Paralympic Games Education Programmes
The IPC works closely with Paralympic Games Organizing Committees to assist them to create and deliver an education programme leading up to and during the Paralympic Games. The following are programmes that were implemented in the past:
Sydney 2000:
Aim: To create awareness and understanding of athletes with
a disability and to generate in young Australians an interest in, and commitment
to the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
Resources:
“Set No
Limits” Resource Kit including teaching resources, video & posters
distributed free of charge to primary & secondary schools (10,200) and
libraries (1,300). And the ‘Link Elite Athletes Program’ (LEAP) where 2,735 (¼
of Australian) schools were linked to Paralympic athletes.
Salt Lake 2002:
Aim: To provide an Olympic and Paralympic related
curriculum, including activities and programmes, to be incorporate into local
schools and to get children involved in the Winter
Games.
Resources: REACH – Educator’s Guide providing joint
resource for Olympics and Paralympics, including fact sheets, work sheets &
lesson plans as well as an accompanying website: http://2002.uen.org/
Athens 2004:
Aim: To raise awareness about the ideas of the Paralympic
Movement, provide information about the preparation and hosting of the
Paralympic Games and to develop a new, positive attitude towards persons with a
disability by promoting the right to autonomous development and equal
participation.
Resources: Paralympic Games Education Kit
implemented in 7,400 schools and taught to over 650,000 pupils throughout
Greece. And the ‘Adopt a Sport’ Programme, introducing the values and ideals of
the Paralympic Games through the “adoption” of two Paralympic sports per
participating school.
Torino 2006:
Aim: To prepare youth from the region to welcome the Olympic
and Paralympic Games by promoting the culture of sport, enhancing awareness of
the values of Olympism and encouraging participation in winter
sports.
Resources: Teachers kit consisting of handbooks,
each containing lessons on the Olympics and Paralympics and the ‘Kids Village
Website’ an Internet presentation of the Education Programme with additional
interactive items (mostly in Italian): www.kidsvillage.torino2006.org/
Beijing 2008:
An Olympic Education programme has been created with the aim to spread Olympic knowledge, disseminate Olympic Spirit and promote Beijing Olympic concepts, goals and preparations among the students, with an aim to deepen their understanding of Olympic Movement and involve them into active preparatory work. With regards to the Paralympic Games, no specific Education Programme has been initiated yet. So far, two resource books have been published in Chinese including general information on the Paralympic Games, Movement and Sports. These have been widely distributed in schools in China.
Vancouver 2010:
A fully web-based Education Programme is being created for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, targeting students, teacher and the broader public with the goal to educate about the Olympic and Paralympic Movement, Sport and Culture: www.vancouver2010.com/en/edu. Furthermore, Vancouver’s Organizing Committee plans to implement the Paralympic School Day Programme twice annually (May & October) between 2008-2009 to schools all over Canada.
The IPC has regular communications with the Organizing Committees of upcoming
Paralympic Games (i.e. London 2012) to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and
ensure the creation of high-quality Paralympic Games Education
Programmes.
