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The aim of this study is to investigate whether educational drama can be used as a tool to facilitate expert knowledge development and to help students prepare themselves for working life.

The target group consisted of 41 students of Forest Sciences who had participated in a course of professional ethics taught through educational drama. Qualitative research data were collected from learning journals and quantitative data from questionnaires.

The results indicate that educational drama has a potential to foster expert knowledge development, because it can bring a sense of real life to classrooms and thus give experiences that resemble working‐life experiences. The course that was taught through educational drama gave students a sense of putting theory into practice and of solving working‐life problems. The students also felt that this course had made them more prepared for unforeseen situations in working life. Further, teaching professional ethics through educational drama may be a worthwhile tool to help students encounter the working‐life challenges of ethics and sustainability in particular.

Further studies are needed to determine the quality of the students’ professional learning in educational drama and the long‐term impacts of teaching through drama.

The findings have practical implications for higher education related to the enhancement of expert knowledge development and preparing students for working life.

This paper introduces educational drama as an encouraging tool in higher education to simulate real‐life situations in the classrooms, and thus providing students with opportunities to practise for working life and grow as experts.

The purpose of this study is to determine how closely an in-class role-play can mirror and capture the features and characteristics of work-based learning with real-life working experiences. The aim is also to discuss the potential and drawbacks of using role-play as a form of work-related learning.

This case study relies on qualitative data obtained from learning journals covering learning experiences on a role-play exercise. In total, 16 undergraduate students participated in a course in business-to-business marketing and took part in a series of face-to-face simulations.

Compared to the characteristics, features and potential outcomes of work-based learning, role-play can entail several similar learning outcomes. The strengths of a role-play are many. Participants can practise real-life situations in a safe environment; their learning is not restricted to a particular work setting; they are able to learn through reflection, and conflicts between stakeholders can be avoided. The comparative weaknesses include a lack of support from senior colleagues and an unclear contribution to the real world. Furthermore, the method may produce stereotypes or anxiety in the participants.

Due to the small target group, reliance on one source of data, and the phenomenological nature of findings, further studies are needed with larger target groups and different research approaches.

The findings reveal that role-play can offer higher education a supplementary tool for work-based learning.

In higher education, role-play may serve as a tool to reach many of the learning objectives of work-based learning, especially if real workplace experiences cannot be arranged.