Improving social competency by tools from Drama in Education

Abstract

Social competence is defined in several ways in the literature: a common element of the definitions is the emphasis on the role of communication and collaboration skills. These skills are part of the educational pro-cess; therefore, the possible development of social competence has become an increasingly important topic in public and higher education over the past decade. Schonmann (2005) is a well-known researcher of Drama in Education, who describes 17 different types and implementations of Drama in Education. Furthermore, she highlights that the method of Drama in Education would be a good tool for the development of social compe-tencies in education. Marlok (2003) writes that communication competence can be developed through Drama in Education, as drama involves improving voice tone and posture in addition to verbal tools and has a positive effect on students’ personalities. The aim of this research was to explore how often students, who participated in a talent care drama summer camp and are between the ages of 12 and 16, experienced situations that developed their social competence. The results show that students experienced situations in which an element of their social competence developed at least once a day, but in some cases several times per day. Although our results are not representative, they confirm the statements of the literature concerning that drama plays an effective role in the positive development of social relationships and the development of social competence and that it provides educational added value.