Able and disabled: let’s play together Erasmus Project

Project Title

Able and disabled: let’s play together

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Health and wellbeing; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

Our project wants to be part of the 2020 EU priorities which aim at promoting social inclusion and European values through sports. We want to contribute to this strategy by educating our students about the role of sport as a means of active social inclusion and, what we want, is to make our students learn how important it is to enjoy life in spite of physical and mental barriers comparing experiences and playing together with people with disabilities practising various “adapted sports” (modified to meet the needs of people with disability).
We have decided to focus our project on the exchange of good practices concerning inclusion through sports, since inclusion is one of our priorities, but first of all, it is a very important aspect of our students’ future life. We want them to change their minds and to be aware that they are the ones who can change habits and attitudes towards the world of disabilities. Through working together not only they will realise that life is important and they should not waste it, but they will also be able to convince other people of the necessity of “changing their lives, opening their minds, united in diversity” as the Erasmus+ mottos say.

Our five countries have experience in organising sport tournaments and, thanks to the cooperation and the exchange of “good practices” , we will aim at
• promoting inclusive education and lifelong learning for all students with and without abilities,
• fighting against discrimination on grounds of disability in Europe,
• improving self-confidence, motivation and learning skills through sport in order to lead more independent lives,
• improving knowledge about Paralympic sports,
• promoting the substantial health and quality of life benefits that can be gained through participation in disability sports,
• raising awareness of the health benefits of sport activity for young people with or without a disability,
• promoting physical activity through the power of stories.

We want to involve as many people as possible, students (14 -18), their families, school staff, our local communities, disabled associations and disabled sports associations since we are sure that everybody will benefit from the activities and the project products will contribute to make them more inclusive. Students with special needs will be involved in the sport activities and they will be the protagonists of the workshops.
For the implementation of the project we will organise:
– 2 short-term joint staff meetings of 2 teachers from each school to organise the various stages.
– 4 short term exchanges of 5 students plus 2 accompanying teachers from each school during which a “Sport event” focused on a disabled sports activity ( i.e.torball, sitting volley…) will be organized and the meeting will be used for the dissemination of the results of the project. Students will meet well known as well as less known sports disabled sportsmen and sportswomen who will talk about their experiences, motivation, explaining how sport can change your life. The students will analyze the attitude of the community in which they live. They will focus on inclusion of disabled, architectural barriers, mental barriers and accessibility to sports facilities.
– 6 long-term students’ mobilities 2 students from Italy, the Netherlands and Spain (Germany and Poland have difficulties in sending students abroad for long periods). In each host school two students of different nationalities will work on the project.
– 1 short term exchange of 5 students, 2 teachers and the principal from each school for the dissemination activities in Italy.

The results will be
• a practical guidelines to help inform about options of sporting activities for people with disabilities together with non-disabled peers and competitors,
• a video on accessibility and best practices prepared using the material collected, pointing out the pros and cons and presenting the best practices,
• an eBook with the stories and interviews of disabled sports people collected during the meetings. A good story can communicate the benefits of physical activity in an engaging way and get inactive young people to be physically active,
• a photographic eBook in which the best pictures taken during the activities will published as a result of a contest open to students and the community,
• a conference open to the community to present the best practices as far as accessibility concerns with a particular reference to disable sports,
• a project website where all the project products, material produced (stories, videos, pictures, etc) will accessible to everybody.
The impact will be guaranteed by the conferences, the project website and by the social networking that our students and families use a lot. Thanks to project our students, their families, their community will get aware of the fact that sport is associated not only with social inclusion, but also with physical well-being and the enhancement of self-esteem.

Project Website

https://www.ableanddisablederasmusplus.com

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 55770 Eur

Project Coordinator

LICEO SCIENTIFICO STATALE CLAUDIO CAVALLERI & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Instituto de Enseñanza Secundaria BENDINAT
• BBS Syke EUROPASCHULE
• Geert Groote College Amsterdam
• Zespol Szkol Ekonomicznych