While schools are on a summer break or winding down for the semester, Deporte para la Educación y la Salud (DES, Spain) and seven international partners in the Moving Schools Challenger project gathered in Luxembourg to present the progress they have made since the kick off meeting in January 2023 and to discuss the tasks for the upcoming months. During the summer break, our project team will not stand idly, but will be dedicated to finalising the structure of monthly physical activity challenges planned for the first pilots implemented in seven European countries throughout the 2023/2024 academic year.

At the second in-person meeting on 26-28 June, Deporte para la Educación y la Salud (DES) together with L’Orma (Italy) led the partners including the Youth Sport Trust International (UK), European Physical Education Association (Luxembourg), International Sport And Culture Association (Denmark), BG Be Active (Bulgaria), V4Sport Foundation (Poland) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) through the 2,5 half days of workshops.

The Moving Schools Challenger (MSC) project was born from the experiences gained in the past 3 years, during which Deporte para la Educacion y la Salud (DES) has been implementing Physical Activity and Healthy Lifestyle programmes for all students (girls, boys, living with disability, refugees) in schools all over Spain. The concept was shortly after turned into a project proposal in 2022 and was selected for funding by the European Commission in the framework of the ERASMUS+ programme.

The aim of the project is to set a pan-European programme for the whole school year with the main objective to find and strengthen synergies among parallel initiatives amplifying the overarching message of the importance of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and social behaviours. It not only aims to help children become more physically active and healthy, it will also have a positive impact on teachers and families, as it has been demonstrated in Spain.

However, even as easy as it may sound, upscaling a proven national initiative to international context is a sometimes demanding and confronting process.

‘We faced intense discussions, that eventually brought us closer to a better solution. I believe that, in the end, the diverse international perspectives brought to the table by all project partners will enable us to develop replicable and scalable models that can be introduced across different countries.’ – as Jakub Kalinowski, the President of V4Sport Foundation expressed emphasizing the potential in the MSC project.

‘Meeting each other physically helps us to better understand, appreciate and make the most of the diversity of the different states of the European Union while helping us to move towards its cohesion. Online meetings could never substitute the social action that raises innovative ideas only appearing when people get together in an ambience of team working.’ – summarized Andreu Raya Demidoff, the President of Deporte para la Educación y la Salud, and the coordinator of the MSC project in his closing words.

Find out more about the project: https://www.educacondeporte.org/msc/

Key facts

Project period: January 2023-December 2025

Co-funded by: Erasmus+ Sport Cooperation Partnerships

Grant amount: €400,000

Project partners:

• Deporte Para La Educacion Y La Salud (DES, lead coordinator)
• The Youth Sport Uk Charitable Trust (YSTI, UK)
• European Physical Education Association Asbl (EUPEA, Luxembourg)
• International Sport And Culture Association (ISCA, Denmark)
• L Orma Ssd Arl (Italy)
• Association Bg Be Active Association (BGBA, Bulgaria)
• Fundacja V4 Sport (V4Sport, Poland)
• Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain)