EDUCATIONAL DRAMA AS TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING TOOL IN SAINT JOSEPH PRIMARY SCHOOL AFAHA OKO, UYO

ABSTRACT Educational drama is a powerful and dynamic teaching approach that harnesses the transformative potentials of drama to foster deep learning, personal growth and social charge. The discourse on child centered teaching and learning is one that has continued to challenge educators the world over. Teaching and learning for child development, especially in Nigerian Primary Schools have been ruled by giving of notes via chalkboard and prescribed textbooks. This method of learning makes education very tiring and burdensome, leading to poor development outcomes. Many Literatures exist to address the discourse on educational drama as transformative learning, however, there are limited focus on the cultural perspective in child learning, insufficient attention to teachers role in transformative learning, limited attention to the learning environment etc. this academic void is what this research intends to fill. This study focuses on the dynamic process of educational drama which promotes transformative learning, It researches into the ability of the child to learn, unlearn, relearn and develop character through effective educational drama practice in schools. The qualitative research method is adopted for this study, which allows for in-depth content analysis, and careful observation for proper data evaluation and interpretation. A classroom drama project carried out by the researcher in Saint Joseph Primary School Afaha Oku, Uyo, was evaluated as the primary source of data. This study finds out that education, especially as it relates to children can be made easy and fun-filled, if teachers and facilitators embrace the tenets of educational drama. Again, the researcher found out from his classroonm experience with the pupils that educational drama is a very valuable tool for education, skills development and creative inventions. The study therefore recommends that. the teacher-facilitator, as well as the society should be able to observe the weak areas of the child and develop improvised and creative means to help the child learn and get better, that educational drama be integrated into mainstream teaching and learning processes in the classroom, as it will further help to provide a robust foundation for physical, emotional, intellectual and psychological transformation of participants. The research comes to conclusion that integration of educational drama into mainstream teaching and learning processes, provides a robust foundation for physical, emotional, intellectual and psychological transformation of participants.