Education Honours Project
With support from a supervisor you will carry out your own research into a topic that interests you, and present your findings as a written dissertation.
Global Education and Sustainability: Formal and Informal Learning and Change*
Explore the experiences of young people and community within a global perspective and gain a holistic understanding of global education and education for sustainability.
Collective Performance Making
Propose, create, rehearse, produce and perform a project of your own choice, under the guidance of experienced staff members or guest directors, exploring approaches to contemporary performance making that take the view of the practitioner as maker.

Please note: This course is subject to validation which means that it is either a new course or that the content is currently being updated. You can apply for this course now while some of the details of the course are being finalised by the University. Please contact the course leader if you would like further information.

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What might you become?

At the end of the course you are well placed to begin a PGCE or School Direct qualification to become a secondary or primary teacher specialising in drama. Or you could move into roles in the broader education or theatre sectors such as educational management, community theatre groups or informal educational environments such as those around tourism or events. You could also choose to lead children’s and community theatre groups as well as potentially setting up your own performing arts company.

“The course allowed me to perfect the practical side of my work, and to understand all the educational and performance theory. Among my standout moments at university were when I directed a performance of ‘The Jungle Book’ in a local primary school and organised and led a school trip to Marjon Arts Centre. I’ve now launched my own education theatre company and have recently been working in a school, teaching teachers how to use performing arts skills in their day to day practice.”

Lecturers

Kate Massey-Chase

Lecturer

Kate is an experienced Performing Arts teacher. She is passionate about social justice and the use of drama and theatre for social and political purposes, and as a platform for individual or social change. She is currently researching the use of theatre in mental health contexts.

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Katy Morse

Visiting lecturer

Katy is a professional actor and has performed in many musicals on UK national tours, including at the Victoria Palace, London and the Theatre Royal, Plymouth. She teaches Performing Arts in Education and Musical Theatre.

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Thomas Nicholls

Lecturer and Study Skills Librarian

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