Conference 2013: Feedback

What follows is an unedited copy of the sections of the evaluation forms completed at the Conference that referred to the Keynotes and workshops.

Keynote 1: Professor. Tim Brighouse

  • Witty. Amusing. Informed by a wealth of experience. Occasionally, slightly rambling- but overall inspirational.
  • Great Friday night choice. I like Charlie Chaplin and Che Guevara. Mixture of stand up comedy and considered pedagogy! Practical examples, lovely story. Clear messages.
  • Engaging and enthusiastic. A little rambling.
  • Established and reinforced my philosophy for education started conference with a contextualization relevant to a group of people who have to juggle their own philosophy in a ‘Govian’ world.
  • He said bravely and boldly all the platitudes- but they came clean and fresh from him- lack of self-esteem, reductionist, educational theory, imagination…Great stuff but not as penetrating as… [Mike Fleming].
  • Entertaining and enjoyable ‘after drama’ feel which had a good tone for issues that lay ahead in conference.
  • Stimulating. Thought provoking. Butterflies and stones. Inspiring.
  • V. good.
  • He is a passionate and dramatic speaker. He had set up several pinpoints for me to seek deeper understanding of my work and situation, including the analysis of the politician’s aspect of education, the changing focus of school improvement (from n. to u.) and butterfly action. However, I wish more time on clarifying the ‘butterfly’ and the approach to do it.
  • Very interesting and affirmed my beliefs of referencing the needs, requirements and benefits of including drama within education- just as Dorothy advocated.
  • We are not alone is what I gathered from this- there are many who share our vision to make links with. The idea that teacher-driven groups should give each other ideas for change.
  • Really wonderful speaker who validated teaching and gave very concrete examples to his ideas.
  • Bloody brilliant. He really gave me lots to think about, not just in my drama practice but also in my SEBD work. Very accessible and captivating keynote.
  • Entertaining and enlightening. Very positive and inspiring way to begin the weekend.
  • Very inspiring start to the weekend. Loved being thanked for what I do.

Keynote 2: Professor Mike Fleming

  • Well organized. Provocative. Well researched. Engaging.
  • EMPATHY
  • A little narrow and disappointing. Didn’t really take us anywhere.
  • Not as relevant as a non-drama teacher but again, as KL.
  • Drama for learning and the art form- he very nearly gave a vision of how the two come together- but not quite. ‘Aesthetic’, ‘form’, ‘uncertainty’, he wrote, but it needsfurther unraveling like- I know when I’m in the art form- and when I’m explaining…?
  • Focused conference on issues at heart. Didn’t agree with all he said but he threw a number of issues into the air which impacted on formal and informal discussions throughout the weekend.
  • Useful recap and reminder. Well delivered.
  • V. good.
  • I find I have difficulties to deep access to Mike’s talk for the limit of time to deliberate such big issues and for my own lack on contextualization. But this reconsider of opportunities and challenges had gave me inspiration and confident to facemy situation in China.
  • Reiterated and reminded me of some of the basics that form drama- reminded are to return to some just to renew the ‘sparkle’ in sessions.
  • It’s very hard to answer the question ‘so what can we do’ – the one eyed bird showed us a great way forward.
  • Again very good speaker. The detail has left me now. So would really appreciate the opportunity to see it again. Maybe needed time for Q&A afterwards.
  • Tied in with Tim Brighouse. Very interesting.

Keynote 3: Maggie Hulson, Guy Williams

  • A shame that Rupert couldn’t make it, but Maggie and Guy were excellent.
  • Good to look at the barriers of our practice and how we can keep going.
  • Really engaging. The first overt, impassioned rally for action in schools. But more than this, it was really nurturing and wonderful.
  • As KL. Intellectually challenging; enjoyable use of language. As HoF I used this workshop to rebalance the many roles I have in school. Great use of ‘stones’ and participation.
  • Maggie’s lovely presentation- and the combination with Guy was just right. Liked the pressure on teachers- and the exercise in old fashioned universals- what is it left us to instinctively because she could see the universal in the particular. The brotherhoods!! You did it with levels- but I suspect investment, belongs to her interest- investment obsession series…!
  • A little cerebral and unclear. Didn’t have sufficient grasp of the model to make full use of it. There is a political agenda here which needs to ‘stay the hand’ – but this did not emerge clearly enough nor act as a rallying call.
  • A bit confusing and not enough time to fulfill task in groups.
  • V. good
  • I was a bit lost in the therapeutic session until I talked to Maggie after the session. I believe it is very important to transform the emotion around the community brought by the new national curriculum.
  • This was incomplete I felt and may have been better as 3 small groups working in three different areas then coming together.
  • I enjoyed working with Guy on this. I have tried to collect together the responses to write up in some way. I hope something concrete comes out of it. As ever, I would have liked more time. Who should write up the pledges from Matthew’s plenary?
  • Very memorable- good image being pressed under stones. It revealed how complex levels of meaning can actually be!
  • Enthusing.
  • Nicely toned. Participatory was very cool.
  • Enjoyed the practical nature of this keynote.
  • Interesting but not sure we had sufficient time to truly challenge enough of the stones. Thus I left feeling as though we were in a bleak situation without much hope of escaping.

