OBESSU – The Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions is the platform for cooperation between the national school student unions active in general secondary and secondary vocational education in Europe. It was founded in April 1975 in Dublin, Ireland and brings together member and observer organisations from more than 20 European countries. All member organisations are independent, national, representative and demo-cratic school student organisations.

OBESSURue de la Sablonnière, 201000, BrusselsBelgium

Art and Sport as Catalysts

for Social Inclusion

AKS (Austria), ASuBiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina), CANAE (Spain), DGS (Denmark), DOS (Slovenia), EEO (Denmark), ESCU (Estonia), FSS (Finland), ISSU (Ireland), LH (Denmark), LMS (Lithuania), MAKOSZ (Romania), SIF (Iceland), SLL (Finland), SSUN (Norway), Student Voice (England), SUS (Slovakia), SVEA (Sweden), UDS (Italy), UNL (France), UNSS (Serbia), USO (Switzerland), VSK (Belgium), AEVL (France), NVURH (Croatia), SAKKI (Finland)

OBESSU Member and O� erver organisations

Mail: obessu@obessu.orgPhone: +32 2 6472390Web: http://www.obessu.org

Editor:Anna Widegren

Photographer:Sarah Dejaegher

Graphic design and Layout:Janne Nurmi

3

In Cooperation With: With Support Of:

This project was funded with the support from the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the Danish Ministry of Children and Education and Niels Brock – Copenhagen Business College.

This publication refl ects only the views of the author, and the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the Danish Ministry of Children and Education and Niels Brock cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

4

In May 2012, OBESSU held a confer-ence on the topic of how we as edu-cation stakeholders would like to see art and sport used as tools to tackle social inclusion, in Copenhagen, Den-mark. This publication includes some contributions from the experts at the conference, but mostly reflections and outcomes which participants wanted to include and bring home with them to their own national School Student or-ganisations.

As OBESSU aims at making the eve-ryday life of School Students the best it can be, by empowering our members on a national level and by creating a strong united front as the representa-tives of the School Students of Europe. In our work we strive for innovation and creativity, by using non-formal methods. By working together we believe that we can be inclusive and comprehensive, not only in what we do, but also how we do it, adapting and developing in order for us to be able to connect and work with people from different social and cultural backgrounds. It is from there we get a lot of our strength, the unity despite the diversity, and that is exactly

Art and sport as means to tackle social inclusion

how we envision the schools of tomorrow.

We have for a long time in OBESSU talked about the importance of creativ-ity, art and sport in education, in order to challenge students and give them free-dom for expression. We wanted to focus the conference on the massive possibili-ties that art and sport provide to promote cultural understanding and dialogue, both within and outside of school. We wanted to show that they can be used as tools to foster social inclusion, and can be alter-native methods of learning.

By gaining knowledge on culture and di-versity we gain a better understanding of the world we live in. Sport and the arts have since long before been recognised as key aspects of fighting xenophobia, racism, bullying and other issues related to social inclusion. At this conference, we gave students the right to express them-selves as individuals and to learn from each other.

I am very proud with the participation and the outcomes we had and would like to thank the Prep-team for the hard work and for contributing to OBESSU’s work.

Hreiðar Már Árnason

OBESSU Board Member 2010 - 2012

5

Each OBESSU event involves a lot of people making sure that everything runs smooth-ly, workshops are ready, guests are coming, all travels are booked, and even details such as if there is enough coffee at the coffee break are taken care of. The conference entitled Art and Sport as Catalysts for Social Inclusion was definitely not an exception. OBESSU events are not solely prepared by the Board and Secretariat: there is also a prep-team (selected through an open call) who is in charge of the design, implementa-tion and follow-up of the event. Our team was maybe smaller than usual but our responsibilities were not smaller at all. The prep-team meeting which was held a month and a half before the conference took place, in Copenhagen, the same beautiful city where the conference itself was held. From the OBESSU side Zoltán (MAKOSZ) and Daša (SUS) were part of the prep-team, and we had the pleasure of working with Pedro from ISCA (International Sport and Cul-ture Association). Luckily, the team also had a great support from the OBESSU Board and secretariat: Hreiðar (Board member) and Anna (Project and Policy Officer).

