Plurilingualism and Interculturality on the border between Portugal and Spain: Practices, learning processes, and shared meanings in the Bilingual and Intercultural Border Schools project (PEBIF)

Abstract

This article examines the practices, learning processes, and shared meanings developed in the project “Free to Fly, Free to Learn,” carried out between the school centres of Mogadouro (Portugal) and Camarzana de Tera (Spain) within the scope of the Bilingual and Intercultural Border Schools Project (PEBIF). Drawing on a qualitative, ethnographically inspired approach focused on teaching practices and on the meanings attributed by participating teachers, the study investigates how the concepts of plurilingualism, interculturality and intercomprehension were mobilized in the construction of a cross-border educational pathway. The article describes practices such as the mapping of linguistic biographies, the creation of a collective itinerary connecting territory, history and language, as well as the production of the “Poem to Interculturality,” confirming the formative and symbolic potential of a pedagogy situated at the border. The use of the Douro River metaphor as a geographic and affective link, intercomprehension as a practice of listening and reciprocity, and students’ protagonism in the activities highlight the project’s capacity to transform the school into a space of co-authorship and shared creation. The results indicate significant progress in valuing linguistic and cultural diversity, while also revealing challenges, such as the persistent centrality of national languages and the lack of more systematic actions addressing students’ subjective cultures. The study concludes that experiences such as PEBIF contribute to reimagining the border school as a fertile educational territory – not of separation, but of encounter, justice, and collective creation.