Policy recommendations for creating Active School Communities. For enabling a generation of school children to practice their human right to MOVE. The policy recommendations promote the Active School Communities model to more sports clubs and schools to drive participation and to gain the support of local, national and EU policy makers. The policy recommendations were written by the partners of the EU Erasmus+-supported Active School Communities project, BG BeActive (lead), Youth Sport Trust, International Sport and Culture Association, Hungarian School Sport Federation, DGI, South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture, Sport and Citizenship, UISP, Sports Union of Slovenia and Willibald Gebhardt Institute. They supports the NowWeMOVE campaign and #BeActive event European School Sport Day, established by HSSF and scaled up by partners including ISCA and BG BeActive.

1. worden.Sievertretenlokale
Modellschulen,Universitä-
ten,diePartnerdieserMo-
dellschulensind,nationale
undinternationaleSportver-
bändefürSportlehrerund
Sportwissenschaft,außer-
demRegierungsstellen,
Wirtschaftsunternehmen
undandereOrganisationen,
diefüreineumfassendeGe-
sundheitsförderungvonKin-
Portugal,Rumänien,Russ-
land,Schweden,Schweiz,
Singapur,Slowakei,Slowe-
nien,Spanien,Südafrika,
Taiwan,Thailand,Tsche-
chischeRepublik,Türkei,
Ukraine,Ungarn,USA,Ve-
nezuela,Weißrusslandund
Zypern.
DasTagungsprogramm
vonGoFPEP2012rücktEr-
gebnisseausaktuellenStu-
Partnerschaftenzwischen
Schulen,Sportvereinenund
denAbteilungenfürSchule,
Gesundheit,Sport,Freizeit
undJugendhilfeindenKom-
munenerreichen.
DasProgrammdesGlo-
balForums2012greiftdiese
Problemstellungenaufund
akzentuiertsolcheThemen-
stellungen:nebenHauptvor-
trägenundArbeitskreisen
sundheitsförderungim
Sportunterricht“und
„Sportlehrerausbildung“be-
handelt.Abschließendwird
ineinemWorkshopdie
Gründungeinesglobalen
NetzwerkesfürdieZusam-
menarbeitallerPartnervor-
bereitet.AlleDelegierten
sindeingeladen,ihreErfah-
rungenundExpertisenaus
TheorieundPraxisindiese
WGI-Newsletter3·Mai2012
Newsletter
Number 3 · May 2012
WILLIBALD GEBHARDT
INSTITUTE
Revitalizing Health & Physical Education Through Community Based Networking
-Newsl. 3 gofpep_Newsl A 3 quer 26.04.12 08:41 Seite 1
or - positive and white
ors logo
MAin color Secondary color
CREATING
For enabling a generation of school children to
practice their human right to MOVE
The policy recommendations promote the Active School Communities
model to more sports clubs and schools to drive participation and also
to gain the support of local, national and EU policy makers.
ACTIVE SCHOOL
COMMUNITIES

2. ASC – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 2
ACTIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITIES – PARTNER MODEL
An Active School Community will work most effectively when there is strong collaboration across three active
partners – sports club/organisation, school and municipality/local authority in which they are located. The
lead role should be taken by the sports club, working with schools and also establishing community contacts
and playing an advocacy role with local authorities to drive the impact of the Active School Communities.
SCHOOL • Schools adopt the Active School Communities approach and
develop partnerships with the local sport organisations.
• Schools ensure conditions to incorporate healthy eating and
physical activity in creative ways before, during and after school
time.
• Schools have a leading role in the development of Active School
Communities.
• Schools recognise the vital role of local sport organisations as
partners in the promotion of physical activity.
• Schools identify that health and physical activity is an important
element of regular school activities and included in a strategic
plan.
• Schools encourage participation in events with physical activity
and also organise different events.
• Schools and sport organisations promote within the local
community and active living and activities provided in the school
or in sport organisation area.
LOCAL
COMMUNITY
SCHOOL
SPORT
ORGANISATION

3. ASC – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 3
SPORT
ORGANISATION
• Sport organisations understand and meet school priorities.
• Sport organisations provide schools extensive before and
after-school activities programmes, with physical activity as an
integral component.
• Sport organisations and schools take care of the development of
physical activity programmes for students with intellectual and
physical disabilities who are potentially most at risk of becoming
isolated and physically inactive.
• The local community and school invest in equipment (e.g. balls,
ropes, bats) that students can borrow and use during break
times.
• Local community, schools and sport organisations implement
physical activity policies by setting the policies and standards
related to participation in physical activity, its duration and
content, use of school grounds and equipment both during and
after school hours and educated workforce.
• (Internal, external) monitoring and evaluation of the partnership
and activities is implemented by all partners involved in Active
School Communities.
• Local community facilitates a school environment that ensures
active living like walking paths around school, adequate
playground facilities and access to equipment for physical
activity.
• Local communities invest in the promotion of Active School
Communities by self-made/school-made posters, pictures, video
clips, exhibitions, press-conferences with local agencies, special
events, trainings etc.
LOCAL COMMUNITY