Daša Koribanicová - Prep-team member and OBESSU

Board member 2012-14

A word from the Prep-team

The prep-team members: Zoltan, Pedro & Daša

6

Art and sport are two huge topics and So-cial Inclusion is not any smaller. We had hard times choosing what to cover and how to approach the topic. Having only a limited number of days to cover every-thing seemed like an impossible task, and indeed: covering everything would have been impossible! But this was not the aim: the aim was to give the participants the attitudes, skills and knowledge to work further on the topic, to continue ex-ploring, to learn methods of using art and sport as a means to Social Inclusion. We wanted to give a new perspective, new insights which participants could build on, and grab inspiration when they got back home to their own organisations.

Weeks of preparation and work and the actual event goes by so quickly! That’s how it works. The prep-team really hopes that participants left with new knowledge, perspectives, and that their eyes opened a little bit more. We learned many things as well. Without active participation and interesting inputs from participants noth-ing would be possible, and we proved once again that non-formal education and peer education are strong tools. We learn from each other without realizing we are learning. It can also be very creative and everyone feels that they are included in the process: and that’s what one of the aims of the conference and the prep-team was!

Daša KoribanicováPedro Bellini Em

manoelli

Zoltán Török-Czirmay

7

Pedro ContributionPedro Bellini Emmanoelli - Prep-team member, ISCA

(EVS Youth Officer at the International Sports and

Culture Association)

Enriched by the expertise of the Inter-national Sport and Culture Association’s work, the Sport and physical activity ses-sions at the conference aimed to create a common understanding and awareness of what is sport? The values behind the practices, as well as experiencing physi-cal activities that could possibly be used towards this end. Believing and promot-ing the values of the grassroots sports, ISCA’s contribution to this conference was particularly focused on delivering the message: “it is all about the values”.

By bringing a theoretical definition of sports and taking it as one piece of the bigger picture of physical activity, the pro-posal was to develop the comprehension that not only sports games can promote Social Inclusion, but any kind of physical exercise: the success of the initiative will depend, among other factors, on its val-ues. Thus, an important milestone for the conference learning curve, for the partici-pants and facilitator, was to experience physically what was discussed theoreti-

cally. The workshop with alternative meth-ods and materials (plastic bags and acro-batic gymnastics) besides a higher level of participation and fun, brought a good opportunity to see and reflect on how our values and/or objectives can define the social outcomes of the interactions among people.

The Conference in Copenhagen was, un-deniably, an intensive learning process for all the ones involved. The Preparatory Team, composed by persons with differ-ent backgrounds, faced the challenge of developing ideas and proposals that were only on papers. The participants, with their various expectations, accepted the challenge of studying, participating and, perhaps the most important, interacting with the proposed agenda for those days. The Art and Sport as Catalysis for Social Inclusion conference was a clear exam-ple of how people can, when carrying the same values and principles, overcome their differences and obstacles in order to reach their goals.

8

Mission Statement“We build international relations between people, cultures, organizations and sec-tors. Seeing sport as a culture of movement, we develop opportunities for learning inspi-ration and action to induce social change.”

The INTERNATIONAL SPORT AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION (ISCA) is a global plat-form open to organizations working within the fi eld of sport for all, recreational sports and physical activity. ISCA conceives sport as an integral part of civic life and promotes active participation through attractive offers that encourage the citizens’ involvement in sports, health-related exercises, recreational activities, leisure activities and games. ISCA and its members act as enablers of physical activity, operating locally, nationally and internationally. Understanding and acting upon people’s expectations and demands is the daily challenge for our members and it is our key task to support them in meeting these demands and in being front-runners in spotting and developing new trends.

A little about ISCA

9

Image Th eatre?

Chloe: Our aim for the week with OBESSU was to introduce the members taking part in the workshop to a method of Theatre that can facilitate change and can be a very clear starting point to opening the fl oor for discussion. The method we employed is called “Image Theatre”, taken from the Brazilian Theatre director, writer and politician Augusto Boal, who founded Theatre of the Oppressed. Image Theatre is based on non-verbal communication and uses the body as the tool to communicate emotions, situations and themes. It aims at empowering individuals to change what is happening in their society.

From Ex clusion to Inclusion

Chloe: The central question was “how can Art and Sport be a catalyst for social inclu-sion?” It got us thinking, and what was interesting for me was this idea of “exclusion and inclusion” being quite clear opposites, and how we could implement a theatrical tool to explore the “in-between” section. We soon realized that the most important thing to explore was the journey from Exclusion to Inclusion.

