This research on Theatre-In-Education (TIE) took place between 2024-2025. It was conducted by Dr. Felicia Low, Dr. Ivy Chia (SUSS) and Jude Elliot Tan. The Theatre-In-Education programme was organised by Alvin Tan, Clarisse Ng, Julius Foo and Michele Lim. The 3 hour programme was held at the Esplanade over October 2024. The research, carried out by the CCD and supported by the National Arts Council, included the writing of a TIE curriculum guide which would be used to train drama facilitators in the future. This curriculum guide was written by Adib Kosnan, with the guidance of Dr. Felicia Low.

Research findings asserts that TIE is an effective approach to engage students in social interactions which are deliberative and empathetic. A study on 41 students across upper primary and lower secondary was carried out to analyse for behavior modes of ‘Affect’, ‘Calculation’, ‘Identity’ and ‘Moral’, adapted from Forster et. al. (2021) during discussions that took place during the TIE session. A post programme survey was also given to the participants, assessing for their self-report demonstrations of empathy in the forms of affective ability, drive, reactivity, and cognitive ability and drive, as adapted from the Empathy Components Questionnaire. By means of TIE’s design across different activities which carry situations of injustice, students practiced deliberation via discussions that enabled participants to express their emotions, weigh the pros and cons of an action or decision, make a stand as a collective and speak or act for the common good. The portrayal and considerations of those oppressed by injustice created opportunities for participants to practice forms of empathy, in particular cognitive empathy.

Given Singapore’s highly academic drive in schools, it is suggested that TIE, or its associated forms of performance and deliberation, be a complement to curriculum for social-emotional learning. As an embodied and highly interactive form of engagement, TIE will motivate students to practice forms of social decision making which can lend more insight into personal accountability, responsibility, as well as insight to forms of care and concern towards the suffering of others.