Sports meet Inclusion Erasmus Project

Project Title

Sports meet Inclusion

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Disabilities – special needs; Inclusion – equity; Social dialogue

Project Summary

“The core concern of the Guiding Principles is to promote respect and mutual respect and appreciation of diversity (…) By engaging with, empathizing with and engaging with other identities, students sharpen their awareness of their own identity”. (Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Baden-Württemberg, 2016 a).
This quotation from the Baden-Württemberg education plans from 2016 stands for the guiding principles which are intended to enable pupils to deal with themselves and the environment in a competence-oriented manner beyond the classical subject matter. Against the background of a pluralistic society, this results, among other things, in the guiding perspective of education for tolerance and acceptance of diversity, to which the term inclusion also belongs. At the latest with the amendments to school legislation in Baden-Württemberg in 2015, which implement the resolutions of the United Nations that came into force in 2008, the topic of inclusion has moved to the centre of all school forms. Since the abolition of compulsory special education (School Act BW, § 82), inclusion has been regarded as a task for all schools (School Act BW, § 15). Sport offers the opportunity to directly experience the topic of inclusion not only in theory but also in practice. We want to use our project to answer the question of how the multifaceted topics of inclusion and sport can be brought closer to the pupils.
One of the aims of our project is to promote mutual understanding of the challenges and different realities of life of pupils with special needs and young sportspeople. Another goal is to help students understand that diversity in school is an opportunity from which all students benefit by teaching them the basics of inclusion, diversity and common European values. Our project also aims to contribute to the transfer of knowledge and the strengthening of teachers’ skills so that they can promote and support diversity and inclusion in the participating schools.
Our project will last two years and will be carried out with a total of 21 students and 9 teachers from IGMH (Mannheim/DE), SPOGI (Zagreb/CR) and Liceul Tehnologic de Vest (Timisoara/RU). The students are between the 9th and 11th grade (15 to 18 years). In terms of content, we develop a holistic concept consisting of several building blocks, which are interlinked in terms of content and are built up over two years. In the first year of the project, we work with the students to develop a basis for understanding the topics “inclusion” and “competitive sports”. Based on this understanding, we collect data in the participating schools in order to develop offers for pupils with special needs and athletes. Based on the needs analysis, we develop creative teaching modules that sensitize students to the topics of inclusion and sport while strengthening their sense of belonging and solidarity. The modules can be used in different class levels. At the end of the first year of the project, the results are bundled and implemented in the form of a guideline. We want to use the second project year to make the two topics of inclusion and sport directly tangible for the pupils. Using the example of Goalball, a sport for the blind, the pupils gain their own experiences. In the further course of the project, the pupils will develop and initiate a sports innovation day for pupils with and without handicaps. The so-called “Change-Maker-Day” is a mixture of sports and games, where the pupils can try out their motor skills at different stations. Based on an evaluation, the students then create a strategic concept for the “Sports meet Inclusion” module, which is incorporated into the new inclusion concept. The desired results are achieved through group work, independent student activities under the guidance of experts, practical experimental learning, knowledge transfer at extracurricular learning locations, and the preparation and follow-up of multimedia presentations. Through the numerous presentations and continuous cooperation with the partner schools, foreign language skills are improved and intensified.
All project results will be available on the e-twinning platform. Our guide to the teaching modules and the concept will also be published on the school websites. Displays, posters, flyers, etc. will find a permanent place in the schools after the final exhibition. The project material will be processed and can be used in the schools as copy and illustrative material.
The sustainability of the project will be shown in a strengthened European sense of belonging and the awareness that the bridge between inclusion and sport strengthens diversity.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 98988 Eur

Project Coordinator

Integrierte Gesamtschule Mannheim-Herzogenried & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Liceul Tehnologic Dimitrie Leonida
• Sportska gimnazija