Joining forces and creating routes

: are cultural plans a path for cultural democracy? An analysis of Portuguese schools

Abstract

As education systems evolve and adapt to our current world, it is becomingextremely clear that schools should encompass much more than the mere basic curricula.From personal development to academic success, the positive impact of including arts and culture in regular school education has proven decisive. On the other side, arts and culture should reckon schools as a crucial place to create audiences, develop habits, promote access, and engage with the community. Hence, education benefits from culture as much as culture benefits from education. How can they join forces?By focusing on this potential collaboration, this work intends to highlight the roleof the state as the medium to connect schools with arts and culture, through theimplementation of cultural plans and programs.Following my internship at PNA, a mission structure which joins the Ministriesof Education and Culture and intends, amongst many other objectives, to develop a network between the previously mentioned plans, this report will draw upon the potential of this network to create pathways for the commitment between culture and education, through the lens of cultural democracy.On-the-field analysis will follow the research developed by PNA’s work group,through the conduction of several interviews to schools managing the implementation of more than two cultural plans. Conclusions on the best practices and favourable conditions to be achieved are expected to be reached.

Date of Award	27 Apr 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Diana Gonçalves (Supervisor)