ACTIVE or IDLE? A Delphi Study of Teachers’ Perceptions on Using Drama in Mathematics Education

This article examines teachers’ perceptions of using drama as a pedagogical method for teaching mathematics. It documents the experiences of a 5-day workshop in Greece, where 28 teachers from Norway, Greece, Italy, and Portugal, were trained in how to use a set of drama-based educational techniques developed by the Erasmus+ project TIM (Theatre in Mathematics). The aim of this study is to explore teachers' professional perspectives on the potential benefits and limitations of integrating drama into mathematics instruction. By use of the Delphi technique, 13 teachers were surveyed before and after the drama workshop about their pedagogical values, experiences, expectations, and concerns related to drama in mathematics teaching. Through thematic analysis, we identified six categories of perceived benefits (Application, Contextualisation, Teamwork, Inclusion, Variation, and Enjoyment—ACTIVE), and four categories of potential challenges (Indifference and Discomfort, Deficient competence, Limited time and space, and Extraneous Content—IDLE). These findings are discussed using the educational theories of Lev Vygotsky and John Dewey, highlighting how drama-based methods support collaborative, experiential, and inclusive learning processes in mathematics education.