Method used

Tom: First of all, part of the process was to look at physicalizing the participants. The ‘game-playing’ - the physical activity and text-work - was done in order for participants to fi nd a place that was almost a more childish state of being, a more open state of being. We then looked at these structures of social change, social resolution and led the participants through the process of thinking about the idea of “exclusion and inclusion,” to take this with them in order to open up the conversation.

Th e Journey Th rough Image Th eatre Chloe and Tom tell us about the Image Th eatre sessions

Chloe Whipple and Tom Pritchard

10

Aim: Image Th eatre as starting point for conversation

Tom: We wanted to fi nd a different depth to the conversations by working with image theatre and their genuine placement within the situations of exclusion and inclusion. It’s not just about intellectualizing it, but it’s about the experience of exclusion and in-clusion, and passing back those sentiments, those feelings, in order for that to be the starting point for conversation.

Universal body language

Chloe: Because of the many languages that were in the room, we felt that using the body also meant that there was a universal understanding between the members; it also lowered any risk of colloquial insults or verbal misunderstanding.

Tom: Indeed, by working non-verbally you are able to avoid misunder-standings. Actually, body language - being perhaps a more universally understood form of language - allowed us to access the participants on a level playing fi eld, despite the difference of cultures and backgrounds.

Tom: I think - being from very different backgrounds and from different cultures - the access to image theatre is at different speeds and at dif-ferent junctures on the way. The engagement in it has been very good, and if feels like everyone has found some sort of anchor within the work in order to join in with the discussions.

Th e body as communicator

Chloe: Throughout the week it has been really nice for the participants themselves to realize how strong body language is. You don’t necessarily need to use a lot of language to show what you are feeling. Image theatre gives an open fl oor to using the body as a language as opposed to the voice and spoken language. Under-standing that by making a really small change in the face, suddenly the meaning of the way one is standing changes. For them to start to have the awareness of how important their body is as a communicator – not just the voice.

Indeed, by working non-verbally you are able to avoid misunder-standings. Actually, body language - being perhaps a more universally understood form of language - allowed us to access the participants on a level playing fi eld, despite the difference of cultures and backgrounds.

I think - being from very different backgrounds and from different cultures - the access to image theatre is at different speeds and at dif-ferent junctures on the way. The engagement in it has been very good, and if feels like everyone has found some sort of anchor within the work

: Throughout the week it has been really nice for the participants themselves to realize how strong body language is. You don’t necessarily need to use a lot of language to show what you are feeling. Image theatre gives an open fl oor to using the body as a language as opposed to the voice and spoken language. Under-standing that by making a really small change in the face, suddenly the meaning of the way one is standing changes. For them to start to have the awareness of how important their body is as a communicator – not

11

What is SocialInclusion?

When looking into how art and sport can be catalysts for Social Inclusion, one must begin by exploring the concept of “Social Inclusion” itself. In the begin-ning of the event participants were pre-sented with six quotes about Social In-clusion, and asked to identify which one

they best felt described it. They were then asked to explore together in small-er groups what they felt Social Inclusion means and write or adapt a new quote which they felt described the meaning of Social Inclusion. Check out what they came up with:

12

1. An inclusive society is one that allows all to be their authentic selves and bring together their full equal voice to the table, without fear of being rejected or discrimi-nated against.

2. Inclusion is the fi rst step towards un-derstanding

3. An inclusive community is one in which people have no barriers in eco-nomic, social, political and cultural life

4. Tolerance is the essential ingredient in any discussion

5. Why do we exclude? Because we are afraid of the unknown. Why should we include? Because we break down the fears. When you include others, you in-clude yourself into the knowledge…

6. If you want to develop an interactive neighbourhood, including everyone is one way to do it:- We need to include everyone; it’s the only way to develope society- Giving everyone basic rights- Giving everyone the chance to pursue happiness- Giving everyone the cultural tools to live critically (access to education)- Reduce the social differences- Value the different abilities appropri-ately

13

The Definition of Social In-

clusion

Social inclusion can be defined as many different things. First of all, to be a part of a successful inclusion process, the will to be included and to include must be mutual. When you want social inclusion to be successful you have to set the scene for it to be possible; this means that the individual, or any given person in the group must be ready to begin the process of inclusion. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the bigger group (who are usually expected to make the first step) has to be active in including the subject, it could just as well be the person/group that wants to be in-cluded that takes the initiative. But as mentioned earlier – all parties must be willing to make the inclusion happen.

