The ActiveGames4Change (AG4C) project designed and developed a mobile application to support games and physical activity that promote pro-social key competencies. The objective is to contribute to the education, social inclusion, and employability of young offenders across Europe.
Several European institutions recognize the potential of physical education and games as a tool to teach citizenship, emotional and social competencies. These skills need to be developed in the rehabilitation of young people in the Criminal Justice System to support their inclusion, education and future employability.
However, traditional education training is often not the best method to reach these individuals, especially when a substantial number of them is shown to have a very low literacy level or learning disabilities. The project programme employs activities such as cooperative gaming and team building activities as a means of non-formal learning.
A mobile app was designed and developed with game instructions, ongoing games information and allowing the recording and displaying of individual and team scores for a predefined evaluation grid.
The app is available in English and all the project partners’ languages: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Turkish, and Hungarian.
This mobile app will support the monitor during the outdoor activities by displaying the activity programme and keeping track of the overall programme. This is possible because the app records the progress of individual members and teams.
With data protection and security concerns in mind, the app complies with the GDPR and communication restrictions. It only downloads and uploads data when it is connected to a protected environment. When outside the protected environment, the app locks the communication resources of the hardware platform, be it a tablet, a mobile phone or a computer.
Despite its development aimed at juvenile justice settings, both the app and the teaching methodology can be used in other contexts with young people. Physical education teachers or other professionals such as social workers or monitors involved in youth protection or education can take advantage of this app to support youngsters in developing their social and emotional skills. The AG4C app is available for Android and iOS.
The ActiveGames4Change project is promoted by the University of Gloucestershire (United Kingdom) in partnership with IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Portugal), BSAFE LAB – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Research and Technology Transfer Lab of Beira Interior University (Portugal), Aproximar (Portugal), CESIE – European Studies and Initiatives Center (Italy), CPIP – Center for the Promotion of Lifelong Learning (Romania), BAGázs– Bagazs Kozhasznu Association (Hungary), Diagrama Foundation (Spain), the Turkish Ministry of Justice, and Craiova Juvenile and Youth Penitentiary (Romania). The project is funded by Erasmus+ and
KA3 – Support for policy reform – Social inclusion through education, training and youth.
For more information visit the ActiveGames4Change website.