The news in the past week has shown evidence, alongside concern, for the fact that competition is dying out in schools. The majority of children, a survey says, would be happy to see the competitive element removed from school sport. It really is, it would seem, the taking part that counts amongst today’s children. 

Competition in Schools

Results of the survey showed that 64% of eight to sixteen-year-olds said that they would be “relieved, not bothered or happier” if the competition was taken out of the game. There have been mixed reactions to the poll, which was carried out by Marylebone Cricket Club and the charity, Chance To Shine. 1000 children and 1000 parents were surveyed, with 22% of parents saying that they would be less interested in watching school sport if it was not competitive.

There have been negative reactions in the media to these findings, with many stating that competition is an important element in a child’s development and preparation for later life. However, could it be that the information is simply being misconstrued, with more being read into it than is actually the case? 84% of children said that they believed that the “winning and losing” factor of a game was important, but that “many would rather play sport for fun, or would be relieved if less was at stake”. This suggests a muddier water than the original fear that competition is dead in schools. Perhaps children were merely expressing that winning and losing weren’t the sole motivation to take part in sport, which is, admittedly, very wise.

With so many mixed views circulating about the nature of competition amongst children, we’re glad that the topic has been raised by Chance To Shine and MCC. Now, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Are your children competitive? Are you a teacher that struggles to inject a competitive element into your sports lessons? Tweet us @SyntheticTurfM.