Social Inclusion and Exclusion

About Exclusion

When talking about social inclusion and especially the lack of it, it is very relevant to take a look at social exclusion. The following chart over social exclusion is the result of the many discussions and evaluations during the sessions of the OBESSU conference “Art and Sport as Catalysts for Social Inclusion”.

14

Inclusion Banana

Inclusion Banana gives you a guideline

of the process of exclusion to inclusion

At first is the part where you think “What is the origin of the exclusion?”. “Who's responsible for the situation?” (eg. Group or individual) and “How does it spread?” You have to do thorough as-sessment of the matter at hand.

After that you move to process of analy-sis. You have to think about “what is the effect of exclusion in your community?” and “are you fully aware of everything that is happening?” You need to make sure that you have the full picture.

After you have the parameters set, comes the part where you make the strategy for action so you can solve the

issue. It is time for claiming your voice and action.

When you have taken action the next part is to evaluate - “is everyone happy? Was your idea/project/action success-ful?”

For the final part you reflect upon eve-rything which was done and start over if you're not happy about the outcome.

Inclusion Banana guides you through the whole process from exclusion to in-clusion. The importance of recognising the problems concerning exclusion to inclusion.

15

We, as the school student union representatives of Europe, discussed the meaning and defi nition of art, during a workshop which was part of the con-ference “Art and Sport as Catalysts for Social Inclusion”

During the discussions many different and interesting views were presented. Some of them said; “Art is the juice of life”, whilst others claimed that “Art is everything produced with the intention of having an aesthetic value in addition to a practical one or only an aesthetic one.”

The various defi nitions resemble the fact that art is something subjective, and must be interpreted from one’s indi-vidual point of view.

However a broad consensus was

What is Art?

reached regarding that “art is a way of expressing yourself through a medium, material or immaterial”

This includes, but is not limited to; litera-ture, performing arts, photography, ar-chitecture, painting and many more.

During our several workshops on the topic, we also discussed to what extent can different products and activities be considered art?

We tried to differentiate the arts, based on criteria such as originality, intention of the creator or performer, aesthetic value etc., but we were unable to reach a unanimous agreement. This due to the fact that representatives were both un-willing and unable to categorize and dif-ferentiate between the different artworks which were shown.

Th e Defi nition of Art

16

1. Art is subjective experience in a certain moment, space and time, when you face it. And its always changing. There is also meaning in art.

Art is everything produced with the in-tention of having an aesthetic value in addition to a practical one or only an aesthetic one.

Art is the juice of life.

2. Every creation, material or imma-terial, that provokes a process of re-fl ection or expression emotion can be considered art; after all, it’s a lot about subjective impressions.

3. Art is art, if it is meant to be art. Art is a way of expressing yourself. Each individual deciphers for themselves what art is.

4. Art is art. It is your personal mean-ing that matters.

5. Art is a man-made concept.

6. Art is what makes a subconscious movement to/of the observer

Diff erent Defi nitions of Art

17

Physical activity

Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that require energy expenditure. Regular moderate intensity physical ac-tivity – such as walking, cycling, or partici-pating in sports – has significant benefits for health. For instance, it can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and depression. Moreover adequate levels of physical activity will decrease the risk of a hip or vertebral fracture and help control weight (World Health Organisation).

Sport

Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to en-sure fair competition, and allow consistent adjudication of the winner. Winning can by determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first, or by the determination of judges who are scoring elements of the sporting perfor-mance, including objective or subjective measures such as technical performance or artistic impressioni1.

Sport (exercise) is a specific form of phys-ical activity — planned, purposeful physi-

The Difference between Physical Activity and Sport

Simona Pavúková

cal activity performed with the intention of acquiring fitness or other health benefits. Working out at a health club, swimming, cycling, running, and sports, like golf and tennis, are all forms of exercise (sport)2.

The term "sport" originally meant any sort of entertaining diversion, but its meaning evolved to encompass loftier notions of physical prowess, competition and a high standard of behaviour known as sports-manship3. Physical activity may or may not in-volve sports, but sports almost always require physical activity.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport#cite_note-council-12 http://www.everyday-health.com/fitness/basics/difference-between-exer-cise-and-physical-activity.aspx3 http://www.livestrong.com/article/531987-difference-between-sports-exercise/

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Yoga in a ClassroomToomas Laigu, ESCU

Yoga is a great way to relax your brain from the hard study/work.

