Project Duration: 2023 – 2024
Donor: ERASMUS +, Collaborative partnerships in the field of Sports
Lead Partner: Development Centre for Youth , Belgrade
Partners: Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory/University of Belgrade and sports organizations from 7 European countries.
IFDT Team: Aleksandar Pavlović, Balša Delibašić, Gazela Pudar Draško and Tamara Banjac
Project “Creating Life Champions-LC2023” is envisaged as 24-month activity aimed at reinforcement of positive social values and principles, by using the specific setting for their dissemination – sports field, the specific target group for promoting them – football trainers and specific methods involved – non-formal education in and through sports.
Thirteen partners representing 4 sectors (sports, youth, research and education), from 7 European countries gathered to contribute in promoting the concept of education in/through sport, perceiving it as the most powerful channel in dissemination of diverse messages, and starting from the fact that role of trainers as educators and pedagogues needs to be revitalized, not only for the sake of sport but also for the entire society. Consortium is striving to develop a new educational concept that would be applicable to coaches from all disciplines. Long-term goal is to regulate this area systematically, introducing a multidisciplinary subject at faculties for sport and physical education, bringing additional value to existing learning tools.
Within the project, the Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade conducted extensive research on the pedagogical and educational role of football coaches in Serbia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
The aim was conducting a detailed analysis of how football coaches perceive the educational and pedagogical role of sports and identifying ways to strengthen this role in the future. The overall purpose of the research was to use these data to create modules and a Moodle course for coaches, providing them with new knowledge, information, and tools to act more as educators and pedagogues in the field, primarily shaping individuals’ lives, and only then creating sports champions.
The research is available at the following link.