Education through sport

ETS is a non-formal educational approach that works with sport and physical activities and which refers to the development of key competences of individuals and groups in order to contribute to personal development and sustainable social transformation.

What does it mean?

The ETS methodology intends exclusively to use sport as educational tool. This is why components such as education, mentorship, skills, training, reflection and intervention, not directly related to sport, remain very important and have to be taken into consideration when sport is used for an educational purpose. All of these elements play a significant role in the learning process. They actually become the central focus which stimulates development and social transformation, rather than the sport program itself.

What is important then…?

• To make good use of the previously mentioned non sport components;
• To be aware and use non formal education in planning and designing a learning process while using sport
• The educational objectives and the function of pursuing educational goal while using sport are crucial in the
  ETS methodology;
• There are 3 types of learning drawing to different objectives to be distinguished Education FOR, BY and THROUGH SPORT.

WHAT IS THEN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM?

EDUCATION FOR SPORT

ALMOST ALL sport clubs are mobilised by sports performance goals as their priority.

THEREFORE WE TALK ABOUT the concept of Education FOR Sport, which main aim is to develop competences in terms of sport performance.

Education for Sport addresses the improvement of skills related to the sport itself. Thus, its purpose is only to serve the development of individual competences to improve physical performance.

The concept of Education for Sport is normally related to diverse disciplines of competitive sport and therefore has limited interest in the context of non-formal education.

EDUCATION BY SPORT

The concept of Education BY Sport is more complex process and includes specific learning objectives such as the aim to address health issues and wellbeing.
The aim is to combine the sporting goals with the wellbeing of society, so its educational goals are at second plan. It uses sport exercises and physical activity to work towards social causes such as raising awareness about health and wellbeing.
Ex: The “Sport for all” movements are very close to this approach. By playing different sports, it is expected that people learn more about healthy lifestyles and in this way raise awareness about the mentioned issue.