Global Storylines

Bringing learning to life through story and drama.

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What is it?
Global Storylines blend drama and story with complex real world issues to bring these to life in the classroom.

With over ten years experience of upskilling teachers to use the approach, we know the impact that learning in this way can have on children and professionals alike.

Who is it for?
Our collection of stories can support whole school, creative, interdisciplinary learning on complex themes from P2 to P7. Each story also has a strong literacy strand throughout, which provides an engaging context to develop literacy skills.

‍How does it work?
We can provide in-depth training to your whole school staff on how to use the approach, either as a whole inservice day, or as 4 twilight CAT sessions. Get in touch to find out more!

Our Stories

Pupil-Voice based Global Storylines

Looking for our toolkit to write your own pupil-voice based Global Storyline?

Contact diana@wosdec.org.uk for more information on how you can access it.

  • “(The WOSDEC team) were brilliant presenters and really got staff motivated and enthused. The Global Storylines approach provided a brilliant framework for staff to participate in highly valuable career-long professional learning (CLPL). By immersing themselves in the narrative during each session, staff gained deep insights into how children experience and react to these scenarios. The collaborative, character-driven nature of the training was highly engaging, and based on this success, we plan to adopt this methodology school-wide. We would recommend this training and approach to colleagues in future.”

    — Headteacher

  • “Very engaging and good to see and experience drama activities in use. Also great to see ways to address global issues with children.”

    — Class teacher

  • “It was very engaging for the children and they found it easy to access (This was particularly useful for EAL learners). The children loved creating the village and using this to explore the topic.”

    — Class teacher

  • “The world-building was very engaging, the key concept (the giant) hooked and maintained their interest, they thrived on learning through drama and discussion.”

    — Class teacher

  • “Fun, playful way to teach literacy and global citizenship using drama. Great training and lots of useful, well set out instructions and resources for how to do it yourself.”

    — Class teacher

Research-based evidence of impact

This 2026 evaluation report from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland outlines the impact on both learners and teachers of the Global Storyline approach, as researched during our Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded project, in partnership with Active Inquiry from 2024-2026.

Further information on the genesis of Global Storylines and the many years of accompanying evidence-based research from 2011-2021 is presented in a chapter chapter within this book:

D. Ellis, 2021, From Acting to Action: Transformative Learning for Sustainability through Global Storylines within K.H. Karlsen & M. Häggström (Eds.) Teaching through Stories: Renewing the Scottish Storyline Approach in Teacher Education.