CosTechPlay: Towards a Teaching Concept That Brings Cosplay to Schools

CosTechPlay is a research project, running from September 2023 to August 2025, that aims to develop an interdisciplinary, cosplay-based teaching concept for Austrian schools. Cosplay, a practice of creating and wearing costumes from media works such as films, comics, anime and games, is presented as a creative, do-it-yourself activity that builds practical skills in sewing, crafting, painting, make-up, photography, problem-solving and time and money management, while also supporting social skills, body positivity and identity exploration. Although prior research has explored cosplay in educational settings abroad, including storytelling, English language learning and visual arts curricula, cosplay-based activities in Austrian schools have so far been limited to a few pilot projects.

The project's stated goals include strengthening students' creativity, technical ability, problem solving, communication and self-expression, identifying and nurturing talent in production technologies as part of career guidance, and promoting a gender-sensitive, inclusive approach that challenges gender stereotypes. The concept is being co-developed by three project partners with five Austrian partner schools serving students aged 8 to 18, with experienced cosplayers acting as role models.

The methodology proceeds in four phases. A qualitative study will use focus groups with 10 to 15 teachers and roughly 120 students, four in-depth expert interviews with professional cosplayers, and ten short interviews with other cosplayers, analysed through qualitative content analysis. Based on these findings, the team will design CosTechPlay workshops and a dedicated makerspace in each school, implement them with cosplay experts as workshop leaders, and evaluate outcomes from the perspectives of students, teachers and parents. The final phase will revise the concept and publish it with lesson plans and teaching materials under a Creative Commons licence on a project website.