Nineteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The action research I present focuses on the self-esteem of 12 youth males (16 to 19 years old) studying Initial Training Programmes (PFI). It uses an education through art project to develop their self-esteem (Bamford, 2006; Bamford & Wimmer, 2012). A musical project was implemented during the academic year 2020-2021 in Palau-solità i Plegamans, Barcelona. The pupils created their own instruments with recycled materials and recorded music and poetry to accompany them, talking about their self-concept and reinforcing their self-esteem. During the creation process, both pupils and teachers recorded a video creating a video clip to lead the music and to help the dissemination of the project. The investigator conducted interviews and focus groups with the pupil’s family, former educators, and the adolescents themselves. The results of the project itself were used as well to answer the main investigation question: How an education through arts project enhances the self-esteem of adolescent students? The research of this project concludes that ETA fosters the development of self-esteem and self-concept of adolescents in the Compulsory Secondary Education Graduate (GESO in Spanish) and at risk of social exclusion. The conclusions of this research also show the value of education through the arts as an educational methodology for both the acquisition of psycho-emotional competencies and the practices of the PFI module.