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Dr Lisa Stephenson sits down with primary school teacher and history lead, Amanda John-Baptiste, and performing arts specialist, researcher, and artist, Saira Illing-Ahmed. Together, they explore their three-year collaboration embedding Drama Worldbuilding pedagogy across an academy. They discuss how suspension of disbelief, co-created story worlds, and playful inquiry can breathe life back into a saturated curriculum, reduce anxiety, and increase access to learning for SEND pupils and disengaged learners.
Talking Points
Breathing Life into a Saturated Curriculum: Connecting learning with meaning, emotion, and pupil agency rather than top-down delivery.
Suspension of Disbelief as a Tool: How imagined worlds enable children to confront real-world issues, like climate change.
Access for SEND Pupils: Reducing barriers through verbal, embodied assessment.
Structure versus agency: How stepping into role allows teachers to embrace unexpected student contributions without losing lesson focus.
Aspiration, Agency, and Wellbeing: How co-creation fosters bravery, democratic negotiation, and a sense of belonging in classrooms.
About Our Guests
Amanda John-Baptiste is a primary school teacher, history subject lead, and drama worldbuilding lead practitioner at Carr Lodge Academy (part of Exceed Learning Partnership) in Doncaster. She is passionate about inclusive, discovery-led teaching methods that empower every child to articulate their learning.
Saira Illing-Ahmed is a performing arts specialist, actor trainer, lecturer, and artist-researcher with the Story Makers Collective at Leeds Beckett University. Her work focuses on decolonising practice, creative drama pedagogies, and enabling young people to imagine new possibilities for themselves.
Resources
Story Makers Company: https://storymakersco.com
Exceed Learning Partnership: https://exceedlp.org.uk/
Research
Stephenson, L., 2021. Creative Spaces for Wellbeing. The Emotional Curriculum Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s04-e08-story-makers-creative-spaces-for-wellbeing/id1484954368?i=1000527790225
Stephenson, L., 2023. Collective creativity and wellbeing dispositions: children's perceptions of learning through drama. Thinking Skills and Creativity, p.101188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2022.101188
Stephenson, L, 2026. Eight Dispositions for Collective Creativity, Social-Emotional Wellbeing and Ethical Action. Project Report. Leeds Beckett University; Story Makers Company. https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/12837/
Credits
Story Makers Research Centre podcast, Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University.
Episodes recorded by Erin Faye Jenkins and Tom Xioutas
Post-production by Laura Wilkes, Haven Tsang and Beryl Kwok at Communicating for Impact