Keynote 4: International Section

  • Inspirational.
  • Ace. Brilliant. Inspiring. We should be setting up our own MoE/NATD foundations and qualifications and we will.
  • Inspiring and engaging.
  • Fascinating and a great session as the center point of the conference.
  • Very positive.
  • Excellent- mind opening
  • Film inspirational- would like to have had more formal feedback from all our international partners. We need to celebrate this work more.
  • Video good and clear subtitles.
  • Wonderful!
  • It really gave me a good model, as well as the confidence to work for! Other than that, I am a bit wondering for the purpose of this sharing provided to the local teachers and practitioners.
  • Excellent- amazing environment for an excellent project. Well done Wassim.
  • Great to have both the work that has gone on in Bosnia/Serbia + Palestine, and to see what we could do next- future conferences.
  • Beautiful film and a good opportunity for Q&A. I think there can be a really strong link between Palestine and NATD.
  • Had expected a wider cross section.
  • Fantastic and strengthening.
  • Loved the film and always good to hear and see what is happening in other corners of the world.

Keynote 5: Spark, Hazelwick School

  • Superb.
  • Magic.
  • Powerful, refreshing and inspiring.
  • Beautiful. They demonstrated a very high attention to detailing sophisticated humanist story telling that is the hallmark of Hazelwick School.
  • Excellent. I wanted to have studied (been given the chance) to do drama in school and be part of that group.
  • Sheerly fabulous.
  • Really enjoyed this- but hold onto why we’re here for drama at conference (as well as youth theatre) Youth Theatre which this really was. Great stuff tho!
  • Great performance and responses to questions.
  • An excellent demonstration of how powerful an educational gift drama is.
  • I was so impressed by their incredible work and their voice in the discussion.
  • It was an amazing experience- the young people showed commitment and expertise to portray a controlled yet spontaneous performance and then confidently commented at the Q&A session.
  • The legacy goes on- the work done by Guy [Gemma and Liam] with that group, influenced by the Prometheus scheme (which asks the question what would Prometheus steal for us now) which in turn was influenced by Actors Group, which was guided by GeoffGillham. The shaping of the clay was the image of that done by Actors Group.
  • Great performance- I would never want to replace Y/P show- but Blahs can offer a show alongside one next year.
  • Fantastic.
  • Always moving hearing young people talking about their experiences of drama.
  • V. Valuable to hear about the students’ experiences with process and in Mostar.

Workshop: Brian Woolland

  • No comment. I was the workshop leader. But the group were very good to work with.
  • Brian Woollandfacilitated the conditions for us to undertake real learning. My passion is utterly reinvigorated and I could not help but be enthused. The group was delightful. Working through one workshop choice is a much better way of doing things.
  • Working with Brian. Chris always a gas.
  • I decided to do this workshop to find out how others approach this subject- I did not let those participating know that I was a practitioner in this area of work. I learnt a lot in particular gaining confidence in my own work.
  • Brian Woolland- beautifully paced. Very thoughtful and skilled practitioner- backed up with experienced colleagues.
  • Loved it, incredibly useful.
  • Bloody ace. Seriously good and delivered exactly what I needed.

Workshop: PavlaBeier and David

  • Raft of the Medusa- Amazing. Thought provoking practical ideas and advice. Expert delivery. I can teach this on Monday morning. Worth the £300 alone.
  • Very practical and helpfully reflective.
  • Just right- I did not want this one but when I got there it was just what I wanted.
  • Good balance of practical and reflection.

Workshop: Luke Abbott

  • Exactly the reason I came to conference. Use of talk, questioning and setting up social groups.
  • A REALLY useful workshop for me. It shows me how to co-construct the context with children and make them self-driven in a micro scale. It also helps me to distinguish ‘inquiry’ and ‘enquiry’ learning and enable the real inquiry. And I like the setting that split the workshop in pieces.
  • MoE- fab in every way. A chance to learn, practice, be nurtured.