It takes a village to overcome school failure and dropout: innovative educational practices promoting children’s educational rights in Portugal

Abstract

As part of a wider research project analysing practices, voices, and pathways of inclusive education, this chapter discusses factors supporting the construction of inclusive educational practices that interrupt the school failure-dropout cycle and favour educational remobilisation. In order to understand these practices, a framework discussing barriers to access and participation in education provides conceptual tools to explore some analytical dimensions. The empirical basis for this chapter is a multi-case study analysing intervention on school failure and dropout, by mapping the points of view of actors engaged in ten different contexts (in the framework of two nation-wide programs) across the Portuguese territory. These actors contribute to the understanding of the processes, rationales and partnerships that support such practices. This contribution seeks to further the discussion about children’s right to education, specifically the role education has in fostering equality with identity, valuing the child’s socio-economic background and their position within a community (Article 29 of the UNCRC). As we focus on the local dimension of inclusive educational practices, we discuss the community’s role in developing, implementing and evaluating said practices. In addition, we address how these practices negotiate children’s community and cultural identity, while also exposing them to different cultures and values.