Storytelling Europe: Teaching EU Values Through Drama Pedagogy
Introduction
Bring Europe to life through storytelling and performance. This course empowers educators to explore EU values—democracy, inclusion, human rights—through drama pedagogy, fostering active citizenship, empathy, and student voice in dynamic and creative learning environments.
Description
This innovative professional development course equips educators with creative, arts-based methodologies to teach core European values. Grounded in drama pedagogy and experiential learning, the course explores how storytelling, role-play, and performance can foster democratic engagement, intercultural understanding, and inclusion in diverse classrooms. Participants engage in embodied practices such as improvisation, Forum Theatre, and collaborative script development to critically examine themes of identity, participation, and human rights. The course also integrates digital storytelling tools to enhance creative expression and learner engagement. Aligned with Erasmus+ priorities, it promotes active citizenship, social inclusion, and values-based education, while supporting teachers in designing meaningful, student-centred learning experiences applicable across subjects and educational levels.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
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Understand and critically reflect on core EU values (democracy, inclusion, human rights, diversity) in education
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Apply drama pedagogy techniques (role-play, improvisation, Forum Theatre, tableaux) in teaching
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Foster student voice, participation, and active citizenship through storytelling
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Design inclusive and culturally responsive learning experiences
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Facilitate empathy, perspective-taking, and intercultural dialogue in the classroom
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Develop and implement storytelling-based lesson plans across subjects
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Use digital tools to support creative and collaborative storytelling
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Critically evaluate ethical aspects of storytelling and representation
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Enhance learners’ engagement through experiential and arts-based methods
Methodology and Assessment
The course uses experiential, participant-centred methodologies grounded in drama pedagogy, collaborative learning, and reflective practice. Activities include role-play, improvisation, group devising, and storytelling workshops. Assessment is continuous and formative, based on participation, peer feedback, reflective journals, and the development of practical lesson plans and performance outputs.
Materials, Digital Tools & Other Learning Resources
Participants will use a range of creative materials including scripts, visual prompts, and storytelling frameworks. Additional resources include case studies, EU policy documents, and adaptable lesson plan templates.
Preparation
After registration participants will receive pre-course questionnaire which will be used by the trainer to learn about participants’ teaching backgrounds and to assess their exact needs. Before the beginning of the course a basic reading list will be suggested to participants to prepare for the training. Participants will also be asked to prepare a presentation about themselves, their professional context and their culture which will be presented during the course. Participants will receive information about the country they are going to visit in order to prepare them for their cultural experience.
Follow up
After the course participants will be asked to share what they have learned with the rest of the staff in their schools. Further books and articles to deepen the topic and contacts with some other practitioners all over Europe and in the world will be suggested by the trainer. The methods shared and explored and the bibliography given will allow the participants to complete and improve their educational path.
Certificate
Each participant will get a course attendance certificate and on request we will complete the Europass Mobility Document.
Accommodation
We do not directly offer accommodation and subsistence and participants are responsible for organizing it by themselves.
Paperwork
We also provide all the support with paperwork you might need for your Erasmus+ project documentation such as mobility agreement and registration letter.
Fee: 560 €
Cancelation policy
Free cancellation up to 30 days before the start. After that, the reservation is not refundable. Changes in name and profile of the participant are possible any time before the start of the course (replacement participants from the same school/org are accepted at any time). In case the school/org doesn't find a replacement, we will still offer a place at any of our confirmed courses later in the year without any additional costs but we can not guarantee that every course session will be confirmed and the school/org will only be offered to choose from already confirmed course sessions. In case it will not be possible for the participant to attend the course or for us to organize the course due to extraordinary circumstances (classified as such by the European Commission) which present themselves in the period of less than 30 days before the start of the course and we don’t manage to find an alternative solution, we will keep 50 % of the payment and refund the remaining balance of 50% to the payer’s bank account.
Draft Programme - 35 didactic hours
Day 1
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Welcome and introduction
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Outline of the programme
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Cultural exchange
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Warm ups and icebreakers
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Course expectations and needs analysis, setting up a collaborative learning environment and creating an educational contract
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Introduction to Drama Pedagogy
Day 2
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Exploring core EU values
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Value spectrum and positioning exercises
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Storytelling as a pedagogical tool
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Linking narratives to identity, empathy, and citizenship
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Reflection on personal connections to EU values
Day 3
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Multiple identities in the European context
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Identity maps and embodied storytelling
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Inclusive education and EU priorities
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Drama strategies for representation and voice
Day 4
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Introduction to and Forum Theatre
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Forum Theatre for social issues
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Short scenes on exclusion and inclusion
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Perspective-taking exercises
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Role-switching
Day 5
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Democracy in action
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Decision-making simulations
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Encouraging student voice
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Cultural misunderstandings role-play
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European narratives and shared stories
Day 6
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Rights-based education
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Storytelling for social justice
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Image theatre and symbolism
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Cross-curricular links
Day 7
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Design of personal implementation plan for teaching EU values through drama pedagogy
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Presentation of outputs(personal implementation plans)
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Group reflection, feedback and discussion
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Dissemination strategy and european dimension
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Validation of the learning outcomes
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Evaluation of the course
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Closing session