(Image Credit: Sport & Citizenship)

PACTE project’s Active Education Workshop was held in Berlin on the 21-22 February 2019, bringing together a diverse group of experts. The workshop was hosted by the European Physical Education Association (EUPEA), the project consortium’s expert partner on the topic of physical activity and education for children. During two half days of presentations, panel discussions and group dialogues, the workshop welcomed representatives of the German Physical Education (PE) Teachers Association, the Swiss PE Teachers association, the Flemish School Sport Federation, School on the Move – Finland, TU Munich, Bikability, UCI and the Cities of Madeira (PT), Viana do Castelo (PT), Lisbon (PT), Turku (FI), Liverpool (UK) and of course Berlin (DE).

On the first day, participants were welcomed by Martin Holzweg (EUPEA) and introduced to the PACTE project by Maxime Leblanc, EU Affairs Direct at lead partner Sport & Citizenship.

The first presentation of the day by Ms. Rose-Marie Repond, Past President EUPEA, addressed the topic of “Active Schools in Cities – what do we know?”. Ms. Repond presented on what constitutes physical education in school by explaining the following three different settings; (1) Curriculum mandated PE, (2) At school but not in the classroom – e.g. during recess, (3) on the way to and from school, and after school. Ms. Repond emphasized the importance of addressing all settings when promoting PE in schools, and went on to share a few successful examples. Most importantly she highlighted the importance of Primary Schools as the setting in which we can reach almost everyone (all children go to primary school), when promoting physical education on a city level, and concluded, there is “No education without physical education”.

Mr. Jean-Francois Laurent and Ms. Keri McDonald, from TAFISA (PACTE Partner), presented the PACTE Active City Matrix; one of three project deliverables – giving the background and evolution of the matrix through the project stages. The Active City Matrix is designed to help cities generate tailored action plans, guidelines, recommendations, on how a city can start an Active City programme – using the three key pillars of Active Education, Active Workplaces and Active Transport. The latter one is the role of ECF in this project. As the matrix is a work in progress, it was used to collect feedback during a world café session, engaging the participants into a lively discussion on how to make the matrix as useful to cities as possible.

On day 2 participants where welcomed by Mr. Udo Marin, CEO of Verein Berliner Kaufleute und Industrieller e.V., followed by a presentation of PACTE’s European Survey on Physical Activity & Cities by Dr Richard Bailey from ICSSPE (Project Partner). The survey was the first deliverable of the project, aimed at canvassing physical activities policies at municipal level in Europe. Following analysis of over 600 responses to the survey circulated by project partners last year, Dr. Bailey discussed the most interesting findings. The most important is the identification of Primary Schools as the key setting to address most of the population, and it is a level of education which is (perceived as) the responsibility of cities.

Two panel discussions followed on (1) developing active schools schemes at municipal level & (2) about working in partnerships. Among others, the following case studies were presented and discussed:

Sea Centre Viana do Castelo and the focus on Schooling- the city is promoting a project called “Nautic in Schools” which aims to bring schools closer to nautical activities in the class of physical education and the creation of school yacht clubs. This project allows surf lessons, canoeing, rowing and sailing as curricular school activities, implemented in physical education.

MOEV Belgium - supports schools in developing a quality, structured movement policy and embedding it in health policy.  The aim is to inspire schools to realize a healthy mix of sitting, standing and exercising, through tips, materials, events & projects and integrate them at school via the 'Sport moves your school 2.0' tool.

Finnish Schools on the Move - a national action programme aiming to establish a physically active culture in Finnish comprehensive schools. Schools and municipalities participating in the programme implement their own individual plans to increase physical activity during the school day. Finnish Schools on the Move programme is one of the key projects in the field of knowledge and education in the Government Programme of Finland. The goal of the government is that "the Schools on the Move project will be expanded across the country to ensure one hour of physical activity each day". 

Bikeability UK - A cycle training programme about gaining practical skills and understanding how to cycle on today’s roads. Bikeability gives everyone the skills and confidence for all kinds of cycling. There are three Bikeability levels, each designed to improve cycling skills, no matter what is known already. Levels 1, 2 and 3 take trainees from the basics of balance and control, all the way to planning and making an independent journey on busier roads.

The next stop for the PACTE Project will be the Active Workplaces Workshop on June 20^th in Brussels – mark your calendars!
For all info visit the project website: http://www.pacteproject.com/