EuropeActive’s Active Learning for Children in School 2 (ALCIS2) project has been judged to be a success story and good practice example by a panel of experts from the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission. ALCIS 2 is one of only 7 selected projects (2016) from 404 Erasmus+ projects to be given this special status. Based on the pilot action ALCIS 1, the ALCIS 2 project encourages children to reflect about different lifestyle choices in relation to physical activity, stress management and overall wellbeing with the aim for a long-term impact. The project combines fun-orientated exercise classes with educational material on lifestyle issues. This pedagogical tool is based on a methodology that not only provides information, but also teaches life skills such as critical thinking, goal-setting and self-analysis. This way, young people are empowered to make and implement their own lifestyle choices. The aim of ALCIS is to encourage children, their relatives and friends to live healthy and exercise regularly. A special feature of ALCIS 2 was a pilot intervention with asylum seeker children from two reception centers in Brussels
ALCIS 2 reached very successful outcomes:
With initial expectation of 12.000-14.000 children across 9 countries, the final results were even better with nearly 20.000 school children taking part. The outcomes from the students and teachers questionnaires confirmed their involvement and their interest in physical activity and healthy lifestyle issues. 86% of the students claimed that “they are trying to be more physically active after completing the planner”
9 countries took part to the action (Belgium, Lithuania, Netherlands, Ireland, Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, UK, and Spain), in addition, another Erasmus+ project as well as the Ministry of Health of Luxembourg decided do use the ALCIS 2 material.
97% of the teachers said that they would like to use the materials again. Programme Director for EuropeActive Cliff Collins said “We are so pleased to receive this accolade which is so deserved by all of our colleagues who promoted the project with such a great success. EuropeActive is always ambitious in developing new ways of connecting the fitness sector across our communities and to push boundaries of the perception of how fitness can interact with all age groups. ALCIS 2 is the second Erasmus+ project to be recognised by the European Commission as a success – we must be doing something right!”
Sir Graham Watson, President of EuropeActive commented that “The success of the ALCIS project gives recognition to our Brussels Team for the hard work and vision they have in promoting our sector and the contribution we can make to turn the tide of inactivity. The project has been a significant piece of work and we were able to reach out to almost 20,000 children across Europe, and I am delighted that it has been chosen as a success story in the Erasmus+ Programme.”
The educational material of the ALCIS project together with a Good Practice Guide can be found here.