Dreams + Teams works for both the individual Young Leaders and the schools / policy makers as well

For Young Leaders Dreams + Teams address three main areas:

			Leadership and personal development
			Citizenship
			Cross Cultural Understanding

How Dreams + Teams works for educationalists and policy makers

1. Leadership and personal development
Young people need recognition. They need to be stretched and challenged. Dreams + Teams provides structured leadership opportunities to meet these needs.

			Young Leaders are trained to lead other people.
			They take diverse needs of the group into account.
			They consider the impact that their behaviour has on others.
			They practise how to deal with volunteers, parents and the media.
			As they progress, they learn how to train and support other Young Leaders.

2. Citizenship
Communities need active young citizens and positive young role models. Young people need opportunities to use their energy to help their communities.

Through Dreams + Teams, young people learn about citizenship through the practical experience of dealing with real issues as they organise a sport festivals and events and work on joint projects with their partner schools. Young Leaders resolve issues, such as:

			Should disabled people be part of the festival and if yes, how?
			Do the rules of the games need to be changed to permit this?
			Should points be awarded for goals scored only, or should other factors (e.g. fair play) be taken into account when awarding points, and how?
			What are the major health issues affecting the lives of people in each country and what can they do to make their school healthier?

3. Cross-cultural understanding
Now, more than ever, we all need to understand and respect each other's cultures. The best way of understanding other people is to work together on a shared project.  Dreams + Teams gives young people this opportunity. Again, young people gain cross-cultural understanding through real contact with pupils and teachers from their link schools. Some examples of joint projects include:

			Exchanging culture boxes. Schools send each other parcels containing things that say something about their culture. This can then be discussed further by email, video-conferencing or letter writing.
			Teaching each other indigenous games and sports.
			Language audits of the schools. How many languages are spoken in the schools? How many students speak more than one language?
			Sharing information on local community problems and strategies of what could be done to improve them.
			Exchange of maps or community transects.
			Celebrating each others festivals and religious events and discussing why they are significant.
			Organising joint sport festivals with an international dimension to them. For example teams in the festival might take on the identity of another country, and study that country in the run-up to the festival.

For Educationalist and Policy Makers Dreams + Teams can:

			Bring together sports and education professionals
			facilitate international networking and knowledge sharing among government and non-government agencies who want to use sport to help young people develop
			network Headteachers, Teachers and wider school communities across the globe. Allowing for staff development and the sharing of best practice in all aspects of school management

In 2005 there was an external review of Dreams + teams carried out which looked at how satisfied young people and their teachers were with the opportunities for self development provided by the programme. Key findings included:

			94% of Young Leaders and 87% of teachers believe D+T has been effective as a cultural tool.
			86% of Young Leaders and 90% of teachers say their understanding of other cultures has broadened as a result of their interaction with D+T.
			90% of overseas teachers and 82% of UK teachers believe D+T has been effective in partnering positive social change between their country and the overseas country.
			96% of Young Leaders, 98% of overseas teachers and 77% of UK teachers are satisfied with the opportunities for self-development offered by D+T.
			The research concludes that D+T is a 'highly effective and innovative programme', it 'enables the British Council to reach many more young people through sport than it would through traditional approaches' and that it ' contributes directly and effectively to the British Council's strategy'