The Whole-School Approach and Transformative Learning: The Case of a Portuguese School

Abstract

In the 21st century, there has been an increase in political and academic
orientations pointing to the need for school education to follow a transforming
pedagogy that will enable it to fulfil its social contract. Along with this idea, there
has also been a growing recognition that educational interventions should consider
the school as a whole and the different agents that are part of it. With these ideas
as a reference, a study was conducted using documentary analysis to identify how
a Portuguese school considers these guidelines when planning and evaluating its
activities. The school activity plan and the evaluation report were analysed using
the whole school approach (WSA) analytical framework. The concepts of
transformative pedagogy and the WSA impact how schools organise their
activities and involve students in analyzing real-life situations, influencing
processes in which students learn to make decisions that can contribute to
sustainability.