The focus of this paper is on the competences developed and expressed by teachers and trainers in the construction of a school play in a second chance school in Portugal. Within a view of possibility, which implies our role as citizenship construction actors (Macedo, 2012) the main questions are: What competences teachers need in their work to respond to the educational and social needs of vulnerable young people who left education early or very early? How can teachers (pedagogical, intercultural) competences be developed in the day-to-day of their professional practice? And how do they feel by doing so? With these concerns this paper discusses processes and results of a research on the use of visual arts, music and drama by teachers and as part of the syllabus that was drawn for vulnerable young adults, with a view to support their emotional states and the concurrent will to be in school, participate and learn.

Even if the theoretical concern about social justice and intercultural education has been present in national educational systems throughout the European Union, and if mass education has been put in place, in line with the European guidelines (COM, 2001), many European countries have not yet reached the level of democratization of education that would be expressed in the capacity to find adequate and feasible educational responses for all. As this problem is impacted by great number of factors at macro, meso and individual level which result in school failure, disengagement and early school leaving, the educational system is faced with the need to find the best possible answers to the all school population, finding mechanisms to promote school success and to keep young people in education and training and to (Araújo et al, 2014). This is particularly important when it come to the ones “who are hard to reach” as a “matter of concern for educationalists worldwide. Intercultural research activity that tries to capture an essence of intervention that successfully reduce barriers to learning is valued by those who work alongside vulnerable children and young people” (Clough & Tarr, 2011: 85).

Visual arts, music and drama have proven to be important tools in learning; if they have a very specific role in themselves, by promoting self-expression, creativity and the disciplinary knowledge they imply (Macedo, 2004), the arts can also become instrumental to educational success by upholding a sense of wellbeing, balance and engagement that help build a disposition to be in school, engage with others and learn (Schwartz, 2015). Teachers have a crucial role in the educational process as they are the ones young people relate to (or not), who put education into practice (Girvan, Conneely & Tangney, 2016) and may reinforce the bridge between cultures.

The analysis is based on the European project “Learning in a New Key: Engaging vulnerable young people in school education” (LINK), sponsored by the European Commission (ERAMUS +), a partnership among universities and learning centers in the UK (coord.), Portugal, Italy and Poland, in a total of 9 European entities.

The paper presentation will be illustrated with a short extract of a video.

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