Theatre for Sustainability: Creative Pedagogies for Climate and Eco-Citizenship Education
Introduction
How can theatre inspire climate awareness and empower learners to act? This course explores creative, drama-based pedagogies for sustainability education, enabling educators to transform environmental topics into engaging, participatory, and action-oriented learning experiences.
Description
This course examines the pedagogical potential of drama and theatre as transformative tools for sustainability and climate education. Grounded in experiential and embodied learning theories, it equips educators with innovative methodologies to address complex environmental issues through creative expression. Participants explore key concepts such as climate change, eco-citizenship, and sustainable development, translating them into meaningful learning experiences through process drama, storytelling, and site-specific performance. The course emphasises emotional engagement, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving, supporting learners in developing both environmental awareness and agency. Through hands-on workshops and reflective practice, participants design and adapt drama-based activities suitable for diverse educational contexts. The programme aligns with Erasmus+ priorities by promoting green education, active citizenship, and inclusive, learner-centred pedagogies.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
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Understand key concepts of sustainability, climate education, and eco-citizenship
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Apply drama-based methodologies in sustainability education
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Transform abstract environmental issues into embodied and experiential learning activities
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Foster emotional engagement, empathy, and critical thinking in learners
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Design inclusive and participatory learning environments through creative pedagogies
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Develop lesson plans integrating theatre and sustainability across subjects
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Facilitate student agency and action-oriented learning on environmental issues
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Adapt drama activities to diverse age groups and educational settings
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Reflect critically on their teaching practice and pedagogical choices
Methodology and Assessment
The course adopts an experiential, learner-centred methodology combining process drama, collaborative workshops, and reflective practice. Participants engage in hands-on activities, peer learning, and group creation. Assessment is continuous and formative, based on active participation, reflective journals, group work, and the design of classroom-ready lesson plans.
Materials, Digital Tools & Other Learning Resources
Participants will use a range of materials including scripts, visual prompts, and natural environments for site-specific work. Additional resources include SDG frameworks, eco-literacy materials, and curated case studies.
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 climate change, SDGs and eco-citizenship
Day 2
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Foundations of drama pedagogy
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Embodiment and empathy in climate education
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Exploring environmental identity
Day 3
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Body awareness and environmental perception
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Process Drama scenario - community facing environmental challenge
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Ethical dilemmas and sustainability choices
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Decision-making in role
Day 4
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The power of stories in shaping environmental attitudes
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Character, conflict, and ecological themes
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Devising sustainability narratives
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Focus on shared environmental issues
Day 5
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Introduction to eco-citizenship
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Drama and agency
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Exploring action through role-play
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From drama to real-life action projects
Day 6
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Creativity, imagination and future thinking
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Improvisation for future scenarios
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The role of imagination in environmental futures
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Divergent thinking and problem-solving
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Exploring consequences of actions
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Integrating science and imagination
Day 7
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Design of personal plan for implementation of creative pedagogies for climate and eco-citizenship education
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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