Innovative pedagogies for inclusive education: A case of using the history of football

SOLIDAR Foundation, project partner in the ECO-IN project, participated in a webinar series developed in the framework of the Erasmus+ project Football Makes History coordinated by EuroClio. The project was launched in 2018 and aims to bring football history in primary and secondary education with the purpose of promoting diversity, non-discrimination and equality, including gender equality; promoting social, civic and intercultural competencies and critical thinking; engaging cultural heritage by accessing the histories, memories and legacies residing in football history in transnational perspectives, both at local and national level; raising public awareness on the role of learning for social inclusion and increase the sharing of innovative practices across the continent.

The webinar series served as a culmination of the resources on teaching collected during the project which range from exploring the formation of multiple identities around football clubs, from exploring the history of Holocaust and Antisemitism in football, to understanding concepts around nationality and ethnicity considering the current national football teams and the political maps of centuries ago. The innovative actions allow for intercultural education to empower learners from various backgrounds to feel included and also to experience an educational process that promotes inclusion and a divergent of experiences.

The importance of inclusive pedagogical strategies to ensure inclusive education cannot be underestimated, and they complement perfectly the approach of the ECO-IN project which attempts to view inclusive education from a more holistic approach, that evaluates inclusiveness in education institutions from managerial, resource and practices perspective as well. SOLIDAR Foundation is delighted to have had this exchange and to enrich the development of the ECO-IN algorithm with various inclusive pedagogical resources.