According to WHO Europe, around one-third of 11-year-olds are overweight or obese (WHO 2014). Over 60% of children who are overweight before puberty will be overweight in early adulthood and 80% of adolescents who are obese will continue into adulthood with severe weight problems. This shows not only that serious lifestyle diseases such as overweight and obesity are commonplace in Europe, but are also highly likely to carry a lasting legacy from an early age which is extremely difficult to halt. Children and young people with mobility limitations and learning disabilities are at greatest risk for obesity. Since CV-19 is reported to be especially harmful to people with a BMI above 25, inclusivity must constitute a critical element to a solution. Behaviour patterns are established during childhood that affect short and long-term health. DIPHE aims to engage children as early as possible in Inclusive Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (IHEPA), Physical Education (PE) and Health Education (HE). In spite of this, PE is not fully embedded in EU curricula and 75% of schools in Europe say that the prescribed number of PE classes per week has been reduced because of CV-19. HE is equally important to improving the overall health of young children, yet does not exist in school curricula in Europe. The rapid transition of education into digital contexts in light of CV-19 has left many teachers ill-equipped and ill-prepared to facilitate digital learning sessions. This transition has also impacted particularly strongly on learners with disabilities, and inclusive digital education has never been more crucial to their support in education. DIPHE is a course that will educate teachers in primary and lower secondary school settings on how to digitally facilitate IPHE. SMART objectives of DIPHE: 1. To create a course for teachers to use to gain digital competences in the facilitation of Inclusive Physical and Health Education 2. To improve the physical, psychological, and social health and well-being of school-aged children. 3. To exchange good practices 4. To increase awareness of the importance of inclusion within the context of health education and physical education IO1 Good Practice Report This will provide critical insight into digital education, health-enhancing physical activity, physical education, health education and inclusion. Findings from the report will guide the creation of the rest of the IO's. IO2 Pedagogical Framework A methodology will be created for the pedagogy of the DIPHE course. This will ensure that teachers are equipped to deliver digital physical and health education and HEPA safely to a range of children with and without disabilities and fewer opportunities. IO3 Curriculum Framework and course Using the pedagogy, a curriculum will be created for the DIPHE course. The course will be translated into the most widely spoken European languages. IO4 Guide for Reliable Digital Resources To ensure a safe and inclusive atmosphere, a Guide for Reliable Resources will be created. This will include a suite of policies for the facilitation of online education, including a Distance Learning Policy, Online Safety Policy and Remote Safeguarding Policy. Teachers will be signposted to websites with good practice and reliable resources. IO5 E-learning platform course The DIPHE course will be accessible on an E-learning platform. The E-learning platform will also include a forum that will allow teachers to connect and share ideas and methodologies for the facilitation and improvement of DIPHE. IO6 Pilot A minimum of 64 Physical Education Teachers will take the course in schools with primary and lower secondary aged children in eight countries across the width and breadth of Europe to provide a clear understanding of the impact and reach. Feedback, reflection and review will highlight any changes that are necessary to the results and outputs of DIPHE. TPMs Three TPMs have been strategically timed to coincide with critical moments in the project so that the project can be effectively managed. The TPMs will give an opportunity to ensure that all of the objectives are on track in accordance with the milestones of the project and resolve any issues. Multiplier Events Multiplier events will take place after the development of IO1 and IO2, after IO3 and IO4 and after IO5 and IO6. These events are particularly relevant to objective 4, as teachers will take part in a Q and A with an expert panel with experts in digital delivery, inclusion, health education and physical education that will raise awareness of the importance of inclusion in each field. It is expected that the project activities will create health improvements amongst children with and without fewer opportunities, improving their lives during CV-19 and raising awareness of the importance of PE, HE, HEPA and inclusion in education. Teachers will be better prepared and supported to facilitate digital education
Objectives: 1. To create a course for teachers to use to gain digital competences in the facilitation of Inclusive Physical and Health Education 2. To improve the physical, psychological, and social health and well-being of school-aged children. 3. To exchange good practices 4. To increase awareness of the importance of inclusion within the context of health education and physical education We aimed to create a course that would educate teachers in primary and lower secondary school settings on inclusive pedagogy and curriculum design for the digital facilitation of Inclusive Physical and Health Education (IPHE). We intended to develop resources that would enable teachers to engage learners who are difficult to reach and difficult to engage. The innovative idea was to flip the focus. Instead of teaching sessions of physical activity, they would learn to use physical activity to educate children in health, well-being and physical education. Martial arts were chosen for additional opportunities to learn in a fun way about self-development, language, culture, philosophy, lifelong learning, mental development, self-discipline, behaviour management, and psychological development which may be gained from martial arts.
According to WHO Europe, around one-third of 11-year-olds are overweight or obese and young people with mobility limitations and learning disabilities are at greatest risk for obesity. Over 60% of children who are overweight before puberty will be overweight in early adulthood and 80% of adolescents who are obese will continue into adulthood with severe weight problems. Lifestyle diseases such as obesity appear to be commonplace in Europe, and highly likely to carry a lasting legacy. Behaviour patterns established during childhood affect short and long-term health. PE is not fully embedded in EU curricula and 75% of schools in Europe say that the prescribed number of PE classes per week has been reduced because of CV-19. As far as we were able to ascertain, Health education (HE) is not uniformly in school curricula in Europe. The rapid transition of education into digital contexts in light of CV-19 left many teachers ill-equipped and ill-prepared to facilitate digital learning sessions. This transition strongly impacted learners with disabilities, so inclusive digital education has never been more crucial to their support in PE and Health Education.