4. ASC – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 4
SUCCESS FACTORS
Active School Communities should demonstrate three key elements:
Active partnership in local communities
Active citizenship in local communities
Active workforce in local communities
1
2
3
8 STEPS
TO BUILDING AN ACTIVE
SCHOOL COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
CREATE A VISION
BUILD COMMITMENT
FORM A LEADERSHIP
GROUP
PROFILE THE CITY,
NEIGHBOURHOODS
AND TARGET
POPULATION GROUPS
CONSULT WITH
RESIDENTS AND
STAKEHOLDERS
IDENTIFY
OPPORTUNITIES AND
CONSTRAINTS
IDENTIFY FUNDS AND
RESOURCES
SET GOALS AND
OBJECTIVES
1) ACTIVE PARTNERSHIP IN
LOCAL COMMUNITIES
In order to increase physical activity and improve the health and
well being of young people there is a need to create sustainable
partnerships between schools and local community sport providers.
Local community partnerships will be effective if there is a
designated co-ordinator, a shared strategic vision and defined
targets. Working collaboratively the partnership will devise and
deliver a plan to improve local opportunities to take part in physical
activity. This will include:
• firm commitment to the plan by all partners
• clarity about responsibilities, joint rights and obligations, between
the local community, school and sport organisations
• ensuring financial, human and other resources for implementation
• establishing and implementing further cooperation and
management of a local network through linked efforts of all
stakeholder partners to increase the offer of physical activity
participation
• identifying who will be responsible for building partnerships between
the different stakeholders.

5. ASC – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 5
2) ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES
3) ACTIVE WORKFORCE IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Local communities (municipality, schools and sport organisations) should build their capacities through
a combined approach that includes networking, political commitments, taking responsibilities, building
skills and training for professionals and volunteers by:
The commitment and skills of the personnel (sports club and school) involved is essential for the
successful delivery and sustainability of the project. This can be achieved by:
• planning and coordinating the workforce to ensure that all staff are engaged in physical activity
• communicating about the need for behaviour
change to increase physical activity and
supporting children/parents/teachers/trainers to
make the changes needed to achieve this.
• inspiring, engaging and empowering
representatives from bodies such as parent
teacher associations and school councils to
contribute to the community development plan
for physical activity.
• improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the
plan by consulting young people and parents
and their preferred type of physical activity and
sharing this information with local sports clubs.
• developing training programmes, methodologies
and working tools for the implementation of the
community development plan
• transferring good examples from other
communities should also be considered.
• creating a ‘safe’ learning environment which
supports partners in celebrating and building
upon their successes as well as identifying
reasons for any lack of progress.
promotion and implementation (including
teachers, teaching assistants, principles, trainers,
parents etc.)
• considering the school as an active workplace.
• further education/ training and local meetings for
teachers and trainers.
• developing a strong role-modeling programme
for teachers to support engagement and
activities.
• expanding the workforce by training older
• putting people first by making them responsible
for clearly defined roles as well as taking active
steps to improve young people’s lives, especially
those in socially and economically disadvantaged
communities.
• building the capacity of schools and sport
organisations to serve their communities
better and more openly by taking a combined
approach that includes networking and training
for professionals and volunteers for developing
Active School Communities.
• organising special events, rallies and social
occasions with parents, teachers and
stakeholders’ festivals in a school year with
physical activity, fun-games, music-dance events,
fresh water and dairy drinks, fruit and vegetables
nutrition intake, multicultural cooking
events etc.
students as leaders to develop and deliver
activities to their peers and younger students.
• teaching students to use the playground
equipment safely and correctly.
• giving students a voice: means consulting
students on all aspects of physical activity,
identify with them barriers to participation and
suggest possible changes to increase and sustain
participation.

6. ASC – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 6
SUMMARY OF PROJECT
These recommendations are based on the findings of a two year project – Active School Communities –
which aimed to tackle the growing problem of rising inactivity (see background section) by bringing together
schools and local sports clubs to make schools more physically active places for all young people. The project
involved more than 20 different experts from 10 European countries. There were a number of key stages to
the project:
The policy recommendations
are intended to promote the
Active School Communities
model to more sports
clubs and schools to drive
participation and also to gain
the support of local, national
and EU policy makers.
The pilot phase of the Active
School Communities project
has been extremely positive.
Implementation of the project
and evaluation of the toolkit
was organised in seven
countries in over 30 local
places ranging from big cities
to small municipalities. Initial
feedback showed that over
4000 children participated in
more than 200 single Active
School Community course
units, ranging from 45 to
180 minutes per week. The
toolkit was recognised as
a valuable tool to support
better communication with
schools. The toolkit will be
made available online to
encourage Europe wide and
beyond participation in Active
School Communities. It can
also be a template for toolkits
to support other projects.
Development of an adaptable toolkit to support sports
clubs to engage effectively with schools2
Research and evaluation of best practices in Europe1
Training workshops to introduce the toolkit to the
multipliers who went on to pilot it in selected school
settings across Europe
3
Pilot testing of the toolkit in seven European countries
to enhance the toolkit and ensure its adaptability4
Evaluation of the results from the pilot implementation5
Creating a dissemination and advocacy strategy to
share the toolkit with community sports clubs and
schools Europe-wide and beyond.
6

