Playing with power and privilege: Theatre games in teacher education

In preparing White teachers to educate a diverse society, teacher educators must help them see the veil which colors their views of the world and privileges them. This study explores the need for playing with power and privilege to deconstruct the concept of meritocracy and challenge the idea of one-ness, thereby fostering more conscious locations of White pre-service teachers. It proposes that Boalian theatre games can serve as powerful yet playful and innovative approaches for accessing values and beliefs shaping pre-service teachers’ views of the(ir) world, influencing their roles as teachers and the pedagogies in which they plan to engage.

► Pre-service teachers’ views of their cultural locations shifted via theatre games.
► White pre-service teachers developed a double-consciousness.
► White pre-service teachers started recognizing their privileges in society.
► White pre-service teachers’ beliefs and pedagogies changed through games.
► Theatre games can make power and privilege visible.