WMS Teachers react positively to Olympic Education

Nicholas Chan speaking to the teachers.

GAMBANG: A total of 137 teachers from six Wesley Methodist Schools (Five secondary and one primary school) were introduced to Olympism and Olympic Education.

The teachers, who gathered in Bukit Gambang Resort City for the annual Wesley Methodist School Teachers’ Conference organized by the Methodist Education Council, were receptive to the information presented to them by the Pierre de Coubertin Society of Malaysia (PCSM) entitled “Olympism and Character Building”.

The three hour session on March 12th was divided into two parts; the first part was the introduction to Olympism and the second part, a group discussion using the Open Space Technology on how to implement Olympic Education in their schools.

Group Discussions triggered by the Open Space Technology Method.

For the first part, the teachers watched videos and were informed about the founder, principles and values of Olympism by speaker, Nicholas Chan who is also the Vice-President of PCSM. After imparting them with the basic grounds of Olympism, the teachers were then triggered to initiate a group discussion using the Open Space Technology method. Topics like “Religion and Olympism”, “Physical Education and Olympism” and “ICT and Olympism” were sparked and the teachers brainstormed on how to get the message of Olympism through to their students. Each group subsequently presented the outcome of their discussion.

Teachers presenting the outcome of their discussions.

At the end of the session, a survey was distributed and one of the questions asked was “Do you think that Olympism can be integrated into the school syllabus?”. 97% of the teachers answered “Yes”. When asked how would they describe the relevance of Olympism in a child’s upbringing, Cik Nur Natasha Bt Muhamad Rani, a Mathematics teacher from the Wesley Methodist School in Seremban wrote “It teaches the child to recognize the values of life through sports.” while Mr. Au Yong San from the Wesley Methodist School in Melaka who teaches Geography and Art commented, “It would inculcate the spirit of perseverance, tolerance, patience, competitiveness, cooperation and comradeship.”.

This was the first time that PCSM was approaching teachers about Olympism and it proved to be a success as the teachers found Olympic Education to be relevant in the promotion of a balanced and holistic development of a child.

Out of the six schools that participated, two principals have already expressed their interest to organize an Olympism Outreach Program in their schools.

The PCSM team with Mr. Khor Hong Yin, Executive Director of theMethodist Education Council.

(From left: Senathiraj Thevaratnam, Nicholas Chan, Mr. Khor Hong Yin, Tay Li Neo, Wan Norfariani)