A workshop of "Drama Education" to help mutual understanding and conflict management in everyday life was held at "Sakura Forest", a child welfare facilities of Takaoka.
Approximately 20 people, including teachers and child care staff, learned the importance of the feelings of the other person while role playing.
Associate professor Kanako Korenaga at Kochi University Faculty of Education plans to integrate "Drama education", which is thriving in Europe, into special needs education. She invited Professor Margret Lepp from University of Gothenburg, Sweden as the workshop leader. University of Gothenburg has an international collaboration agreement with Kochi University.
On the 29th and 30th of January, staff members of child welfare facilities and teachers joined the workshop. Participants were placed in groups of four or five and asked to form relationships with each other through communication using body language. Situations and subjects from everyday life were to be dramatized. Each group performed a scene of fighting children who want to play different games as well as a scene where a mother scolds her sons for not turning off their video game. Professor Lepp then asked the performers to reflect on the feelings of the fighting parties. The audience also advised on possible problem solving strategies.
The teacher Okumiya Tomoko commented: "classroom management is important in order to build relationships between children and parents. We could learn the importance of having broad perspectives to deal with various ideas through drama education".