Games from around the world: Promoting intercultural competence through sport education in secondary school students

Abstract Intercultural competence (IC) is a key competence in individuals’ life. Educational programs carried out to date have been motivated by the presence of culturally diverse students. This situation calls for programs to be implemented in low cultural diversity contexts, considering its repercussion on all students. This study aimed to explore the impact of a Sport Education Model (SEM)-based program about games from around the world on seventh-grade students’ intercultural competence and friendship goals. A quasi-experimental control group design (pre-test, post-test, and retention test measures) was carried out. The experimental group (EG) followed a SEM-based program (18 sessions) about games from around the world, whilst the control group (CG) was not exposed to any specific treatment, continuing with its ordinary syllabus. Data were collected from questionnaires, interviews and field notes. EG obtained significant improvements on reward, help, intercultural understanding and friendship-approach goals; whereas CG had significant diminishment on both intercultural sensitivity and understanding, as well as on friendship goals. Qualitative results conveyed: (a) an approach to new cultural realities; (b) how the teaching content led to cultural reflection; (c) how students created new relationships; (d) greater collaborative relationships; (e) how the model helped to mitigate negative behaviours; and (f) how the intervention provided students with greater opportunities for participation. Games from around the world are shown to be a suitable content for developing IC, suggesting the need for expanding evidence about possible effects of new teaching contents when conjugated with SEM.