Football for Equality

EDU:PACT Module and Training Concept Development Meeting

EDU:PACT Module and Training Concept Development Meeting

EDU:PACT partner organisations met in Cologne to develop a concept for module and trainings

Consistent migrant flows and increasing diversification are posing new cultural challenges across all European societies, and a great number of people, including children, now need to be integrated and welcomed into our societies. Schools as well as sport clubs are an important vehicle to facilitate this integration and foster positive, intercultural learning experiences.

However, teachers, coaches, schools, and clubs are often under-resourced and under-funded to seize the opportunities presented by this situation. The objective of the project is to help address these challenges and to develop innovative, evidence-based intercultural pedagogy in physical education and coaching.

It is in light of these goals that two-reputed international NGOs, Right to Play and the Vienna Institute of International Dialogue and Cooperation, came to Cologne, Germany to work with the German Sports University, University of Rome, Foro Italico, and the University of Vienna on December 14 and 15, 2018.

There, this group of partners began to intensely work on the development of sustainable, innovative modules to equip physical education teachers as well as coaches with the tools to deliver positive, inclusive, intercultural learning experiences.

The proposed modules will aim to equip teachers and coaches with fundamental intercultural skills such as self-reflection and cultural awareness, while proposing innovative approaches that can be integrated into sport sessions.

“The meeting in Cologne has really allowed us to begin creating dynamic, engaging modules that allow coaches and teachers to build on the positive aspects and opportunities presented by intercultural education. We are really excited to test these modules in the summer”, said Karen Petry, deputy head of the Department of European Sport Development and Leisure Studies at the German Sport University in Cologne.

Following the meeting, draft learning modules will be developed and then first evaluated by the entire project consortium, with a pilot test planned for June 2019 in Munich.

Funded under Erasmus+, EDU-PACT features a consortium of 9 partners including ENSE members the University of Vienna, the German Sport University Cologne, University of Rome, Foro Italico, the University of Southern Denmark, and the International Council for Coaching Excellence as well as the University of Thessaly, the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Culture and Sport, Right To Play, and the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) More information on the project can be found under https://edupact.eu.

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