ITVAS and OpOlJe – these abbreviations stand for two cross-border Interreg projects through which the Department of Adapted Physical Activities (APA) at the Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, is deepening its collaboration with international partners. The aim is to promote physical activity for people with special needs, not only in school environment.
In the project Inclusive Physical and Sports Education as a Prerequisite for a Healthy Society (ITVAS), APA experts from Olomouc are joining forces with the Slovak Paralympic Committee.
“The project is based on the belief that physical education has the potential to be one of the most inclusive and transformational settings in schools, where every child has the right to experience movement, belonging, and the joy of shared activity. Our goal is to ensure that every child – regardless of their abilities – can participate meaningfully and enjoy the benefits of movement,” said project leader and head of the APA department, Martin Kudláček.
To help achieve this goal, the project includes the creation of an educational programme designed to broaden teachers’ knowledge and competencies in inclusive education – from adapting the system of teaching to collaborating with families and communities. The combination of Czech and Slovak experiences and examples of good practice will also be reflected in methodological materials and training sessions focused on inclusive PE and school sports programmes. A support network is also being established for all those who wish to teach differently and better.
The project also includes Paralympic School Days, which offer hands-on experiences with parasports directly in schools. During these awareness events, pupils and their teachers can try out activities such as wheelchair sports, mobility with visual impairments, and other activities that offer insight into the world of people with disabilities.
The Inclusive Physical and Sports Education as a Prerequisite for a Healthy Society (ITVAS) project is carried out within the framework of the Interreg Slovakia–Czech Republic programme. More information is available on the project’s website here.
The second cross-border project in which the APA department is involved is called OpOlJe – The Three Rods of Svatopluk to Support Applied Physical Activities in the Praděd Euroregion. The name hints at the three cities and educational institutions participating in the project: Opole University of Technology (Poland), Palacký University Olomouc, and the Secondary Technical School Jeseník (Czech Republic).
“The goal is to establish institutional cooperation and share know-how and best practices in the field of APA among staff from these institutions, who will then carry these approaches into the broader community as part of the so-called third mission of schools. The first meeting of the project took place in June at our faculty. About twenty staff members – both teaching and non-teaching – from Jeseník and Opole learned about our department’s activities and visited selected facilities of the faculty. We also discussed the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in physical education and gave participants a chance to try some psychomotor activities and even adapted cycling,” explained Ladislav Baloun from the APA department.
Further project meetings will take place in the autumn in Jeseník and later in Opole. The Three Rods of Svatopluk for the Support of Applied Physical Activities in the Praděd Euroregion (OpOlJe) project is supported by the Praděd Euroregion Small Projects Fund under the Interreg Czech Republic–Poland programme.
Starting in September, the APA department will also be involved in the international project Collaborative Online and Onsite Learning in Applied Physical Activity (COOL-APA), which aims to transform teaching in the field of applied physical activities across Europe. You can read more about the project here.
