Dear Colleague,

The DICE Consortium is pleased to invite you to the Brussels conference of project DICE – Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competences in Education. This event will take place on 25th of October in Brussels at the European Parliament.

DICE (“Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competences in Education”) is an international EU-supported project. In addition to other educational aims, this two-year project was a cross-cultural research study investigating the effects of educational theatre and drama on five of the eight Lisbon Key Competences. The research was conducted by twelve partners (leader: Hungary, partners: Czech Republic, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom).

The outputs of the project are two books:

• a Policy Paper summarizing the most important results of the research,  and recommendations based on research,
• an Educational Resource, a publication for schools, educators and arts practitioners about the different practices of educational theatre and drama.

Both books will be disseminated at the European, national, and local levels.

Please download the Policy Paper and the Educational Resource from this homepage.

What does the research tell us about those students who regularly participate in educational theatre and drama activities? Here is a brief summary: compared with peers who had not been participating in any educational theatre and drama programmes, theatre and drama participants;

1. are more highly assessed by their teachers in all aspects,
2. feel more confident in reading and understanding tasks,
3. feel more confident in communication,
4. are more likely to feel that they are creative,
5. like going to school more,
6. enjoy school activities more,
7. are better at problem solving,
8. are better at coping with stress,
9. are significantly more tolerant towards both minorities and foreigners,
10. are more active citizens,
11. show more interest in voting at any level,
12. show more interest in participating in public issues,
13. are more empathic: they have concern for others,
14. are more able to change their perspective,
15. are more innovative and entrepreneurial,
16. show more dedication towards their future and have more plans,
17. are much more willing to participate in any genre of arts and culture, and not just performing arts, but also writing, making music, films, handicrafts, and attending all sorts of arts and cultural activities,
18. spend more time in school, more time reading, doing housework, playing, talking, and spend more time with family members and taking care of younger brothers and sisters. In contrast, they spend less time watching TV or playing computer games,
19. do more for their families, are more likely to have a part-time job and spend more time  being creative either alone or in a group. They more frequently go to the theatre, exhibitions and museums, and the cinema, and go hiking and biking more often,
20. are more likely to be a central character in the class,
21. have a better sense of humour,
22. feel better at home.

The Brussels conference is the last stage of the two-years-long project. The objectives of the conference are

• to introduce the research results, the Education Resource and the Policy Paper for EU decision makers,
• to inform educational and culture stakeholders about the findings of the research and the effect of drama, underpinned both by quantitative and qualitative results,
• to convince key stakeholders to introduce necessary changes suggested by the research.

To view the programme, please click here.

Deadline for registration is the 22nd October 2010. Participation in the conference is free of charge. However, there are limited seats available in the conference room: we can accept the first 120 registrations, so it is advisable to register early in order to secure your seat.

The conference runs from 9am until 6pm. If you can’t make it for the whole day, please feel free to sign up: participants are invited to attend those sessions that their schedules allow.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to network, to discuss together and exchange experiences and practices on the most important issues of educational theatre and drama.

We look very much forward to seeing you in Brussels in October!  

Yours faithfully,


Ádám Cziboly
DICE project leader