7. ASC – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 7
BACKGROUND
FURTHER READING AND LINKS
TO RESOURCES
Inactivity rates are rising in Europe and worldwide in both adults and
children. Only one in three adults or children meets the World Health
Organisation’s recommended physical activity levels (WHO, 2015). The
proportion of inactive children is growing despite evidence that physical
inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for premature death and
developing non-communicable diseases (WHO, 2010).
The school setting is fundamental to establishing a healthy culture of
physical activity engagement at a community level. Creating positive
change in a primary school and broader community setting demands
support from a number of actors across sectors and it demands a
holistic approach.
It also requires these actors to take into account the different types
of organisations that can play a role in influencing the school sport
agenda. Given the opportunity to work in school settings, community
sport organisations can pool their networks and resources to create a
larger impact.
Community sport and physical activity organisations and schools
are able to address the decline in physical activity and to provide
an appropriate offer of physical activity, particularly if they work in
partnerships.
Research from the Transfer Center for Neurosciences and Learning,
Ulm, 2017. www.znl-ulm.de
Lundvall, S. Physical literacy in the field of physical education – A
challenge and a possibility, Journal of sport and Health Science,
2015; vol. 4, issue 2: 113-118
UNESCO’s “International Charter of Physical Education, Physical
Activity and Sport”, Declaration of Berlin (adopted by MINEPS V
in 2013) and Kazan Action Plan (adopted by MINEPS VI in 2017).
www.unesco.org
Schäfer Elinder Nelleke Heinemans, L., and all., A participatory and
capacity-building approach to healthy eating and physical activity
– SCIP-school: a 2-year controlled trial, International Journal of
Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2012, 9:145.
Active School Community toolkit
www.activeschoolcommunities.eu/
The Economic Cost of Physical Inactivity in Europe recommendation
(ISCA/Cebr, 2015). http://inactivity-time-bomb.nowwemove.
com/download-report/The%20Economic%20Costs%20
of%20Physical%20Inactivity%20in%20Europe%20
(June%202015).pdf
The World Health
Organisation and the
European Commission
recommend that school
aged young people
should participate in
60 minutes or more of
moderate to vigorous
physical activity
daily, in forms that
are developmentally
appropriate, enjoyable,
and involve a variety of
activities.
By ensuring physical
activity is a positive
experience and one
that can be integrated
into our daily life we
make it a desirable
activity rather than a
burden. By focusing on
children we can make
sure they are set up
for life with positive
behaviour that will
help them in later life.
The Economic Cost of
Physical Inactivity in
Europe recommendation
(ISCA/Cebr, 2015)
“

8. worden.Sievertretenlokale
Modellschulen,Universitä-
ten,diePartnerdieserMo-
dellschulensind,nationale
undinternationaleSportver-
bändefürSportlehrerund
Sportwissenschaft,außer-
demRegierungsstellen,
Wirtschaftsunternehmen
undandereOrganisationen,
diefüreineumfassendeGe-
sundheitsförderungvonKin-
Portugal,Rumänien,Russ-
land,Schweden,Schweiz,
Singapur,Slowakei,Slowe-
nien,Spanien,Südafrika,
Taiwan,Thailand,Tsche-
chischeRepublik,Türkei,
Ukraine,Ungarn,USA,Ve-
nezuela,Weißrusslandund
Zypern.
DasTagungsprogramm
vonGoFPEP2012rücktEr-
gebnisseausaktuellenStu-
Partnerschaftenzwischen
Schulen,Sportvereinenund
denAbteilungenfürSchule,
Gesundheit,Sport,Freizeit
undJugendhilfeindenKom-
munenerreichen.
DasProgrammdesGlo-
balForums2012greiftdiese
Problemstellungenaufund
akzentuiertsolcheThemen-
stellungen:nebenHauptvor-
trägenundArbeitskreisen
sundheitsförderungim
Sportunterricht“und
„Sportlehrerausbildung“be-
handelt.Abschließendwird
ineinemWorkshopdie
Gründungeinesglobalen
NetzwerkesfürdieZusam-
menarbeitallerPartnervor-
bereitet.AlleDelegierten
sindeingeladen,ihreErfah-
rungenundExpertisenaus
TheorieundPraxisindiese
WGI-Newsletter3·Mai2012
Newsletter
Number 3 · May 2012
WILLIBALD GEBHARDT
INSTITUTE
Revitalizing Health & Physical Education Through Community Based Networking
-Newsl. 3 gofpep_Newsl A 3 quer 26.04.12 08:41 Seite 1
r - positive and white
rs logo
MAin color Secondary color