Learning how to learn: The role of music and other expressive arts in responding to Early Leaving from Education and Training (ELET) in the STALWARTS project

This project report describes policy, practice and theory related to a cross-sectoral international project funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme. STALWARTS – Sustaining Teachers and Learners with the Arts: Relational Health in European Schools – aimed to promote relational health in schools through engagement with the arts. The project was developed in five European countries: Estonia, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and the UK. The local partnerships between five universities and community-based schools are diverse in terms of their locations in the European region and the populations they serve, in terms of age, social status and learning conditions. In this article we focus on the link between ELET policies in each country and local contexts. We ask: How can identified ELET policy drives in the five partner countries relate to the achievements of the STALWARTS partner schools when working with the expressive arts? Some related theoretical background underpinning the practical aspects of the project brings this report to a conclusion.