School
of Creative
Industries
Nick Ng Choon Peng

Nick Ng Choon Peng

MA Arts Pedagogy and Practice
2019 — 2020

Trained as an art teacher, Nick Ng worked primarily as a theatre director before joining Nanyang Girls’ High School as a drama teacher. His theatre performances focused mainly on social and political issues taking the form of simple and clean aesthetics. Usually fragmented and highly visual, the purpose is often to research, understand and present a particular phenomenon rather than telling a story. As Nick teaches in an all-female school, his work has started to navigate towards exploring teenage and young female issues. He also holds an MA in Arts Pedagogy and Practice from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Work

Nick's teaching philosophy stems from his belief that all students have unlimited potential and it is educators’ responsibility to bring out what is possible within them. Believing that learning by doing, as a way to create experiences which give ownership to the knowledge, Nick is interested to understand how drama as “doing”, can be used as a means to facilitate students’ social-emotional learning. He knows that drama provides a wholesome and experiential aspect to acquiring essential life skills.

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Thesis abstract

The effects of theatre performance on students' social-emotional learning

This paper is devoted to exploring how theatre performance as intervention can affect social emotional development of students. 10 sessions of rehearsals were conducted with students with perceived social-emotional issues, and a drama performance of about 20 minutes was presented in front of an audience of teachers, parents and students. 3 participants are selected as case study examples to assess how rehearsals and performance can improve social-emotional competencies following the Ministry of Education (Singapore) framework for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). By triangulating data of selected case studies, interviews with teachers, and observation of researcher as a director, this paper tries to form an explanation of how SEL can happen during a theatrical process, by applying theories of role and liminality. It also offers a brief comparison with classroom teaching methods of SEL. It suggests how theatre education could be used as a supplementary programme to the Character and Citizenship Education programme currently taught in Singapore schools.

Work experience

2007 – Present
Nanyang Girls’ High School
Drama Teacher

2001 – 2007
FUNdaMENTAL MULTI-DISCIPLINARY
Artistic Director

1997 – 2001
Singapore Broadway Playhouse
Resident Director

1997 – 2000
Ministry of Education
Art Teacher