Training Matters
In this section, we present training videos and resources, featuring Luke Abbott, David Allen and Iona Towler-Evans.
This video is a recording of an event organised by National Drama and London Drama in September 2020. David Allen introduces the Commission Model, and provides examples of the system in practice. Topics include: drama in the Commission Model; differences between Mantle and the Commission Model; teaching the curriculum; "imagined" clients; and the example of the Hexham Hospital Garden Commission. Below is a selection of powerpoint slides
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Steps in to a Commission Model: Luke Abbott
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As part of our Training Week for the Erasmus+ project, we spent a day with Luke Abbott.
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Luke worked with the project team, to plan a session for a class of Year 4 children at Woodrow First School. The idea was to set up a "fictional context" - as you would do in “Mantle of the Expert” - which could form the basis, at a later date, for an actual (real) commission from an organisation in the community.
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It's one way to approach a Commission Model project.
In the morning, Luke worked with the team, to plan the session. His aims were to engage the class with a topic; to build their “frame” or “expertise,” and set up a fictional context. This is the context:
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A team of waste disposal people with appropriate know how, has been contacted by Environmental investigators (adults in FULL ROLE) who are becoming alarmed at the patterns of ‘fly tipping’ in the areas around Redditch. The population of rat species is also increasing as the tipping of waste products also includes foods. Unfortunately, some very toxic materials are also being included in the illegal disposals such as oils from car engines, asbestos sheets, disused paint containers and blue bag hospital bags that have been opened.
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In this context, the children were invited to represent "a team of people who have the wherewithal to remove and dispose of large masses of materials in a responsible manner". Project team members were placed in role as Environmental Heath Officers, who needed help to deal with the problem of fly-tipping.
Attraction stage
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Luke planned that, in the initial "attraction" stage, to engage the children's interest, they would first encounter the Environmental Investigators "as if in a moment of deep pondering over a map of Redditch, with several stickers indicating fly-tipping with lists of each site’s contents. Also, it is clear from the map that the motorways in and around Redditch are also being used as illegal tipping sites." Luke observes: "This is in the ICONIC / EXPRESSIVE mode enabling the class to begin to move through the attraction phase to CONCERN and INVESTMENT."
The first video (below) shows the planning session. The second video shows the session with the children.