ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on field notes from participant observation of arts based school activities that involved staff and young adults from a Second Chance school in Portugal. It argues that for the relevance of writing and revisiting the lived educational experience in order to improve inter-professional debates about trauma-informed educational practices and the role of the arts. These main goals intertwine with the young people's rights to engage in educational spaces that promote their talents. The interactions between professionals and young people aimed at supporting each person's successful construction of a specific artefact – a bird. The stimulus of the music in itself seemed to have exponential benefits on the relationships between adults and young people. The organisational culture of the school leans strongly towards an educational approach based on relationships. These relationships are based on cross-cultural and respectful experiences in which music has a role to bring adults closer to the cultures of the young people.
