Edu-Skate is a positive youth development (PYD) programme that utilizes skateboarding, group discussion and community activities to empower and provide positive psychology education to underserved children aged 6-16. Main group sessions are also complemented by workshops, contests and field trips with the children.
Edu-Skate utilizes skateboarding (and the life skills embedded in the activity and culture) to promote positive life skills for children aged 6-16. Every week there is a focus on a different life-skill which the skate lesson revolves around. The Edu-Skate curriculum consists of 11 different life-skill:
Edu-skate is based on the Self-Determination Theory, which states that humans have 3 basic psychological needs to satisfy for psychological well-being and personal development: competence, relatedness and autonomy. Not only does the extensive body of research on this theory show its utility in a number of different life-domains (such as education, work and physical activity), but furthermore, research suggests that these basic psychological needs are universal rather than depending on the culture you grow up in. Edu-Skate makes the link between the practice of skateboarding and satisfying these basic psychological needs, as skateboarding serves as a platform to address all three of them: we believe skateboarding’s hallmarks are:
The Edu-skate programme was developed in response to the global phenomenon of children growing up in underserved and disadvantaged circumstances, often leaving them with a scarcity of opportunities to explore and develop their personal potential.
The programme is accessible to anyone between the ages of 6-16 in the communities around our skatparks. We also work together with organisations that serve children with a severe lack of recreational activities like orphanages.
Edu-Skate’s aim is to stimulate positive personal development through fostering life-skills. The programme provides a safe environment for children to socialise, learn and grow as a person. Besides learning how to skateboard, the beneficiaries of the programme are exposed to different practical and psychological tools that help them in their development in life, and in how to relate to others in a positive manner.
Jun 23, 2021 · 2 min read
Our June residency at Stranded FM was broadcasted from the Caribbean shoreline of Bull Bay, Jamaica. Over three months we are working with Concrete Jungle Foundation on an ambitious research project to record the impact of The Freedom Skatepark one year after construction.
May 28, 2021 · 4 min read
A year after they started skateboarding, we caught up with the Energetic Nomads, the first group of graduates from the Edu-Skate Programme at the Freedom Skatepark. They have grown into a close-knit group that spends most of their days together. Get to know the group better through the following group interview.
Oct 2, 2020 · 2 min read
On Friday, March 13th, six and a half months ago, we did our usual closing circle at “La Rampa,” our skate ramp in Cerrito de La Virgen, Huanchaco. This circle is one of our favorite times during an Edu-Skate lesson because both kids and volunteers have the opportunity to share what they learned and how they felt that day ...
Read moreDec 17, 2018 · 3 min read
On December 9th, 2018, the first skatepark of Angola was opened in the capital city of Luanda, marking the end of five weeks of construction. With speeches, skate clinics, competitions,...
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