Project information
General objective
Fostering inclusive sport communities for LGBTI people by developing competences, educational tools and local policies in the field of the Education Through Sport methodology.
Specific objectives
1) To build knowledge and competencies for educators and organisations in the field of Education Through Sport and LGBTI issues
2) To implement local strategies with schools, sport associations and local authorities in order to promote ETS practices and promote open educational resources.
- The project aims to foster LGBTI inclusive sport communities by developing new pedagogical tools and competences in the field of the “Education Through Sport” (ETS) methodology.
- This project involves 5 partners and 4 associated partners to increase the visibility, impact and project effectiveness at the local level.
- The project will generate e-learning and practical tools for organisations and youth operators involved in sport, in particular coaches and PE teachers, and will develop local strategic partnerships in the field of LGBTI and ETS, by selecting 15 local stakeholders (schools, local authorities, sport associations).
- After a preliminary Training of Trainers meeting, the project trainers will involve 60 recruited coaches and PE teachers with 3 capacity building sessions in order to transfer the key competencies on LGBTI issues in sport and make them able to deliver ETS exercises to their audience (students, athletes, practitioners).
- The outcomes of these actions will lead to the design of e-learning contents in 7 different languages, structured for operators who train sport coaches and PE
teachers and for educators who directly work in the field. These contents will be organized in an open access MOOC and in 7 open resources for the EPALE
platform (educational activities and pedagogic exercises). - The project foresees 8 dissemination events to deliver and test the educational outputs and reach approx. 300 people (students and practitioners). Starting from the achieved know-how and results, the partnership aims to create a EU-wide model by implementing a Policy Vademecum designed for local policy implementation in the fields of sport and education.
An important part of the Outsport project legacy regards the pedagogical toolkit to address LGBTI inclusion in and through sport, titled: Outsport Toolkit - supporting sport educators in creating and maintaining an inclusive sport community based on diversity of gender identities and sexual orientations - 2019.
For the Outsport project, the publication of the aforesaid Training Toolkit was the outcome of a mutual learning process based on research and data collecting activities.
The present project starts from the need to strengthen what has been done and spread the methodology and practices towards those who work in the field, by addressing the following challenges:
- to offer concrete tools for school, sport association and local communities in the original language
- to address educators with new skills and competences in the field of LGBTI issues by offering replicable and transferable practices in the original language;
- to improve the accessibility of ETS practices and methodology by creating digital and e-learning tools.
Wp 1 Management (AICS)
WP 2 Recruitment and preparation
- Recruitment of coaches and PE teachers (Leading Partner: EGLSF)
- Training of Trainers (Leading Partner: BILITS-ALL)
- Establishing working groups with local stakeholders (Leading Partner: EGLSF-ALL
- Involving local working groups in the call and capacity building (Leading Partner: EGLSF-ALL)
- Planning the pilot events (Leading partners: EGSLF-ALL)
WP 3 Training and Tools implementation
- Capacity building. Training of coaches and PE teachers (AICS, OIS, GCP)
- Implementation of the e-learning tools (Leading Partner: AICS-ALL)
- Implementation of the e-learning App (Leading Partner: AICS)
WP 4 Delivering ETS
- Implementation of the Dissemination events (Leading Partner: EGLSF-ALL)
- Implementation of the vademecum for Local Stakeholders (Leading Partner: AICS)
Communication & Dissemination
- Recruitment campaign (Leading Partner: AICS-EGLSF)
- Digital tools communication campaign (Leading Partner: AICS-EGLSF)
- Diss. events communication campaign (Leading Partner: AICS-EGLSF)
- Other Dissemination events (ALL)
0 - Project staff
1 - Coaches and PE Teachers
2 - Local Stakeholders
3 - Dissemination events audience (student/sport partitioners)
4 - Project Partner organisations
Project resources are available!
Over 30 months, the EU MESIS project achieved significant results, bringing together 5 partners, 4 associated partners, and 7 local stakeholders, including the Municipality of Rome and the University of Ljubljana. In Sofia, 10 trainers led sessions and engaged in mentorship and mutual learning, laying the foundations for what later became a Capacity Building model. At the same time, the Dissemination Network collaborated with organizations such as the Italian Amateur Football League and Ljubljana Pride to reach wider audiences.
Through Capacity Building, three intensive four-day sessions in Italy, Portugal, and Slovenia trained 50 coaches and PE teachers to apply the Outsport Method and Education Through Sport in schools and sports clubs. Learning outputs included a 15-hour e-learning course in eight languages, a MOOC, and the 130-page Outsport Coach Manual. Resources were published on EPALE and out-sport.eu, and the social media campaign generated over 3 million impressions on LinkedIn and Meta.
Pilot events reached 180 participants, with 60–70% rating the sessions as highly impactful. The Policy Vademecum (80 pages) supports local policy in sport and education, and the multilingual Telegram community engages 80% of trained coaches, offering updates, training, and weekly activities.
Project partners
Associazione Italiana Cultura Sport (Italian Association for Culture and Sports)
Coordinator – Italy
Resursen Tsentsar Bilitis – BILITIS
Bulgaria
Športno Društvo (OIS)
Slovenia
Ginásio Clube Português (GCP)
Portugal
European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Netherlands
Funding
