Olympic Values and Education: an Integrated Strategy for Global Education Reform
Keywords:
Olympic values, digital education, formal education, international diplomas, well-beingAbstract
Education today stands at a critical crossroads. The ongoing digital transformation opens new horizons, yet without a shared value orientation, it risks losing its human core. This study examines the integration of Olympic Values into secondary education worldwide, positioning them as a bridge connecting students and schools across nations and highlighting the potential role of Greece as the birthplace of the ideals that give purpose to technology, meaning to learning, and ethics to progress. By analyzing educational models from countries such as Singapore, the United States, Estonia, Poland, and South Africa, the study demonstrates that the values of excellence, respect, and friendship can serve as anchors of cross-cultural understanding and collaboration. Drawing on four decades of educational psychology research (Deci & Ryan, Dweck, Duckworth, Bandura, Goleman), this underscores that programs that embed values into the learning process accelerate individual well-being and foster global understanding. Furthermore, the proposed Value-Driven Digital Education Framework (VDDEF) has the potential to reduce social inequalities, strengthen international cooperation, and reposition Greece as a global center for value-based education.
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