Historias de mi barrio: contemporary art in a community at high risk of social exclusion

• Published in: Educational review (Birmingham) Vol. 70; no. 5; pp. 565 - 583
• Main Authors: López-Peláez, María Paz, Martínez-Morales, María, Moreno-Montoro, María Isabel, Tirado de la Chica, Ana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Birmingham Routledge 20.10.2018; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Age Differences; Art Activities; Artists; Arts; Arts-Based Educational Research; Classroom communication; College Faculty; College students; Contemporary art; Education; Educational Environment; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; experimental music; Foreign Countries; High risk; Humanities; Learning; Learning environment; Neighborhoods; Photography; Planning; relational education; Risk; School Community Programs; School Community Relationship; Social exclusion; Social Isolation; Socioeconomic factors; Student teacher relationship; Students; Teaching Methods; Spain
• DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2017.1353481
• ISSN: 0013-1911

Historias de mi barrio is a piece of pedagogic research aimed at highlighting the way art can articulate the relationship between the educational context and a neighbourhood at high risk of social exclusion. The starting point for this study was to ask whether this type of research, centred around the arts, was suitable in complex contexts and whether it might eventually lead to pedagogic improvement. The results gathered, and indeed the work carried out by the artists and university lecturers involved, together with pupils 6-12 years old and their instructors in a state school, provide evidence of a positive answer - and notably of the necessity of knowing about the socio-economic reality of the student cohort when planning learning projects and of the importance of the arts as a crucial element in education.