Nyatuame, P. N. (2019). The ‘Evaluation Triangle’ in Theatre-For-Development education in Ghana

Quality Theatre-for-Development (TfD) education requires adequate provision to support the holistic development of the individual through an all-inclusive curriculum. TfD is a strategic resource for personal, socio-cultural and sustainable development. Hence, instructional TfD is valuable to sustainable development discourses, the global knowledge economy and the global society. This article explores to evaluate instructional TfD in higher education in Ghana. Employing the qualitative approach to research, the article used an empirical case study design to evaluate the TfD curricula of three public universities in Ghana, focusing especially on course contents, pedagogical approaches and teaching and learning logistics. The data collection method adopted were document review (curricula, course outlines, course descriptions and logistics for teaching and practice), with qualitative content and thematic analytical approaches guiding the data analysis process. The findings showed that the curricula as textual materials privilege preferred pedagogy that mostly specifies artistic and cultural pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in TfD. Also, the curricula are guided by utilitarian, cognitivist-behavioural and developmentalist philosophies that pay little attention to critical discourses in affective-aesthetic education. Such philosophical underpins reflect the ideologies and values of the designers and implementers. The analysis further demonstrated that the desired pedagogical context of implementation generally thrives on course contents, which are theory-practice-driven. The article proposes a discipline-specific and context-dependent framework and a space for the practice as artistic-aesthetic-cultural education to support quality TfD education delivery in Ghana.