On 23 November 2021, the Italian Olympic Committee hosted in the prestigious Sala d’Onore of Foro Italico the final event of the Sport Opens School (SOS) project, co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union. Thanks to a hybrid delivery, more than a hundred people were reached.
The numerous attendees were greeted by Mr Marco Arpino (CONI). Mr Jacopo Tognon (CONI) chaired the Conference Opening that saw Mr Riccardo Garavello (Secretary General of CUS Padova) and Ms Paola Deiana (Office V, Italian Ministry of Education) stressing the relevant role that Physical Education (PE) plays in fostering a holistic development of young students. Ms Marta Gravina (Project Coordinator, CUS Padova) moderated the conference, introducing the various speakers.
Ms Marianna Pavan (Project Scientific Coordinator, CONI) presented and explained the SOS project life cycle, outcomes, and intellectual outputs. The Conference indeed represented the opportunity to show in detail the project results and impact. SOS was developed using a top-down and bottom-up approach that saw experts, researchers, PE teachers and students from five countries, interacting to build a new and innovative PE teaching module to be included in high schools’ curricula.
Ms Laura Capranica (EAS), Ms Marianna Pavan (CONI) and Ms Laura Brazzarola (CUS Padova), presented the SOS Pillars – 1) Physical Activity and Health 2) Fair Play and Integrity, 3) Life Skills – and their potential implementation thanks to the use of the SOS Deck of Cards and Activities. These instruments are the theoretical and practical tools fundamental to the delivery of the new PE teaching module.
To better present how it is possible to carry out the SOS Activities related to the SOS Deck of Cards, Mr André Luís (ECB) showed how multiple activities were implemented in the Portuguese high school, while Mr Antoni Balasz (KFG) indicated how the students welcomed the SOS games, in the Hungarian high school, which are both partners to the project.
The rational of the project, its best practices, the instructions on how to use the SOS Deck of Cards and Activities, further to Tips for PE teachers, feedback from students and PE teachers are described in the SOS Toolkit. This precious tool also offers the SOS Checklist, which in 10 points provides a how to do framework to implement the SOS PE teaching module.
Finally, the SOS Deck of Cards, the SOS Activities, and the SOS Toolkit are available to download in 5 languages (English, Italian, Romanian, Hungarian, Portuguese) at the project website.
Partners to this project are:
- University Sports Centre (CUS Padova) – Italy
- Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) - Italy
- Inspectoratul Școlar Județean Bacău & Liceul cu Program Sportiv Bacau - Romania
- N.ª Sra da Encarnação - Cooperativa de Ensino, Benedita (ECB) - Portugal
- Newton - Pertini Institute of Higher Education – Italy
- Budapest VI. Kerületi Kölcse y Ferenc Gimnázium (KFG) – Hungary
- European Athlete as Student network (EAS) - Malta