THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF TEACHING-ARTISTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE CASE OF THE THEATER DEPARTMENT AT THE LEBANESE UNIVERSITY

Abstract

A teaching-artist's role is complex as it encompasses the development of a hybrid professional identity (Hall, 2010). Globally, theater teaching-artists in higher education are being offered few specialized professional development opportunities (Schuttler, 2010) however local artists at the Lebanese University require institutional support that is not available. This study aims at contributing to the literature on the development of pedagogical content knowledge of theater teaching-artists through exploring from their own perspectives their continuous professional learning journeys and identities following a qualitative case study design. This study reports findings about a group of ten diverse theatre teaching-artists at the theatre department at the second branch of the faculty of fine arts at the Lebanese University, and transforms their views into a descriptive, and explanatory understanding of the nature and characteristics of their professional journeys. Our findings report on the latter’s initiation and constituents, while highlighting the challenges teaching-artists encounter and the factors that contribute to the development of their pedagogical content knowledge. In the end, the study marks the major institutional impediments to professional learning bombarding teaching-artists as they pave their self-initiated professional learning journeys within the chosen context and later re-envisions the profiles of successful teaching artists. Drawn from the study results framing the teaching of theatre as an intuitive drive to serve students we recommend supporting such professionals through implementing institutional support for their continuous professional learning. This entails establishing and developing this hybrid field of study, and revisiting the pedagogic recruitment criteria for teaching-artists.