The article emphasizes the need of Olympic education as the program related to health, environment, intercultural awareness and young people’s social behaviour in school curriculum. More widely, a demand is to link the school to the local community and its institutions by emphasizing the humanistic and ethical dimensions of Olympism. Concrete programs of Olympic education that were created by separate Olympic Games Organizing Committees are being represented in this article. These programs go with their aims such as initiating a strong volunteering movement that would cover all the facets of young people social life, promoting Olympic ideal, encouraging to explore other cultures, etc. The great part of this paper represents a survey that reveals problems of implementation of Olympic education programs within the Olympic Movement and stages proposals for solving them. The results of research proved that Olympic education is accepted as necessary in most countries that implemented such programs. Olympic education programs are growing into an important activity with a strong impact on a range of permanent aspects of global education. The school should draw upon this wealth of knowledge, experience and representations that students of all ages bring from their life, their family, the environment in which they live, which should be combined with those included in the curriculum. Although Olympic education programs contribute to changes that improve school’s efficiency, many of these programs cannot be integrated into educational system. This is due to a series of problems arising during their implementation in the educational process. Finding ways of integrating the innovations offered by Olympic education programs in education will require mobilization and allowance their inclusion in school system of each country. If this is not guaranteed, then Olympic education programs will be implemented outside the framework of national educational institutions, on a limited scale and remain without proper recognition on the sidelines of the curriculum.

Olympism is a set of principles, ideas, visions and challenges. Coubertin described it in not completely systematic terms as a philosophy of life with the principles of a cult of effort, eurhythmics and a love of exercise, but also as a state of mind (Naul, 2009). Consequently, as far back as the end of the 19th century, in his philosophical, psychological and educational musings, Coubertin already understood that sport and exercise were becoming important actors in culture as well as a means of educating and communicating across of different civilisations. Besides the original ideas of Pierre de Coubertin, Olympism is enriched by other ideas and objectives in the Olympic Charter. These comprise reflections on the development of the Olympic Movement, sport and culture as well as their mutual relationships (Georgiadis, 2003). Nonetheless, they also include reflections on applying the results of academic research. Two different approaches have been pursued in incorporating Olympism into curricula at Czech universities for training experts in physical education and sports. At other universities and faculties, the implementation of Olympism is not yet systematic, and is influenced by specialists operating in the fields of philosophy, sociology, ethics, aesthetics, etc. In cooperation with NOAs and OSCs, universities should focus part of their research and educational capacities on current issues concerning the Olympic Movement. Olympism, the principles, values, and relationship of Olympism to sport and culture should be an integral part of professional training for future teachers, coaches, managers, etc. The results of research activities in Olympism should be subsequently a predicate of education programmes and systematically developed in university concepts of Olympic education programmes. They may be applied as a separate educational subject or as a set of selected Olympic themes included in the content of education for social science and sports subjects. Cooperation between Olympic institutions and universities is beneficial not only for the development of a deeper and more comprehensive interpretation of Olympism in historical and contemporary reflections, but also for the development of sports and social sciences as well as for sport itself and its relationship with culture. Today, without the ideas and principles of Olympism, it is not possible to assess sport in its complex and rapid development or to assess the evolution of society in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The importance of Olympic Education had grown consistently since the concept was first mentioned in International Olympic Academy’s session in 1970s. What is more, the establishment and development of National Olympic Academies is still growing worldwide. Lithuanian National Olympic Academy as one of the leaders among the 143 National Olympic Academies, in twenty years of existence has reached a lot of goals, yet more are to be reached in the future. The aim of the work was to analyze the system of Olympic Education in Lithuania by presenting its background, current situation and potential development. Lithuania can be characterized as an active member of the Olympic Movement. Since the establishment of the National Olympic Committee in 1924 and re-establishment in 1988, Lithuanian athletes have proudly represented the country in International sport events, NOC has been working to ensure best conditions for athletes, also cooperated with NOA towards organization of conferences, seminars and lectures in order to ensure the overall development and spread of Olympism and Olympic Movement in the country. Olympic Education program for formal education institutions was created in the year 2000 and is one of the successful projects that are being implemented in Lithuania. 82 schools are voluntarily participating in Children and Youth Olympic Education project. The existence of the project was extended until 2015 by the organizing institutions. Formal education institutions actively involve themselves into Olympic Education and care to spread Olympic ideals to the pupils. In the future number of schools involved should grow up to 200 and sport schools, summer training camps could become a part of the project. As a part of project management theory internal evaluation is implemented by schools, external evaluation should be established for further improvements.