As we all know, our secondary education is mostly very theoretical and done within one position.

Yoga has a great variety of different exer-cises that can help you to develop within all the bodyparts. Also, even just simple stretching can help relaxing the brains from the concentrated work.

Small workout in/out the classroom and oxygen comes like “crazy”.

One of the biggest insults for the teach-ers are usually school students yawning in the classroom. But really the cause is because of lack of oxygen. So there is a big need for some physical activity. Yoga with its various exercises can be prac-ticed in the classroom, as well as outside the class. I believe yoga to be an excel-lent way to get great amount of oxygen making studies more effective.

I can already imagine how the teachers invite their students out of the class and present some interesting exercises to imi-tate. Making yoga exercises as a part of everyday school-life can make our stud-ies more productive and interesting!

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline originating in ancient India and today it is concerned to be one of the best tools to work on your body and brain in the same time!

invite their students out of the class and present some interesting exercises to imi-

Small workout in/out the classroom and oxygen comes like “crazy”.

One of the biggest insults for the teach-ers are usually school students yawning in the classroom. But really the cause is because of lack of oxygen. So there is a big need for some physical activity. Yoga with its various exercises can be prac-ticed in the classroom, as well as outside the class. I believe yoga to be an excel-lent way to get great amount of oxygen making studies more effective.

tate. Making yoga exercises as a part of everyday school-life can make our stud-ies more productive and interesting!

19

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eat

inve

ntor

y.

Spo

rt in

sm

all c

ities

is n

ot s

o go

od. O

n th

e ot

her h

and,

in b

ig c

ities

it is

bec

om-

ing

bette

r bec

ause

of f

undi

ng b

y w

hich

sc

hool

s ge

t to

rene

w fa

cilit

ies.

Sch

ools

get

ext

ra m

oney

to e

stab

lish

new

spe

cial

art

clas

ses

for i

nfor

mal

ed

ucat

ion.

Engl

and

Stu

dent

s ha

ve to

take

art,

dra

ma

and

mus

ic u

ntil

the

age

of 1

4 an

d th

en

choo

se to

con

tinue

or n

ot.

Stu

dent

s ta

ke 1

hou

r of P

E p

er w

eek

until

the

age

of 1

6.

Switz

erla

ndE

xhib

ition

s of

pai

ntin

gs m

ade

by

stud

ents

.Th

ere

are

art a

nd m

usic

less

ons.

3 ho

urs

of P

E p

er w

eek,

boy

s an

d gi

rls

are

sepa

rate

d.S

ports

day

.C

ross

-cou

ntry

runn

ing.

Spo

rts c

ompe

ti-tio

ns.

Aus

tria

Art

in e

very

sch

ool.

PE

is o

blig

ator

y. B

oys

and

girls

are

se

para

ted.

Nor

mal

ly 2

hou

rs p

er w

eek.

Bel

gium

Firs

t 2 y

ears

of s

econ

dary

sch

ool,

stu-

dent

s ha

ve 1

or 2

hou

rs p

er w

eek

of a

rt.

Afte

r tha

t it d

epen

ds o

n w

hat y

ou s

tudy

.

2 ho

urs

of P

E p

er w

eek.

They

hav

e sp

ecia

lized

spo

rt sc

hool

s.Th

e us

e of

art

and

spor

t is

real

ly

unde

rest

imat

ed. S

port

and

art a

re

used

onl

y du

ring

spec

ific

clas

ses;

it

is n

ot in

tegr

ated

in o

ther

cla

sses

.

Serb

iaA

rt cl

asse

s ex

ist o

nly

in g

ener

al s

econ

d-ar

y sc

hool

s an

d th

ey a

re m

ainl

y th

eory

or

ient

ed.

Spo

rt is

ext

rem

ely

appr

ecia

ted.

Eve

ry s

econ

dary

sch

ool h

as P

E c

lass

es

and

they

are

mai

nly

orga

nise

d to

pra

c-tis

e a

certa

in s

port,

aim

ing

to g

ain

skill

s an

d im

prov

e he

alth

.

Slov

enia

Art

hist

ory/

mus

ic h

isto

ry is

com

puls

ory

for 1

yea

r of h

igh

scho

ol.

