Web of Life --The impact of Drama in Education on Transformative Learning of Education for Sustainable Development in the Neoliberal Age

Abstract

Transformative learning of education for sustainable development (ESD) and its associated pedagogy are urgently needed to question the fundamentally neoliberal values and re-shape our perceptions towards a holistic and ecological way of seeing and thinking. The transformative nature of Drama in Education (DiE) drives the aim of exploring the deep connections of DiE and transformative learning of ESD. The main aim is hidden in three research questions: What is the impact of Drama in Education on transformative learning of ESD? How the forms and contents of Drama in Education can influence transformative learning of ESD? Can incorporating Bondian drama devices as a new development of the art form increase the transformative potential of sustainability-based educational dramas? The multiple case study of qualitative secondary research is employed as the methodology to analyse the existing data of previous scholarly researches about sustainability-based educational dramas. All the data are coded and analysed on a thematic basis, the themes are deductive driven and created from sustainability competences of transformative learning of ESD. Based on the case study, it suggests that different sustainability-based educational dramas can develop various performances on transformative learning of ESD. It is also concluded that educational dramas with strong transformative potentials always embed the context of a fictional community facing an impending environmental crisis into a ‘living through’ drama as an art form with a ‘metaxis’ effect. Finally, it suggests that integrating Bondian drama devices into the educational dramas with ‘living through’ drama events can potentially enhance the systems and critical thinking of the dominant neoliberal values less developed in previous dramas. It contributes to a pedagogical model of ESD through applying Bondian drama devices to sustainability-based educational dramas with ‘living through’ drama events.