Background: the Olympic movement associates the range of values. Some of them have a real impact; others remain at the level of desirable. Objective of this study was to find out how 12-19 year-old Czech young people (1274 boys and 1090 girls) know the main facts of the Olympic movement and distinguish between values which have real impact and those that remain rather as desire. The second aim was comparison in knowledge of Olympic facts and between values of the identical surveys carried out in the years 1998 and 2008. Methods: the “Olympic questionnaire” has been used for the assessment of the knowledge of Olympic facts and Olympic ideals. The frequency of the respondents´ participation in sport was measured by means of the COMPASS methodology. Results confirmed the hypothesis about the positive impact of participation in sport on the knowledge of the Olympic facts of the respondents. Conformity in the assessment of the most desirable and real Olympic ideals was found in values associated with sport performance: physical fitness, competition, sportsmanship, etc. The real impact of some ethical Olympic values like honour, cultural understanding, broadmindedness, nobility, modesty etc., was assessed as less significant. Conclusions: participation in sports positively affects level of knowledge about the facts of the Olympic Movement. The order in which young people evaluate Olympic values (their desirability and reality) did not change over the period of 1998 – 2008.

Straipsnyje pateikiama 2011 m. Meino universitete (JAV) parengta autorės daktaro disertacijos santrauka, kurioje istoriniu kritiniu aspektu nagrinėjamas olimpinio ugdymo programų įgyvendinimas mokyklose ir pateikiama šių programų analizė. Minėtas programas rengė šalys, kuriose vyko olimpinės žaidynės, nacionalinės olimpinės akademijos, tarptautinės institucijos, taip pat buvo įgyvendinama Tarptautinio Pjero de Kuberteno komiteto (International Pierre de Coubertin Committee, CIPC) ilgalaikė tarptautiniam Kuberteno mokyklų tinklui parengta programa. [...]

Straipsnyje pateikiami olimpizmo filosofijos integravimo į bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų bendrąsias programas ypatumai, atkreipiant dėmesį į su šia integracija susijusius iššūkius. Korupcija, sportininkų išnaudojimas, pergalės bet kokia kaina siekis kartais kelia abejonių dėl olimpinių principų prasmės ir prieštarauja olimpinėms vertybėms. Pjero de Kuberteno (Pierre de Coubertin) siekis olimpinių žaidynių sporto varžybomis ugdyti pasaulio žmones taikia ir kilnia dvasia priartino olimpizmo filosofiją prie graikiškosios kalokagatijos sampratos, tačiau vėlesniuose mokslininkų pateikiamuose olimpizmo apibūdinimuose pastebima skirtumų. Mokslinėje literatūroje ir parengtose olimpinio ugdymo programose dažniausiai minimos trys pagrindinės olimpizmo idėjos: kilnumas, lygios galimybės ir etiškas elgesys. Straipsnyje pateikiamos trumpos kilnumo sąvokos interpretacijos. Lygios galimybės aptariamos kaip atskiras diskusijų objektas, nes olimpinės žaidynės yra terpė, kurioje kiekvienam asmeniui suteikiamos vienodos galimybės siekti tikslų. Tačiau lygių galimybių principas pažeidžiamas, kai sportininkai negali rengtis arba dalyvauti žaidynėse dėl lėšų, bazių, inventoriaus ir kitų materialių dalykų stygiaus. Todėl, užuot apibendrintai filosofavus apie tai, kaip olimpinės žaidynės turi galią pakeisti žmoniją į gerąją pusę ir skatinti lygybę, siūloma inicijuoti nelygybės, diskriminacijos sampratos aptarimo diskusijas ir taip pateikti aiškesnį lygių galimybių vaizdą. Trečioji idėja skelbia etiško elgesio skatinimą per olimpinį sportą. Tyrimais pagrįstos prielaidos apie tai, kad sportas yra palanki terpė ugdytis pagarbą taisyklėms, savikontrolei ir kitoms teigiamoms asmenybės savybėms. Nurodomos etiško elgesio sporte sąsajos su žmogaus teisėmis. Deja, vis dar yra mažai rekomendacijų, kaip tinkamai įgyvendinti visas šias idėjas per ugdymo programas. Tam, kad būtų galima diskutuoti olimpizmo klausimais, reikia atskirti vertybes nuo idealų. Straipsnyje išskiriami trys vertybių tipai, siekiant parodyti skirtumą tarp asmens suvoktų, turimų vertybių ir tų, kurioms jis tik pritaria arba sutinka priimti. Daugumoje esančių olimpinio ugdymo programų vertybės pateikiamos kaip idealų sinonimai, o tai sumažina šių sudėtingų sąvokų esmę. Olimpinio ugdymo programas jau yra parengę kai kurių šalių nacionaliniai olimpiniai komitetai ir olimpinės akademijos, tačiau šiose programose pasigendama kilnumo, lygių galimybių ir etikos problemų nagrinėjimo. Nors šios temos sudėtingos, be jų negalima iki galo atskleisti olimpizmo esmės ir prasmės. Olimpizmo filosofija grindžiamos programos galėtų būti realistiškesnės, o jomis turėtų būti padedama suvokti sudėtingus istorinius ir socialinius procesus, susijusius su olimpinių idealų siekimu. Toliau mokiniams būtų naudinga aiškinti apie pokyčius, kurie įvyko siekiant mažinti praeities neteisingumo apraiškas, taip pat skatinti mokinius kritiškai mąstyti apie ateityje spręstinas problemas. Tokios diskusijos galėtų būti realių olimpinio ugdymo programų pagrindu.