Man

y sc

hool

s of

fer a

dditi

onal

opt

iona

l cl

asse

s (m

usic

, art)

.

PE

is c

ompu

lsor

y in

all

seco

ndar

y sc

hool

s, a

ll 4

year

s.O

ptio

ns fo

r suc

cess

ful s

tude

nts

to

chan

ge th

eir s

ched

ules

to b

e ab

le to

at

tend

thei

r tra

inin

gs.

Slov

akia

Kid

s ha

ve s

ingi

ng a

nd a

rt cl

asse

s.

Stu

dent

s ar

e al

so g

iven

cul

tura

l tic

kets

an

d th

ey c

an u

se th

em w

hen

they

go

to

cine

ma

or th

eatre

and

they

pay

less

so

mor

e pe

ople

can

affo

rd to

go.

PE

is o

blig

ator

y in

eac

h ye

ar o

f prim

ary,

se

cond

ary

or h

igh

scho

ol.

Stu

dent

s ar

e gi

ven

‘edu

catio

nal t

icke

ts’

whi

ch th

ey c

an u

se fo

r one

free

afte

r sc

hool

act

ivity

(eith

er s

port

or a

rt or

so

met

hing

rela

ted

to th

eir s

ubje

cts)

they

ca

n ev

en ta

ke it

out

of s

choo

l and

use

it

ther

e.

Not

real

ly, s

tude

nts

som

etim

es

wat

ch fi

lms

rela

ted

to to

pic.

Bos

nia

and

Her

ze-

govi

naA

rt cl

asse

s in

sec

onda

ry e

duca

tion

are

not a

s im

porta

nt a

s ot

her s

ubje

cts.

PE

cla

sses

are

lack

ing

in 2

last

yea

rs o

f se

cond

ary

scho

ols.

Stu

dent

s ca

n’t e

xpre

ss th

emse

lves

th

roug

h sp

ort a

nd a

rt.

Rom

ania

Opt

iona

l cou

rses

: Writ

ing,

pai

ntin

g, s

ing-

ing

& d

ram

a co

urse

s.P

E in

volv

es b

asic

spo

rts, b

all g

ames

, at

hlet

ics.

Italy

In a

lmos

t all

high

sch

ools

(exc

ept f

or

som

e V

ET

scho

ols)

at l

east

2 h

ours

a

wee

k of

Art

are

com

puls

ory.

In th

e m

ost

case

s A

rt co

ncer

ns o

nly

His

tory

of A

rt an

d is

not

pra

ctic

al. T

here

are

som

e A

rt H

igh

Sch

ools

as

wel

l. Te

chni

cal d

raw

ing

is s

omet

imes

incl

uded

in A

rt an

d it

is th

e on

ly p

ract

ical

mom

ent o

f the

sub

ject

.

Spo

rt is

obl

igat

ory

for a

ll hi

gh s

choo

ls,

two

hour

s a

wee

k. It

orig

inal

ly in

clud

es

both

pra

ctic

al a

nd th

eore

tical

spo

rt ed

u-ca

tion,

but

the

theo

ry is

alw

ays

avoi

ded.

For t

he fi

rst t

wo

year

s pr

actic

al s

port

is

gend

er d

ivid

ed. T

hen

acco

rdin

g to

the

scho

ol fa

cilit

ies

som

e sp

ort a

re p

laye

d.

Volle

y-ba

ll is

the

mos

t com

mon

one

. The

sc

hool

s of

ten

orga

nise

inte

rnal

and

loca

l co

mpl

etio

ns o

f bas

ket-b

all,

volle

y-ba

ll an

d ta

ble

tenn

is.

Unf

ortu

nate

ly th

ere

is li

ttle

invo

lve-

men

t of A

rt an

d S

port

with

the

othe

r sub

ject

s.

Cool Classes Even though art and sport are not very incorporated in other subjects or formal edu-cation in general, we had many great ideas of how it could and should look like. We believe classes would be more interesting and students would learn more if we could combine traditional ways of learning with art and sport. How do we think it could look?

It's Monday morning. The school bell has just announced the beginning of long day filled with information, studying and tests. Language class, literature, biology and histo-ry are on today's curricula and the students are looking forward to each of the classes! What is it about this particular curriculum that students are looking forward to?

