Education has seen an abundance of changes over the centuries, not just with the way in which pupils are taught but the mark schemes and content of the actual exams themselves.

A Victorian classroom.

A modern-day classroom

These articles below, acknowledge the overhauls that education has seen over the course of time.

https://www.bl.uk/victorian-britain/articles/education-in-victorian-britain 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/pb-assets/assets/17540208/Cohen_Intro_to_JECS_spec_issue_on_education_2mar12.pdf

From this information we can see that the pressure to get high grades on exams has amplified as time has gone on mostly due to fierce competition in the work place.

Researchers believe, children of authoritarian parents tend to have low self-esteem and lack spontaneity. Often timid, they rely on the voice of authority more than other children. 

Children of Authoritarian parents may do well in school and not engage in problem behaviour, but tend to have poorer social skills, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of depression. They may grow up to be highly anxious people who don’t realize their full potential.

The character’s name was changed to Andi in our version, to suit a female.  Andi is a child who worries excessively and gets anxious easily. Having a stomach ulcer, suggests she is prone to stress. Throughout the play, she is feeling or being sick. This highlights how her nerves are affecting her. She’s is a bit of a daydreamer and idealist who loves motorbikes. We are told that this isn’t the first time she’s sat this exam and failing the first time round has knocked her confidence. Her parents are aspiring middle class fitness fans. Her dad is ‘comedically dynamic’. Her mum is the voice of reassurance and calm. The parenting style being demonstrated, most resembles the authoritative model. They are encouraging, yet not too forceful and tend to worry about her well-being.

Bea is an intelligent girl who generally does well academically. In the play we see how this puts pressure on her, with her parents having high expectations that she must fill. She feels her parents try and control her a lot as she relays how they constantly push her to eat cakes and sweets. She is conscious about her weight and that she isn’t very popular. ‘It’s ok for you, everyone likes you.’

Her parents, Mr and Mrs B, are a working-class couple, homely and moral. I think the style of parenting that fits best for them, is authoritarian, due to their ignorance to her needs and high expectations.

Chas is a happy go lucky lad who doesn’t take exams too seriously. He knows that being intelligent is not one of his strengths. He uses humour in most situations to mask awkwardness. It is apparent that he is a caring person as he constantly checks on Andi throughout the exam. ‘Andi are you ok?’ This could be since he has four younger siblings who are often neglected, and feels a sense of responsibility for them. The style of parenting he is receiving definitely fits that of uninvolved parenting. This is evident in his mum’s attitude towards him and the exams. She states, ‘You should do your best and if your best isn’t good enough, well, never mind.’ She doesn’t seem to have a huge interest in her children, which fits the uninvolved profile. Chas’ dad is dead and the way in which he talks to his dad’s ghost, highlights how much he misses him and the support of a male adult. He uses the memory of his dad for guidance.

Relationship status. Married to Mrs A

Family. A teenage daughter, Andi.

Class and background. Lower middle class and well educated.

Personality. Tries to be a trendy, humorous parent who makes bad jokes. Full of energy and enthusiasm. Intelligent and open minded. Seems to care for Andi and Mrs A.

Characters motivation. Wants Andi to be well adjusted, well-educated and to achieve her full potential.

Attitude towards exams. Wants Andi to succeed but not at expense of her health. Tries to offer helpful advice, ‘You fell off the horse. The answer is to get straight back on the horse.’

Similarities of my character to me. I have a sense of humour and, as a parent, I too provide a huge amount of ‘helpful’ advice. I can be a bit cringey like Mr A.

My secondary character

Summary. She is studious and anxious about doing well in the exam. She is a worrier who gets stressed easily. She is the opposite of me when I was at school as I was very blasé about my exams.

I took time to research voice projection as I had feedback explaining that I was too quiet. I watched a few YouTube videos and read some articles, but I still found it hard to tell if I was shouting or projecting. I’d like to become confident with this.

During the play, we changed seats. I think this was to show that the scene altered when the three main characters were in the classroom. I don’t think that was totally successful and I was still confused as to how the other pupils were in the class when it couldn’t be unlocked.

I was hoping that the audience would find the play, funny and entertaining and this seemed to be the case as they were laughing a lot. I was really pleased when they laughed at the bit where I growled like a tiger.

I think the strongest part of my performance was the blocks of lines I performed, as I remembered all the words. I ended up going blank when I said the one lines, despite knowing them all. I put this down to stage fright. I managed to cover other group members when they forgot their lines by saying mine in place. It did concern me that it came across as me forgetting my lines when I did this though. I had to ad lib one of them to cover up what I had forgot. I was pleased with the way I did this though.

The first time we read through the play, I found it really funny but after the first four times of rehearsing it, not so much. It was difficult to stay focused and maintain interest, as most of the time it was only the three main characters doing anything and the rest of us were technically redundant. I thought the play was entertaining and the group did an amazing job with the roles, but I felt that it would’ve been better had there been more significant parts. I would’ve liked more time to rehears as well.

There was quite a bit of the script that was cut. This was mainly due to the time limitation on the performance. My part had a lot of lines in scene 3 but this whole scene was taken out. I also had some of my original lines cut as they were in a paragraph and not very consistent with the style of the rest of the part. A section that was cut, was one I wasn’t enjoying acting, so I was unperturbed.

On my script, I had a variety of notes and highlighted areas. These annotations included staging and blocking instructions, parts I needed to remember that were spoken as a group and comments to assist in improving my characterisation. Changes, such as those made to characters names, are indicated, as are the sections where lines were removed. I put my script in a presentation folder as it fell apart straight away and I wanted to keep it in good condition.

Rehearsal logs

At the end of each rehearsal, I filled out a rehearsal log. I made mine bigger as there was only a small amount of room on the original ones.

Setting

As the play is set in the 20th century, the set reflected this. The set design was basic, desks and chairs set out replicating a typical exam arrangement. A chair was placed downstage left for the teacher.

I was unsure on the difference between set and props, so I educated myself on this and ascertained that all the things we used fell under the props category.

Props

Pupil desks and chairs used by the whole class.

Pens and a sheet of paper used by the whole class.

Mug and clipboard for Miss Baxendale

Rubber, this was used by Chas.

I, personally, carried a text book to authenticate my students studious character. I also used glasses to visually distinguish between her, and my other part, Mr A.

Costume

The group wore school uniform with the exception of the two teachers who dressed in smart but casual suits. This helped the audience see the actors as school children and defined the teacher’s roles.

Sound

The track ‘Brick in the wall part 2’ by Pink Floyd was used as we came on and went off stage. The song was chosen due its appropriate lyrics and it also fit the ambiance of the play.

I was told I was responsible for sound, but I didn’t do anything. I would’ve enjoyed the music aspect as I come from that kind of background. Making sound effects would also have been exciting.

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave them kids alone

Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone

All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall

[Chorus by pupils from the Fourth Form Music Class Islington Green School, London]

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers, leave them kids alone

Hey, teacher, leave us kids alone

All in all you're just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall

[Spoken:]
Wrong! Do it again!
Wrong! Do it again!
If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?!
You! Yes, you, behind the bike sheds, stand still, laddy!