“When Brian Acted His Way Out of a Wet Paper Bag”: The Transformational Qualities of Drama Education

This study utilised Mezirow’s Transformative Learning framework to explore drama teachers’ and pre-service drama teachers’ perceptions of transformation in the drama space. The research specifically examined three core questions: 1. Who are transformed? 2. What is transformed? 3. How does transformation happen? Adopting a phenomenological qualitative approach, we analysed interview data from eight drama teachers and 22 pre-service drama teachers in Western Australia. Findings indicate that participation in school-based drama activities fosters transformations (and perceptions of transformation) in self-confidence, personal values, and willingness to take creative risks. Beyond teaching performance skills, drama cultivates deeper understandings of self and others, offering enduring benefits that reach far beyond the classroom. This research makes explicit the taken-for-granted assumptions of drama as a transformative experience.

This study examines how pre-service drama teachers’ professional identities are shaped by their motivations for entering the profession, memories of their own school drama experiences, and concerns about teaching. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach, semi-structured focus group interviews with 22 pre-service drama teachers were conducted, thematically analysed and presented as narrative vignettes. The findings reveal identity formation as a negotiated process where participants drew motivation from drama’s perceived transformative potential, recalled teachers who inspired or disappointed them, and voiced doubts about their preparedness and the marginalised status of drama in schools. While many described drama and drama teaching as fostering belonging, confidence, and self-expression, they also acknowledged constraints that challenged their optimism. These narratives show that becoming a drama teacher involves balancing passion with uncertainty and transformation with marginalisation. The study contributes to drama teacher education by demonstrating how lived experiences function as critical resources for reflective practice, resilience, and program design, supporting the preparation of teachers who can sustain drama’s value in contested educational contexts.