Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a foundational aspect of the transformatory capability of sustainability science at the individual and group levels. Despite international frameworks to promote and monitor the development of sustainability competences, evidence of the efficacy of ESD remains limited and even challenging. This article proposes drama-based educational approaches, as part of an increasing body of arts-based methods used in sustainability science, which materially impact a wide range of sustainability competences. Drama is a practice-based approach that intentionally uses carefully designed educational activities involving body, story, interaction, and collaboration to generate sustainability awareness, knowledge, mindsets, and action taking for individuals and groups within higher education. Examples of applied drama practices can include various forms of role play, forum play (playing out roles and pausing/fast-forwarding/reversing to explore possible solutions), and legislative theatre (where participants collaborate with lawmakers to address local issues). This article draws on an international project applying drama methods across disciplinary areas, and outlines how drama methods may contribute to sustainability competences applied in practice. As a result of this, we propose further research to inform future high-impact practices of applied drama for the field of ESD.

This chapter describes a drama process where traditional formats like brainstorming and group discussions are mixed with drama activities such as guided relaxation, visualisation, still images, mingle, eavesdropping, improvisation, role play, and teacher-in-role, and where non-human perspectives are invited. The two- to three-hour workshop aims to: give an overview of global threats; start sorting out issues of responsibility; interactively explore the views of different stakeholders and connect this to the individual level. The workshop is useful as an introduction to the complexity of sustainability from the point of view of an “ordinary citizen”’. It may also encourage a group of students who are new to each other to be more relaxed and outspoken. The overarching purpose and educational challenge is to address the global threats – without diminishing the scale of the problems – and avoid feelings of hopelessness and resignation.

This chapter suggests strategies and tactics to help maintain a positive and engaged mindset as university teachers experiment with and learn through applied drama and performance processes. It pinpoints some of the emerging challenges and key methods to overcome them, including working with small groups, managing energy, dealing with inflexible characterisations, reaching across sustainability systems to expand learning, and new frontiers of digital learning.

This chapter introduces some central elements and general characteristics of applied drama by briefly addressing its roots and teaching approach. Four genres are presented: role play, process drama, Forum Theatre/Legislative Theatre, and forum play. Role plays usually concern a specific situation, allowing participants to experience the issue at stake by taking another person’s perspective, to understand how different characters’ motives and agendas affect their views. Process drama evolves over time and is co-created by participants and facilitators. It proceeds from a ‘pre-text’, a fictive frame, allowing the topic to be explored from many angles, using different drama conventions or strategies. Forum Theatre is a rehearsed, open-ended theatre performance about injustice/oppression. Legislative Theatre is an extension of Forum Theatre, where the process includes performing in front of lawyers and politicians to affect legislation. Forum play is more improvised and adapted for educational settings. This chapter is particularly valuable for non-specialist drama facilitators in higher education interested in learning more about applied drama.

The key to successfully introducing applied drama or performance in an academic subject is to merge explorative work with course content, guided by a clear purpose – thereby challenging the typically dense content and readings of academic courses. Applied drama can be utilised to introduce a new topic, to explore theoretical perspectives, to unpack theoretical concepts, and to improve the learning environment. This chapter provides guidance about this merging process and provides additional inspiration for the next steps.

Sustainability Teaching for Impact is an essential step-by-step, practical guide for those wanting to inspire and engage higher education students in the areas of sustainability.

This book encourages new and experienced university teachers across disciplines to adopt and adapt dramatic methods, with a view to develop their teaching. It introduces applied drama and performance arts methods that have been tried-and-tested across disciplines to deepen and broaden sustainability knowledge, skills, mindsets, and practices. Sustainability Teaching for Impact assumes no previous experience of the methods, as university teachers – with and without experience in drama – carefully walk you through some of the teaching practices they have used to create an impact in their teaching.

This book is for higher and further education tutors who wish to build on their experience and deliver exciting and accessible classroom techniques and practices that are highly interactive, creative, and engaging to help further the teaching of sustainability.

Sustainability can be characterised as cross-disciplinary, dynamic, value-laden, and ultimately a challenging academic subject for higher education teachers and students alike. Teaching sustainability therefore requires teaching methods which engage, embrace the environment, and energise action towards transformation of our relationship with the world around us. This introductory chapter provides a frame of how to use applied drama and performance in relation to the sustainability competences that it seeks to develop – inspired by Europe’s Green Competences and UNESCO global frameworks. It provides a platform of ideas of how you can utilise this book in your own learning and development journey.

In Swedish higher education, drama is often seen as a teaching method to be utilised in other subjects, and Drama in Education/Applied Drama is put forward by drama teachers as a creative form of learning in pre-schools as well as at university level. Here, drama is often organised as single workshops, but this chapter problematises drama work as single events, drawing on experiences of drama workshops on sustainability for university students in Athens, Helsinki, and Stockholm. Preliminary results, based on questionnaires, indicate significant differences in the students’ learning, connected to previous drama knowledge and level of teacher training. The findings provide a more precise understanding of the interplay between context and outcome. This may inform decisions about when, how, and why drama is applied in various educational settings.

The arts encompass a broad and diverse landscape of interrelated creative practices and professions, including performance arts (including music, dance, drama, and theatre), literary arts (including literature, story, and poetry), and the visual arts (including painting, design, film) (see UNESCO 2006). They have been explicitly linked to sustainable development in higher education at a global level through UNESCO’s Road Map for Arts Education (UNESCO 2006) and The Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education (UNESCO 2010). Specifically, the arts have been deployed to promoting human rights, enhancing education, promoting cultural diversity, enhancing well-being, and, most broadly, “resolving the social and cultural challenges facing today’s world” (UNESCO 2010: 8).