The Value of Performing Arts and Theatre Performance in Early Childhood Education

The value of the performing arts and theatre performance in early childhood education
Harpreet Kaur
Nirimba TAFE
Submitted to; Peta Kennedy

ECCDD303A Music, Movement and Drama Essay
“The school must begin from the principle that its educational program is intentionally
directed to the growth of the whole person.”
The above line taken from “The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education (1977)”
speaks volume regarding the aim of the education which is being offered by the schools to the
children. As opined by Williams et al. (2015), the primary purpose of the education which is
being offered to the children is to offer them the kind of skill sets or knowledge that is likely
to enable them to fulfill their basic psychosocial needs in the later part of their lives. Pitt and
Hargreaves (2017) are of the viewpoint that this is one of the most basic reasons why the
United Nations and also the national governments of the different nations insist that a basic
education is being offered to the children and thereby have integrated the ‘Right to
Education’ as one of the most important rights of the children. However, the process of early
childhood education is a much complex one and thereby requires the teachers or the
volunteers to take the help of different kinds of measures or techniques for the purpose of
imparting education especially to the children falling in 0-5 years of age (Deans, Brown &
Young, 2007). The extensive use of music, movement and drama theory had not only
improved the quality of education which is being imparted to the children belonging to the
age between 0-5 years but at the same time helps in the effective learning development of
these children as well. This essay will analyze the value of the performing arts and theatre
performance in early childhood education. Oakes et al. (2015) are of the viewpoint that the
process of imparting education to the children in 0-5 years is often a difficult task for the
teachers and also the parents because of the fact that the children of this age have yet not
developed speech or cognitive abilities in an effective manner. However, as Andrikopoulou
and Koutrouba (2019) have noted, this is the stage during which the physical, as well as
cognitive abilities of the children grow at a much faster rate and thus it becomes important for
the teachers and also the families to effectively utilize this period for laying the groundwork
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Harpreet Kaur 800823234

ECCDD303A Music, Movement and Drama Essay
of education for the children. In this regard, it needs to be said that the traditional methods of
teachings like lectures and others fail to offer adequate results for the children related to this
particular young age and they are more likely to get attracted to moving images, pictures,
music, and others (Seppänen et al., 2019). Furthermore, it is seen that the children of this age
are not likely to completely comprehend the actual meaning of things which are taught to
them yet they are likely to get attracted to the movement of the theatre performances and the
rhythms of the music which is being used for the purpose of their education (Mayesky, 2015).
This is perhaps one of the major reasons why the constructs of music, drama, performances,
and others are being widely used for the purpose of imparting education to the children.
As per Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the children undergo through four
different stages for the acquisition of cognition and intelligence, which he termed as
Sensorimotor stage, Pre-operational stage, Concrete operational stage and Formal operational
stage (Lai et al., 2018). In this regard, it needs to be said that for the children belonging to the
young age, the stages applicable are the Sensorimotor stage (birth to two years of age) and
the Pre-operational stage (2 years to 7 years of age) (Irwin, 2018). In the Sensorimotor stage,
the children are being intrigued by the different objects and their shapes whereas in the Pre-
operational stage they are more likely to get attracted by movements and the rhythms of
different kinds of sounds (Seppänen et al., 2019). More importantly, recent researches have
clearly shown that the children are more likely to get attracted as well as retain the sounds or
music of different songs in their mind (O’Sullivan et al., 2018). However, at the same time it
needs to be said that unlike the adults they might not be able to remember the exact lyrics of
the songs or music or for that the dramatic performances which are being expostulated before
them yet it is likely that they would be able to learn from them in an effective manner
(Niland, 2015).
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Harpreet Kaur 800823234