Photo: Theatre in Math

Drama in Educational and Societal Contexts (DESC)

The research group is an interdisciplinary group within lifelong learning. The main purpose is to promote research and development work with a focus on drama and theatre. Simultaneously, we aim to develop collaboration and research expertise that addresses various target audiences.

The aim is to strengthen the quality of research projects, collaborative projects and artistic development work. The aim will be achieved through critical constructive collaboration and by sharing experiences about research design and research processes.

The research group covers several and different research projects related to drama in both educational and societal contexts, including drama for lifelong learning, applied drama and applied theatre. Several of the group's members participate in local, national and international collaborative projects and development projects.

Research Contexts

  • Kindergartens
  • Primary School​
  • Secondary School​
  • Highschool​
  • Folk high school
  • Cultural School​
  • Vocational education and higher educatiuon
  • Libraries
  • Museums/Art Centres​
  • Theatres​
  • Prisons​
  • Retirement centres​
  • Rehabilitation
  • Other social and cultural facilitators ​

Topics for the research group include:

  • Applied drama and applied theatre in Social-, Public Art-, Community- and Educational Contexts (from early childhood to adult education)
  • Improvisation and participatory theatre
  • Cultural awareness and expression 
  • Creativity and innovation 
  • Critical and design thinking 
  • Communication and collaboration 
  • Intercultural skills, democracy and civic engagement 
  • Inclusive education

Research procjects

Projects under development / assessment:
  • Horizon Europe: The role of drama and applied
    theatre in civic and citizenship education for
    strengthening civic and democratic participation
    and support for common European values
    (    working title)
  • Theatre in Social, Participatory Art, Community
    and Educational contexts Erasmus Mundus Joint
    Master programme (Theatre SPACEs)
  • UTFORSK: Global educational Research &
    Development in Drama and Theatre Education,
    with focus on teacher training in higher
    education, curriculum policies, and the
    application of educational drama in formal and
    nonformal educational settings

Featured publications

Selected publications from the last five years:
  1. Bernsen, A. S., & Thoresen, E. (2025). Processmodell for utforskende praksis – barn som medskapere. BUKS - Tidsskrift for Børne- & Ungdomskultur, 40(69), 20. 

  2. Cziboly, A., & Bethlenfalvy, A. (2024). Trends of educational theatre practices in Hungary: effects, impacts, contents, central issues and opinions. Applied Theatre Research, 12(1), 47–63. 

  3. Cziboly, A., & Bethlenfalvy, A. (2024). The big picture: objectives, strategies, attributes, financing, participants, leaders and significance of educational theatre programs in Hungary. Applied Theatre Research, 12(1), 29–45. 

  4. Cziboly, A., & Bethlenfalvy, A. (2024). Methodology of the national mapping of educational theatre programs. Applied Theatre Research, 12(1), 9–28. 

  5. Rios, S. L. H. (2024). Kunsten å gi mening til byens middelalderhistorie. Drama, 61(1), 76–81.    

  6. Cziboly, A.; Bethlenfalvy, A.; Nemeth, Sz.; Rajnai, R. (2023). Learning patterns and risks in distance learning during the COVID-19 lockdown – the pupils’ perspective in drama pedagogy-based focus groups. Research in Learning Technology.

  7. Cabot, M. A., Iversen, G. T., Ulveseth Lilletvedt, A-B. & Vangsnes, V. (2023). I Berdinesen, H. (Ed.) Demokrati og medborgerskap i skolen : teoretiske overveielser og didaktiske muligheter. Dreyers forlag. pp. 231-256.

  8. Eriksson, Stig A. (2023). «Experiencing and Learning through Story and Educational Drama: A Workshop Example». In Liwen Ma and Joseph L. Subbiondo (eds.), Theories and Practices of Integral Drama Based Pedagogy. Deep Connections and New Integrations of Education, Leiden: BRILL, p. 127-143.

  9. Eriksson, Stig A. (2023). Reflections on 'living through' and 'distancing': a critical essay related to Heathcote's and Brecht's poetics, Drama Research. International Journal of Drama in Education, Vol. 14 (No. 1), 25 pp. Reflections on 'living through' and 'distancing': a critical essay related to Heathcote's and Brecht's poetics -  NATIONAL DRAMA

  10. Zheng, S. & Cziboly, A. (2022). What can the translation of key terms reveal about the understandings of drama education in China? Applied Theatre Research, 10(2), 119-140.

  11. Heggstad, K. M., & Heggstad, Katrine. (2022). 7 veier til drama: grunnbok i dramapedagogikk for lærere i barnehage og skole (4. utgave.).

  12. Cziboly, A., Lyngstad, M. B., & Zheng, S. (2022). The influence of the “conventions approach” on the practice of drama in different cultures. In The Routledge Companion to Drama in Education(pp. 94-109). Routledge.

  13. Gjærum, R.G., Cziboly, A., Eriksson, S.A. (2022). ILSA in Arts Education: The Effect of Drama on Competences. In: Nilsen, T., Stancel-Piątak, A., Gustafsson, JE. (Eds.) International Handbook of Comparative Large-Scale Studies in Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. 

