From Bertie Everard
The highlight of this meeting was a talk by Professor Richard Bailey, Expert Adviser for PE and Sport to UNESCO, and Director of the DCSF National Talent Development Project for PE. Some of what he said reinforces the outlook of the Outdoor Sector, with research information from a new angle.
Talent Identification and Development Some £2bn pa of public funding is allocated to the identification of sporting talent. Most is wasted. The only worthwhile approach would be a return to the ‘Sport for All’ philosophy, which preceded ‘Raising the Game’. The current UK approach is ineffective at identifying the small number of people whose talent is worth developing to Olympic standards. Once such a person is identified (eg by chance) and enters into the talent development system, this country is as good as any at developing it.
The best talent spotters are the Chinese, with their Children’s Palaces, where every child can go and take part in a huge variety of pastimes, of their own choice.
The current UK approach to talent identification is unjustified scientifically, sociologically, psychologically and economically. It rests on the false hypothesis that children are mini-adults. Only 10-20% of children and young people(CYP) regularly attend sports clubs (where most of the talent identification occurs), and they are mostly the children of middle-class parents who can afford to drive them to the club; the bulk of talented CYP do not, including most CYP whose parents are not well-to-do, and those who are not interested in team sports, despite having latent talent.
After-school clubs may well look after some talented CYP, but those who run them are not trained to spot talent. Neither are teachers so trained: there is nothing in the teacher, play worker or youth worker training syllabus that covers this skill. 95% of schools rely solely on team games as the setting in which sporting talent can be spotted. Few consider any other settings (such as outdoor pursuits), but these may be more conducive to accurate talent-spotting. The YHA and the YMCA, for example, provide contexts in which sporting talent can be spotted.
The system is particularly bad at spotting talent in girls. Girls from certain religious minorities are least likely to be spotted.
Because practically all CYP attend, the school is the obvious setting in which to spot talent and develop it. It is therefore important that schools work more closely with sports clubs, where it is more likely that talent will be spotted. Effective transitions from primary to secondary schools are vital. There is no reliable relationship between the physical size of primary school children and sporting talent. This is because of the huge, variable and unpredictable changes that take place during puberty. Psychological data discernible in primary schools provides a better predictor: a child who appears to be ’driven’ is much more likely to excel in the future than a ’sporty-looking type’ who is not.
Talent-spotting becomes easier after puberty; indeed, the later, the better for accurate identification. The Australians have learnt this. Moreover, there are multiple pathways to the identification and development of talent. Talent may emerge along several different paths. In answer to a question I put, based on the YHA Do It 4 Real experience of spotting talent totally unrecognised by schools or parents, Professor Bailey agreed that an outdoor setting such as a Summer Camp would be a good one for talent-spotting.
CYP who love recreational sport may not wish to move on to competitive sport, and those who enjoy competitive sport may have no wish to go in for elitist sport, even though they may have the talent to do well in it. Current performance at lower levels is a poor predictor of future performance at higher levels. What needs to be done is to identify the obstructions and barriers to talent development. Not providing a young person with a tennis racket is the most frequent barrier to success in tennis; other barriers are gender, ethnicity, relative age, attitudes, value systems, peer groups and being in the wrong social group. If the latter is the barrier, those wishing to see the child’s talent develop should generate new friendship groups for them.
A good predictor of identified talent is where CYP are in their age group; the older they are, the more likely they are to be spotted as gifted. The younger they are, the more likely they are to be diagnosed as having special educational needs.
So a good strategy is to keep all games players playing, irrespective of whether they show promise or not; talent can begin to emerge at any age, even in adulthood. Hence the importance of the ‘sport for all’ philosophy. In discussion, Pat Smith, representing school sport, said that each sport is blinkered to its own development, because funding is given to develop talent, not to spot it. Some sports (eg football) discourage talented players from following any other sport (such as cricket); this is deplorable. Schools are very good at bringing up children to hate sport, because of the way in which PE lessons are run (eg public changing rooms). Professor Bailey replied that ‘conversions’ (‘this is what I want to do for the rest of my life’) occur at random; children just stumble into such commitment [interestingly, I have just been lent a book which argues that commitment to the Christian faith usually happens like this too]. We should create conditions conducive to CYP opting in of their own accord; never ‘opt them in’.
The LTA representative said that they want to treble the number of people who play tennis as a pastime. To do this, they are not pushing competitive tennis. Competition is not an end in itself. However, if players want to compete, facilities should be available, so that people can opt into using them. If they do so, they will develop their talent.
Commentary. These findings, based on investigation and research, can be used as further argument for promoting outdoor residentials, for such a setting is likely to be conducive to the emergence of talent which has never been spotted before.
Other Agenda Items
Charitable Status of Registered Charities that Charge Fees for their Services. The process for establishing public benefit, enabling access to the service by those who cannot afford to pay fees, is out for public consultation during February.
DCMS Instruction to Sport England to Use a ‘Tight’ Definition of Sport before Making Grants to NGBs. This instruction was deplored at the last meeting, as it would disadvantage NGBs covering non-Olympic sports, and CCPR was to protest. However, even with the departure of James Purnell, the Minister who issued the instruction, there has been no change in the DCMS position. Sport England, however, are trying to find ways of getting round it, because they don’t like it either. James Purnell has said that there will be no further raids on the Lottery Fund to subsidise the financial losses of the Olympic bid. Department of Health Funding of Third Sector Organisations.
Elections to CCPR Board.
CCPR AGM and Conference - 6-7 May. The booking fee for members is £220 + VAT, but bursaries are available. The DIO has unanimously recommended that Professor Bailey should be invited as a speaker. From Bertie Everard
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