Life Goals

"Sport has the power to change the world," it is often said. Positive characteristics with social impact are often attributed to sport without using methods, concepts, indicators or evaluations. The Life Goals project - social learning through sport - was developed precisely with this in mind. Life Goals is a sports-based support programme for school classes to strengthen personality as well as social and metacognitive skills. The target group are children and young people from socio-economically disadvantaged communities.

Every second child suffers from symptoms of depression and fear of the future. Teachers lack the tools to prepare children for social challenges and to strengthen their mental and emotional qualities. Potential which would be important for positive future perspectives thus often remain undiscovered.

Life Goals is a sports and skills-based support program. Children and young people discover their potentials in a very easy way, without school assessment. This not only strengthens their personality, but also their self-confidence. Life Goals provides cross-curricular support in sports, social learning, and career guidance.

The project team consists of four coaches, who conduct the competence units in schools. Teachers book the units and several visits are undertaken throughout the school year. The project builds strong relations with the classes and their teachers. Moreover, training is provided to teachers and educators in order to conduct the units by themselves.

In the past year and a half, the project supported more than 900 students, 41,5 % girls. Four out of five participants state that they feel better equipped for life as a result of the units. 86% of teachers evaluate our program with the best school grade possible. In addition, 110 multipliers have been trained by the project to conduct competence units.

A toolkit with 20 competence units was created, including not only exercises but also handouts and questions for reflection. Therefore, all competence units are replicable and can be conducted by all teachers and educators in formal and non-formal educational settings in Austria and beyond.

Photos © Karo Pernegger, Walter Skokanitsch