{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.028958944281524925, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0186950146627566, 'mean_word_length': 5.346511627906977, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 1, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Teaching human rights through Olympic Education in the Intercultural Lyceum of Athens: a case study

Working in an Intercultural School is one of the most inspiring, motivating challenges an educator can be given in any given society, but that was especially true for Greece at the beginning of the last decade since it was only in 1996 that the term Intercultural Education was introduced. Nowadays, if someone wants to find more about Intercultural schools, the term that can be found in the official site of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs Culture and Sports is ‘cross-cultural’ schools (http://www.minedu.gov.gr/english-main/155-education/2953-cross-culturaleducation.html). The changed terminology and its implications and insinuations are beyond the purpose of this article, but it is nevertheless noteworthy. Partly due to chance and partly due to personal and professional curiosity I sought to find ways to implement in the most effective way the project ‘Olympic Education’, which preceded the Athens 2004 Olympics in one of the four Intercultural senior high schools (Lyceums) in Elliniko, Athens. A total of 26 Intercultural schools have been set up throughout Greece since 1996: 13 are primary, nine are junior high schools, and four are senior high schools (Lyceums). Olympic Education was an innovative physical education program which was implemented in all Greek schools from 2000 to 2005, and was then replaced by ‘Kallipateira’ until 2008. Within the framework of these programs, seven major thematic categories were taught by physical education teachers: Ancient Olympic Games, Modern Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Athens 2004-Greece 2004, Less popular Sports and Ethical, Social Issues (Manual for Olympic Education; From theory to practice, Athens 2001). The later included, among other things, issues like human rights, diversity and multiculturalism, and social solidarity. Due to circumstances and the ethno cultural diversity of the student population of the Intercultural Lyceum, I had been assigned to implement the program. I mostly concentrated on this last topic. The program of Olympic Education was characterized by modern educational approaches and allowed for new methodologies to be used. Integrated curriculum (motor, theoretical, and cultural activities) and learning through projects were integral components of the educational procedure where students were at the center of the educational process (Grammatikopoulos et al. 2004). Taking advantage of this opportunity, I started studying Human Rights Education manuals (the concept did not yet exist in Greek Educational practices), trying to improve and adapt the techniques and activities that we were given during our