AECCB is a cluster of schools with students from pre-school to secondary education and other training offers, with 3870 students. In this sense, it has pre-school education, 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education, and secondary education with Scientific and Humanistic courses. It offers Education and Professional Training certified with the European reference framework for quality assurance EQAVET; Has Qualifying Center; Has training in Portuguese for Foreigners; has Articulated Music Teaching and Articulated Dance Teaching and this year started the Arts Education Plan. However, despite being a cluster with excellent academic results, the heterogeneity of the school population exists. Students' ages range from 3 to 19 years old. It has students with different ethnicities, students who live in the urban and rural areas (bordering the city); it has students from economically favored families and others from disadvantaged families, with fewer opportunities; we have 210 students with specific needs, in the motor cognitive and deafness domains; it currently has a high number of foreign students, mainly Brazilians; It has ambassador students from the European Parliament (mainly from secondary education), eTwinners students (from all levels of education); expert students in the fields of arts, sciences and letters competitions, with representation in national and international competitions and in the European parliament (awarded); students involved on areas of volunteering inside and outside the school. From March, with the confinement, some of the above aspects of the referred heterogeneity were settled, especially in the domain and access to digital technologies and the ability to work independently. In the internal documents, evaluation results, the need to improve the students' communicative aspects is highlighted, especially at the expressive level - in all ways. When we are faced with the opening of this candidacy, we immediately thought of combining this fragility, heterogeneity, especially the most disadvantaged groups and the area of least achievement of the AECCB in terms of communication and expressiveness, which has greater reflexes in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th years. Taking into account the most accomplished aspect of the AECCB, professional courses and artistic education, as well as the offers from the city council network, "The Arts Ring" emerged. It has three main aims: a) Developments in students' communicative and expressive skills through creativity and innovation, which will be allocated to creative arts inside and outside schools; give students a voice in choosing and opting for activities, with a guarantee of compliance with the 2030 green agenda; b) Promote time and space for the articulation between the non-formal curriculum (coming from local associations linked to the creative arts) and the formal curriculum, in a transdisciplinary way, with continuous, monthly activities, to be carried out, publicly at the Arts Ring and at the Assembly of students, as a debate strategy and monthly plan; c) to associate with self-sustainability through the sharing of practical and non-formal skills of local associations (which in difficult times can establish protocols with schools and be recognized and certified) and with/ in a removable Arts Ring promoting the arts in community. With a participatory-active methodology throughout the project, of permanent action research, we will carry out one virtual and two physical TPMs, as a way of monitoring the project, construction and operationalization. The Arts Ring predicts six mobilities, one art in each partner country, which, in turn, surveys, contacts and protocols with local creative, innovative and artistic associations and clubs. This project has aspiring aims according to the impact we expect on students, teachers, technicians, families, schools, associations and institutions, and also on national and international art and artists recognition. - Improvement of students' academic results and their "social quotient", through different and differentiating opportunities and learning environments: the context and the non-formal and informal curriculum allocated to students and families, as we aim when considering enhancing the participation of partners from the educational territory to build physical RINGS where creativity commands, reinforcing the inclusive educational responses of the partners in this project, and improving their social results; In the Arts Rings students can be explorers, activists, and visionaries. Making art is essential to speak truthfully to power, to dream with new realities, and ultimately to change something in the world. Specifically with regard to the impact in European and International terms: since the new "normal" has a strong digital element, all local physical rings and all activities running in each school will do sessions that will be broadcasted live streaming, with free open access to the international community.
By implementing this project, we aimed to achieve three central aims: 1) To develop students' communication and language skills through creativity and innovation, giving students a voice, the chance to choose and decide how to express themselves in the different contexts of the community thanks to the removable Arts Ring; 2) To promote time and space for the articulation between the non-formal curriculum (by working closely with local institutions and artists) and the formal curriculum, in a transdisciplinary way, with continuous, monthly activities, to be carried out publicly at the Arts Ring in the form of an assembly; 3) To develop an articulated and sustainable work with local organisations and artists, while at the same time defending the arts and recognize and disseminate local artists in the different communities at an international level.
This project is the result of a collective effort of six partner schools for internationalization and innovation through the exchange of good practices. The covid-19 pandemic, that in an unpredictable way has put to test our schools regarding inclusion, brought us together to create this project. It was during the lockdown phase that we assessed the shared need for an involvement of the artistic component to help each and every student communication and linguistic needs, involving families, local and national artistic partners, in a construct of formal and non-formal learning contexts. We proposed the creation of The Arts Ring methodology, which is based on circular structures set up in each school where arts are explored. The circular shape reinforces the absence of corners, of exclusion. It's a space for open communication, where all the participants have a voice and are on an equal footing, values defended by all the six school communities. In these spaces there is a sense of belonging, together building an European identity. In order to operationalize this project, we also reinforced the need to involve entities linked to the arts and local artists, who struggled so much during the lockdowns.