It was found that Lithuanian students tend to assign those values to Olympism that are connected with human values and social virtues. The least important values are connected with personal development. So firstly, students associate Olympism mostly with honesty, then they relate it as a way of respect, cultural awareness, optimism, strength of the will, generosity, tolerance towards other nations, etc. Such results are determined by opinion about the Olympic Games itself. When analysing research results, it has emerged that social values, bonded with Olympism, are important for the students. They find it very important: the sense of community, heartiness, goodness, better world, gentlemanly behaviour, body and mind harmony, etc. As the least connected thing with the Olympic Games was named personal development, artifullness, career, collaboration, etc. It was found that the students, who have had Olympism classes at university, better understood the Olympic values and regulations. Olympism programs are held for schoolchildren but not for students in Lithuania. There is no system that would involve the Olympic Movement. The students shall experience Olympism through learning, Olympic education, sport competitions and also through the sense of the beauty of sport, alternation, depth of emotions and feelings, bless and underlying of strength of values. Students, as young people, are full of enthusiasm, energy, drive for improvement and learning. They admire the Olympians and Olympic heroes and their deeds. Thus, this shall be used to open the system of the Olympism values.

We think that it is very important to find out, whether there are programmes on Olympism at universities and how we can spread Olympic ideas among students. First of all, we examined the literature sources. Scientific literature analysis led to easier understanding of the importance of moral values, Olympism and Olympic education as well as enabled to reveal the peculiarities of moral values and absorb how sport activity influences moral attitudes and culture. The aim of the study was to investigate and identify Lithuanian students’ attitudes towards noble and honourable sport contest and the values that are developed in sports. We have interviewed 218 students from 16 higher education schools of Lithuania for the research. The research group was chosen randomly as the questionnaire was distributed in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, and Šiauliai higher education schools. The main part is devoted to investigate students’ attitudes towards noble and honourable sport struggle, comparing those attitudes of the ones’, involved in physical activity and having Olympic event or lectures about Olympism values and norms, with other universities students’ presented data. After receiving the results, we can make a comparison of students’ opinions on honourable and noble sport fight. In this research, quantitative and qualitative analyses have been accomplished. For the statistical procedures, there was the SPSS 15 for Windows via the setting used. For the analysis of quantitative research data, various statistical analysis methods were employed as well. Inside compatibility of questionnaire scales was determined by counting the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Students’ attitudes towards the values of Olympic structure were estimated using the essential components of extraction and Varimax factor rotation method. Differences were considered statistically reliable at the maximum of 5% of the error (p < 0.05). [...].