  14. Cziboly, A. (2022). Is This Art or Vandalism?: An Online Process Drama. Art Education, 75(4), 45–46. 

  15. Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). Christmas traditions and performance rituals: a look at Christmas celebrations in a Nordic context. In John O’Toole, Penny Bundy and Peter O’Connor (eds.), Insights in Applied Theatre: The Early Days and Onwards, 269-278.  https://www.intellectbooks.com/insights-in-applied-theatre

  16. Eriksson, Stig A. and Allern, Tor-Helge (2022). Educational drama in Norway: From cultural expression to curriculum element, Applied Theatre Research, Vol. 10 (Issue 2: Chinese and Norwegian Perspectives on Drama and Applied Theatre), 155–168. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00068_1]

  17. Allern, Tor-Helge and Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). Conceptions of drama and theatre, Applied Theatre Research, Vol. 10 (Issue 2:  Chinese and Norwegian Perspectives on Drama and Applied Theatre), 141–154. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00067_1]

  18. Allern, Tor-Helge, Zheng, Sisi and Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). Interview with Li Yingning, Applied Theatre Research, Vol. 10 (Issue 2: Chinese and Norwegian Perspectives on Drama and Applied Theatre), 205–226. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00071_7]

  19. Allern, Tor-Helge, Zheng, Sisi and Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). Educational drama, traditional Chinese culture and current government policies, Applied Theatre Research, Vol. 10 (Issue 2: Chinese and Norwegian Perspectives on Drama and Applied Theatre), 103–118. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00065_1]

  20. Xu, Jun and Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). From short story to process drama: A Chinese and a Norwegian classroom approach, Applied Theatre Research, Vol. 10 (Issue 2: Chinese and Norwegian Perspectives on Drama and Applied Theatre), 169–186. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00069_1]

  21. Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). «But Damn It, Without The Illusion, What Would Man Have Been Then?». In Selina Busby, Kelly Freebody and Charlene Rajendran (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Young People, Oxon: Routledge, p. 349-352. [doi:10.4324/9781003149965]

  22. Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). «Distancing as topos in process drama». In Mary McAvoy and Peter O’Connor (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Drama in Education, Oxon: Routledge, p. 18-31.[10.4324/9781003000914]

  23. Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). «Experiencing and Learning through Story and Educational Drama: A Workshop Example», Beijing International Review of Education, 3 (2021), 606–624. [doi:10.1163/25902539-03040008]

  24. Eriksson, Stig A. (2022). «Gruppe V-est. Nettverk for kunstfag på Vestlandet». I Jostein Saakvitne og Egil Ertresvaag (red.). Høgt under taket. Lærarutdanning i Bergen 1953-2016, Bergen: Bodoni forlag, s. 221-229.

  25. Eriksson, Stig A. og Heggstad, Kari Mjaaland (2022). «Drama. Kampen for tilværelsen - faget gjennom 45 år». I Jostein Saakvitne og Egil Ertresvaag (red.). Høgt under taket. Lærarutdanning i Bergen 1953-2016, Bergen: Bodoni forlag, s. 203-220.

  26. Vagnsnes, Vigdis (2021). Prosessdrama som estetisk læreprosess: Ein strategi for utforskande iscenesetjing av sentrale verdiområde i Fagfornyinga. Acta Didactica Norden, 15(2). 

  27. Cziboly, A., Bøe Lyngstad, M., & Zheng, S. (2021). Influence of the ‘conventions approach’ on higher education in drama. NJ, 45(2), 128–143. 

  28. Zheng, S. (2021). Process drama in Chinese education: Possibilities and challenges in governmental policy papers and the curriculum of moral education. Applied Theatre Research, 9(2), 155–172. 

  29. (2021). Drama som uttrykk for djup læring. Høgskulen på Vestlandet. 

  30. Eriksson, Stig A. (2021). «Drama/Theatre and Bildung. Reflections on the Norwegian Discourse of Bildung and the ‘Theatre as Bildung’ Project in Bergen, Norway (2013)». In Ute Pinkert, Ina Driemel, Johannes Kup, Eliana Schüler (Hg.). Positionen und Perspektiven der Theaterpädagogik, Milow: Schibri-Verlag, p. 52-66.

  31. Aksnes, K., Sørvig, M. S., & Knudsen, M. N. (2021). Dramaturgiske muligheter i det digitale klasserommet. DRAMA, 58(2), 50–55. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.2535-4310-2021-02-13

  32. Birkeland, Ingvild Margrethe og Eriksson, Stig A. (2021). «Den problematiske faggruppen praktiske og estetiske fag», Drama – Nordisk dramapedagogisk tidsskrift, (57)1, s. 42-47.

  33. Cziboly, A., & Bethlenfalvy, A. (2020). Response to COVID-19 Zooming in on online process drama. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 25(4), 645-651.

  34. Møen, I.-L., & Thoresen, E. (2019). Kunstpedagogisk utviklingsarbeid i barnehagen (1. utgave.).

  35. Eriksson, Stig A. (2019). «Learning with Brecht. Exploring the ‘Learning to Read and Write’ Scene in The Mother». In Diane Conrad and Monica Prendergast eds.). Teachers and Teaching on Stage and on Screen. Dramatic Depictions, Chicago, IL: Intellect Books.

  36. Eriksson, Stig A.; Hallås, Bjørg Oddrun; Heide, Eldar; Brathetland, Bente Opheim; Grande, Per Bjørnar og Lyngstad, Mette Bøe (2019). «Teateranmeldelser som tekster i lærerutdanning – med utgangspunkt i Det Norske Teatrets Edda, 2017». Nordic Journal of Art and Research, Årg. 8, Nr. 1. Nettartikkel: 17 s. 

  37. Heggstad, Katrine; Heggstad, Kari Mjaaland; Eriksson, Stig A. (2019). «Visiting Schools for Visiting Theatre. Researching a Drama Workshop and Young People’s Response». In Michael Finneran and Michael Anderson (eds.). Education and Theatres: Beyond the Four Walls. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, p. 227-239.

Head of research group

bilde av Adam Cziboly

Adam Cziboly

Professor

Deputy leader

bilde av Elin Thoresen

Elin Thoresen

Associate Professor

Members

External Members


Kvinneleg lærar sittande ved pult med to elevar.

Research program

This research group is part of the research program Practice, Professionalism and Policy in Educational Research (PUF)