Sport and physical education are important tools to raise future generations in the spirit of the core values promoted by the Council of Europe such as democracy, human rights and respect for rules.


Participation per se in physical education and sport does not necessarily facilitate an ethical development in children and youth. Physical educators and sport coaches need to organize young  people’s experiences  of  games  and  activities  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the ethical  dimensions  of sport  explicit.  In co-operation with the Council of Europe’s Pestalozzi programme 20 training resources were developed to promote the Council of Europe values in sport and physical education.

As a follow-up to these training resources, EPAS organised its annual conference in 2015 on the subject of “Tolerance and Diversity through Physical Education and Sport”, which was held in Bled, Slovenia, on  19-20 November 2015

In 2016, EPAS commissioned the drafting of a good practice handbook on inclusive and innovative approaches to physical education, which will summarise the work done following the Pestalozzi training units and give recommendations on how teaching physical education can help transfer skills learned to everyday life, as part of civic activities that can lead to social change. The handbook was published mid-2018.

Link to the 20 training resources produced by the Pestalozzi Programme.