Drama for Schools and Beyond: Transformative Learning Through the Arts

A global blueprint for arts-integrated education that turns schools into laboratories of transformation and collective growth.

How can drama and the arts reshape classrooms, empower teachers, and foster meaningful learning? Drama for Schools and Beyond: Transformative Learning Through the Arts explores two decades of research and practice from the Drama for Schools professional development model at The University of Texas at Austin. Through real-world stories, critical reflections, and global case studies, the authors reveal how arts integration can create more equitable, engaged, and inquiry-driven educational spaces.

This work is both a practical guide and a call to action for educators, teaching artists, and administrators seeking to transform learning environments. By centering collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, it challenges readers to examine their roles in shaping the future of education. Suitable for those invested in humane, democratic, and arts-based approaches to teaching, Drama for Schools and Beyond proves that learning through the arts is not just an enhancement—it’s a revolution.

Kathryn Dawson is a teaching artist and associate professor of theatre at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is head of the graduate program in Drama and Theater for Youth and Communities, a Provost’s Teaching Fellow, head of the Creative Collaborations for the Planet Texas 2050 transdisciplinary research initiative, and director of Drama for Schools.

Beth Link is an assistant professor in the Department of Art Education at the University of North Texas where she founded the Art Teacher Inquiry Collective, a research and mentorship group for beginning visual art teachers.

Stephanie Cawthon is the Catherine Mae Parker Centennial Professor in Education and a graduate advisor in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Austin, with a courtesy appointment in Special Education. She serves as the director of research and evaluation for Drama for Schools as well as the executive director of the National Disability Center for Student Success.

Lara Dossett is assistant professor of instruction in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. She serves as the Professional Learning Coordinator for Drama for Schools.