Call for Papers - Special Issue of ArtsPraxis journal

What sort of schools do we want? What sort of society do we want?

 

In 1983, Dorothy Heathcote stated that, as educators, we should be asking what sort of schools we want – but also, what sort of society we want. Her words are incredibly timely today: they challenge us to consider questions of purpose, curriculum, access, and stewardship.

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Volume 13, Issue 1 of ArtsPraxis looks to engage members of the global educational theatre community in dialogue around these ideas which were investigated at the recent 2025 Dorothy Heathcote Now conference hosted at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

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Guest Editor: David Allen

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The submission deadline for Vol. 13 #1 is March 1, 2026. ​For this special issue, we welcome two types of submissions:

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1. Academic articles: 6000-8000 words. Will be given two peer reviews.

2. Practice-based pieces, which are not expected to be so academic, and might be written by teachers or practitioners, for example: 4,000 words. Only one peer review per article.

 

All manuscripts must be accompanied by a 200 word abstract and 100 word biographies for the author(s), and conform to APA style manual. Additional style and formatting guidelines are available here. Topics might include:

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• Empowering learners: How can practitioners bring curriculum learning alive in ways that give children genuine voice and agency?

• Drama and integration across the curriculum: How can practitioners draw links to history, humanities, and personal, social, health, and economic education (PSHE)? In what ways does this approach humanize teaching?

• Building community through drama, in the classroom and in the school.

• Reimaging Heathcote: In what ways can we draw on Dorothy Heathcote’s legacy?

• Evaluation and assessment

• Teaching political awareness through drama

• Teaching challenging and sensitive subjects

• Reinventing the curriculum, and challenging the neo-liberal educational agenda

• Teacher as artist and teacher as technician

• Using digital technology and AI in teaching

 

We encourage article submissions from artists, educators, and scholars from different disciplines. Our goal is to motivate a dialogue among a wide variety of practitioners and researchers that will enrich the development of educational theatre in the years to come.

 

Reviewing Procedures:

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Each article will be sent to peer reviewers. They will provide advice on the following:

• Whether the article should be published with no revisions/with revisions.

• The contribution the article makes to the arts community.

• Specific recommendations to the author about improving the article.

• Other publishing outlets if the article is considered unacceptable.

 

Papers should be sent to: Dr. Jonathan Jones (Please include ‘ArtsPraxis Submission’ in the subject line)