KICK OUT RACISM

Lukasz Fabianski shows his support for the KROSSS campaign

Arsenal KROSSS out Racism in new initiative

Arsenal in the Community has launched a three-year initiative called KROSSS (Kick Racism Out Of School, Sport and Society) which is a Comenius funded project within the framework of the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme.

It is a collaboration that brings Arsenal in the Community together with teacher training organisations, sports clubs and other specialist agencies across Europe to develop knowledge, resources and training opportunities to enable teachers to harness the power of sport to address racism, inequalities in education and intercultural learning. The project will review best practices and the achievements of sport and education providers in this field.

Arsenal has been at the heart of a multi-cultural local community in Islington for several decades and Arsenal in the Community has led the way in recent years with pioneering education initiatives such as World on our Doorstep which draws parallels between Arsenal Football Club and the multicultural north London area in which the Club is rooted.  Arsenal For Everyone is another Club initiative which aims to embrace diversity and equality at the Club and both have contributed to Arsenal's recent award of the Intermediate Level of Kick It Out's Racial Equality Standard.

Most countries of Europe have seen increasing levels of migration and demographic changes in recent years and many of Arsenal's locally-based initiatives have sought to help school children understand the reasons for these changes in London. The last decade or so has combined a long standing local heritage and local community-focus with the development of an international playing staff and brand that is a visible celebration of local and global diversity. The most recent World on our Doorstep project helped local schoolchildren to consider immigration and the adjustments that both migrating and receiving communities need to make in order to adapt to each other; something that many Arsenal players have to do also.

One of the project partners is a Norwegian football club, SK Vard from Haugesund, who also have a well established track record of work in this field. SK Vard also believe that the issues of inclusion and discrimination cannot be dealt with by authorities alone but must involve schools, organisations and individuals that are important in the lives of young people.  "Sports for Everyone'' is the slogan that drives the SK Vard model, which  combines sport with other activities in the local community in order to be a catalyst for creating a safe, pleasant and diverse local society.

English football has a good track record in tackling racism and we hope a result of this project will be to engage football clubs and organisations across Spain, Norway, Denmark and right across Europe. Many sports organisations have become involved in initiatives such as Kick It Out, Show Racism the Red Card and FARE and these have contributed to the development of many examples of good practice in combating racism though collaborative approaches between education and sports organisations across various member states, but despite the good work that is underway, there is currently no mechanism for sharing and promoting it in a systematic way across the education and sports sectors. There is also a lack of systematic research and analysis to link learning processes with sports philosophies and principles to address social problems. The KROSSS project will seek to address these gaps.

The KROSSS project will result in:

  • A research publication
  • A teacher training course at Emirates Stadium (April 2010. Teachers can apply to their national agencies for funding)
  • KROSSS education resources for teachers based on Arsenal in the Community's own projects

KROSSS will also organise a European conference on ‘Equality in Sport, Schools and Society: Collaborating to Combat Racism and Xenophobia in Europe through sport and education'.

The conference hopes to influence education practitioners and policy makers and will be of particular interest to educationalists, students, researchers, people involved in sports, and anyone involved in voluntary work in the frontline of educational and social change. It will include sports based activities and will present findings from both the in-service course and youth focused work.  The conference will take place in Haugesund in Norway in May 2010.

The other KROSSS partners PPS Karmøy (Educational Advisory Service, Department of Education and Culture for the Municipality of Karmøy, Norway), The Change Institute (A specialist consultancy in the field of race, faith, diversity and identity in the U.K.), PCA Albertslund (A regional Teachers Learning and Resource Centre for the municipality of Albertslund, Denmark) and CECE (A not-for-profit employers´ and professional organization representing the whole educational sector in Spain)

For more information please visit the KROSSS website http://www.karmoyped.no/krosss/ or contact Samir Singh of Arsenal in the Community: ssingh@arsenal.co.uk.

[Friday, September 25, 2009]

Print this page Email to a friend
Gunners Gift Guide: Find the perfect gift this Christmas

Bookmark with…

Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

© Arsenal Broadband Limited 2009 - Terms of Use & Privacy Policy - Website accessibility statement - Site powered by NTT Europe Online | Rippleffect