Scoring with Education: Football as Catalyst for Learning Processes | HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht

Our innovation uses football as a tool for collaborative learning. In small tournaments, students, lecturers, people with mental health challenges or intellectual disabilities, and social workers work together. This creates opportunities for social interaction, meaningful encounters, and reflection. Football provides an accessible and motivating learning environment that brings people together.

The project aims to increase student and lecturer engagement in education through football, enhance learning, and create sustainable connections between students, lecturers, and people with intellectual disabilities both within and beyond the educational programme. In addition, the project seeks to generate insight into the learning outcomes and experiences of participating students.

1. Increased student and lecturer engagement.
2. Stronger connections between education, professional practice, and the target group.
3. Enhanced students’ social, communication, and reflective competencies.
4. Demonstrable achievement of learning outcomes through experiential learning.
5. Up-to-date practical expertise and professional development of lecturers.
6. A transferable and scalable educational concept, including a handbook, implementation guide, and video materials.

Key Project Outputs
- Educational Material
Four football events, a digital interactive guide, a transferable implementation handbook, four inspirational videos, two instructional videos, an infographic, and an article presenting the educational innovation and students’ learning outcomes

Students, lecturers, social workers, and people with intellectual disabilities participate in football tournaments that provide opportunities for experiential learning, collaboration, and reflection. Learning outcomes are examined through thematic analysis of student reflections and in-depth interviews with participating students.

This project connects education and professional practice by structurally using football as a learning environment in which students, lecturers, social workers, and people with intellectual disabilities collaborate as equals. The approach enhances engagement, experiential learning, and professional development. At the same time, it generates insights into learning outcomes and produces transferable resources that can also be applied in other human-centred educational programmes and practice settings.

’s Heerenloo & De Voetbalwerkplaats Wageningen