The PEACE Programmes Learning Platform Level 1

This project is a four year programme. It currently does not cost the schools any money however we wanted to bring in the peace element as we saw sport as a means to address division in our communities. As such we thought to consolidate the ice-breaking work in Phase1 with a residential, participation in a new Olympic sport, a fun parents- teachers- pupil sports day and look at the participation of Ireland at the Olympics. This phase two element will specifically use Olympic sports to reflect on how sports can be used as a tool for reconciliation in terms of team building, confidence building, self esteem building, self belief, and dealing with confrontation when competing with others in a sporting environment. According to the Olympic Charter, established by Pierre de Coubertin, the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. This frames this reconciliation project and allows us to utilise the UK’s hosting of the Olympics as an ideal opportunity to explore sport and its contribution to peace building and a better world for young people. According to Satomi Tsuchiya (Sport as an International Tool for Development and Peacebuilding) sport can unite people together and create mutual understanding regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, culture or religion. Sport has a significant ability to connect individuals and groups in the peacebuilding process and transcend segregation and misconception. Students participating in this project will become united through sport. The students will learn and play an Olympic sport not normally played in their respective schools. In this way the students will bond over a new activity that is not related to sectarian or religious divisions and therefore allows them to rise above this. Thus the rationale behind our project.