Sound Courtyards: Artistic-educational intervention for social cohesion and the development of transversal competences in a special educational centre

Abstract

This article examines an artistic-educational experience called ‘Sound Courtyards’ in a public school with special educational needs in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León. The project is based on the need to improve social cohesion, respect, creativity, learning and student motivation in a school marked by cultural diversity and difficulties of coexistence. This work seeks to find out what possibilities the ‘Sound Courtyards’ project offers for the formation of artistic and transversal competences in pupils and to what extent this type of interdisciplinary approach promotes a transformation in the school. For this purpose, qualitative research methods (documentary analysis, observation, interviews) were adopted under the action-research approach. The creative process of the installation consisted of three phases: research and preparation of the sound-artistic materials; installation of the installations in the previously selected spaces; and exploration of the materials and their sound, sensory and artistic possibilities. The results show that the development of artistic installations brings together different types of learning, collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial attitudes and a high level of motivation among the participants, who commit themselves, from an aesthetic and social point of view, to the transformation of the space and the educational community.