First class : Language class

Energizer

The day and the class start off with a sim-ple fun energizer to get the students into a good working mood and give them en-ergy. The students decide among them-selves what or which energizer(s) they want to do. Not every day or every stu-dent is the same.

Song Is there any better way to learn a lan-guage by singing in it?

Songs get stuck in your head and you re-member new words more easily and prac-tise your pronunciation. Specific grammar songs are the best way to remember odd grammar rules. Learning languages doesn’t have to be boring.

Evaluation

Before the class ends everyone will have their chance to evaluate how the thought the class went. What the learnt from it and what they think might be improved in or-der for them to learn the language better.

Second class : Literature

Debate

The students were given a book to read and now they have the opportunity to dig deeper into the book with a little debate. They will get the chance to talk about how they interpreted the book, what they learnt from it and their feelings towards the book.

22

Drawing/Painting

After the debate the students have some time to work with their feelings on the book and get to paint or draw them down. Drawing/painting is good to express feel-ings and reflect.

Third class : Biology

Hiking

What is a better way of learning new things that to go out and see them for yourself.

The students go hiking in the woods and look at different types of trees and leaves and some inhabitants of the tree. Then their route takes them past a lake where all sorts of fish and water plants live.

Body exercise

The added bonus with going for hikes in Biology is that it is also a physical activity in the nature.

Fourth class : History

Simulation What better way to remember specific historic events than to act them out?

The class was split into groups and each group has to re-enact an historic event for each other. Debriefing

After everyone has had their chance to act out their roles the students gather for a discussion where they can talk more about the events they re-enacted so they will remember them more accurate-ly.

Test

Yoga

Taking a test can be a bit stressful so their curricula offers them a space to do some yoga and relaxing exercises before the test that gets them more focused to take the test.

23

Reflections from participants

The Conference "Art and Sport as Catalysts for Social Inclusion" was a real eye opener. The exercises and workshops held had a clear focus on informal learning, and it was great to see how we through for example theater could have very candid discussions about what inclusion is and how arts and sports can be used to achieve inclusion. It was great that the participants were given space to create and produce things ourselves, and that the discussions we had weren’t facilitated in such a strong way by the prep-team, but that we ourselves could decide what direction the discussions were going to go. Thought provoking, informative and fun!

Paula- FSS

When “sport“ is said, ‘competition’, ‘ac-tion; and ‘exhaustion’ come to my mind. That is also what I had expected before the conference “Art and Sport as cata-lysts for social inclusion” started. To be

sincere, I was really happy that not only sport was mentioned in this name. Not because I do not like sport (I do!), but I was glad I could get better at art which I am very interested in. When I came to

Paula

24

When I came to Copenhagen, I expected interesting discussions where we share our experiences and concerns with al-ternative methods used in schools. But instead we were shown the ways and op-portunities through actually trying them ourselves. And by the end of the confer-ence I was disappointed not having got-ten what I expected. But when I got back home, I actually saw the effect it had on me. I keep seeing so many things I can do to bring all the things we learned to edu-cation in my country. At meetings I've ac-tually found myself saying: ,,We can use the methods we learned in Copenhagen!'' The conference definitely made a differ-ence for ESCU.

ESCU - Kristen

Copenhagen and this event started, I was so curious about everything - the confer-ence, the people, and the new experi-ence. Although we were in Scandinavia, we were very lucky because of the beauti-ful sunny weather which made our week even better. I really enjoyed sport courses with Pedro. It was great to see how is it possible to use seemingly useless things such as plastic bags and creating some-thing new based on our cooperation. The Drama course with Chloe and Tom was also very educational and interesting (I admired new ideas and their growing with the other ones!). I think our creativity de-veloped a lot during these courses. I met many great people, so new friendship across-boards have started. I can say this OBESSU event has exceeded my expec-tations!

Petra-SUS Petra

Kristen

25

Art and Sport as Catalysts

for Social Inclusion

Participants

26

OBESSU – The Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions is the platform for cooperation between the national school student unions ac-tive in general secondary and second-ary vocational education in Europe. It was founded in April 1975 in Dublin, Ireland and brings together member and observer organisations from more than 20 European countries. All mem-ber organisations are independent, na-tional, representative and democratic school student organisations.

OBESSURue de la Sablonnière, 201000, BrusselsBelgium

Mail: obessu@obessu.orgPhone: +32 2 6472390Web: http://www.obessu.org