«We’d learn in a different way. Instead of listening, we did it»: Learning through the arts in primary school education

a case‑study

Abstract

This paper describes a case‑study on a project by an artistic association with three classes of a public primary school in Mouraria, a neighbourhood in Lisbon. During the study,  Mouraria was an ageing and impoverishing neighbourhood, subject to a process of gentrification that changed its school population. The project «The Body at School» was developed for five years. In the sessions the curricular subjects were approached through an active body posture on the part of the children, who moved in order to learn. The sessions were jointly constructed by artists and teachers. Methods and
techniques from different artistic disciplines were used in the sessions to stimulate children’s participation. Through the triangulation of data produced by participatory observation and interviews, we discuss the consequences of the project for children and adults. The project contributed to students a better learning, bridging a gap between their culture and the school culture. This was particularly important for those who were not native speakers or that had learning problems; it also changed the professional habitus of teachers and artists. Nonetheless, labour precarity of the artistic body and of the school system in itself precipitated the end of the project.