This K2 Erasmus + project entitled “Sports and diversity” will bring together 6 schools, for 2 years, from six different European countries (Bulgaria, France, Italy, Greece, Malta and Poland). Skilled partners with past experience in European projects will help beginner partners to implement the scheduled activities. This project will hence be a good opportunity to transfer and exchange good practices, experience regarding project management and project implementation between partners. This innovative partnership will entrust students with learning, training objectives for the first time in each participating school. It will help us to organize workshops about sport and develop common European cultural awareness. Secondly, this partnership is innovative because scheduled international multisport events will ensure a legacy of European sports values and collaborative support for the first time in each participating school. Thirdly, this partnership is innovative because each participating school will upgrade their logistic, organizational cross-curricular skills onto an international level. To ensure a successful management, implementation and achievement of this collaborative project, each school partner agreed to take part to 1 joint-staff meeting per year and to two Learning Teaching Training Activities per year over the length of the project. The key objective of the project is to ensure the successful implementation of the European Sports Charter based on the collaborative participation of European SEN and mainstream students in open-air sports activities enlisted in partner schools. This project aims at social integration to demonstrate teamwork rather than sports performances, results. Scheduled activities on cultural diversity and sports will help participants breakdown prejudice, to develop relationship to promote awareness of the European Union, cultural and linguistic differences. This project will bring together supportive teachers, families and mainstream, socially-different, cognitive-deficient students, encouraging sport for everyone. We will uphold inclusion of everyone when exchanging viewpoints, sharing team experience, learning from disability in sports. During Learning Teaching Training Activities, SEN students will benefit (if approved) a minibus quoted by participating schools. This minibus will enable SEN and mainstream students to travel from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to the host school, from the hotel to the scheduled places of visits. Learning Teaching and Training activities will be dedicated to discover the partners’ potential heritage, to discover their sports educational system, and to compare the existing cultural aspects. Partners involved in the project will also improve their communicative and personal skills, broaden their minds, share their knowledge and experience of non-traditional physical education while practicing open-air sports activities. Thanks to the experience and knowledge gained, each student will be able to improve their self-confidence, outdoor/indoor sports skills, speaking skills, willingness for learning and practising English acquiring valuable language and cultural knowledge, through the practice of national sport activities.
The 6 participating schools (Bulgarian, French, Italian, Greek, Maltese and Polish) were both qualified and beginner partners, which allowed collaboration through the transfer of past experiences to help implement the planned activities. The agreed working theme "Sport and diversity" allowed the transmission of universal messages of tolerance and friendship. It allowed also for the development of team spirit and teamwork, with students working together on European heritage and sports-related issues. Our collaboration has helped to promote the values and benefits of sport, to develop personal links through creative workshops, to enrich the participants with cultural diversity and contacts between European countries. The planned activities on cultural diversity and sport helped participants to : -promote awareness of the European Union, -learnt to apprehend cultural and linguistic differences, -attain the set learning objectives, -collaborate on workshop activities, -deepen their knowledge of the language, culture and sports of the host country. LTTAs also allowed European teachers to exchange good practices and points of view (e.g. on existing facilities, lesson planning, student supervision), compare their career paths, discover different working methods, work instructions, warm-up sessions, techniques (collective and/or individual). All partners have developed the physical activities of participating students by implementing innovative outdoor activities (e.g. climbing and hiking). They were innovative because outdoor activities are never taught in urban schools and have never been practiced internationally. The fruits of our work were beneficial for the students, as we all contributed to raising awareness of a European culture of interactive collaboration through workshops and sports practices. Non-traditional sports events (outdoor physical activity, local sports competition, sightseeing and orienteering) allowed the students to identify local sports habits. The workshops were an opportunity for students to reflect and exchange views on sports issues among participants such as disability, equal opportunities, gender equality, managing safety measures, bad behaviour, doping and cheating.