School sport: Aim to embed sport in school curriculum

Sport will sit alongside English and mathematics as the most important subjects in secondary schools, if a new sport and education project succeeds.

The three-year project is designed to develop models that can be used in all secondary schools in New Zealand.

''We are trying to use sport to improve the academic, social and sporting outcomes in schools,'' project manager Garry Carnachan told the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin this week.

''In the old days, we used to go to a computer room. Now, computers are in all our classrooms and embedded in our learning.

''We go to the gym or the field to do sport in schools. If this project is successful, sport will be embedded in everything we do.''

Dunedin has a special interest in the project, as Queen's High School and Kaikorai Valley College are among the eight schools involved in the national project.

''At the end of the project, we would like to have compelling evidence that this is an approach other schools would benefit from,'' Carnachan said.

''We want to get more secondary school pupils involved in sport and to develop the community links to help us do that.''

The 2012 secondary school census showed that, for the third year in a row, the number of students participating in sport had grown by 1%.

''Over 10 years, this is another 10,000 kids representing their schools in sport,'' Carnachan said.

There were 41 applications for the eight places in the project.

''We were overwhelmed by the interest,'' Carnachan said.

''In the first month, we have seen how self-propelled the project is.

''It's almost as though teachers have received a mandate and validation for things they have wanted to do and it has taken off.''

An important part of the project is a link with primary schools. Secondary school pupils provide leadership for sport in primary schools.

The aim of the project was not to prove a positive link between sport/physical activity and academic performance, Carnachan said.

''We know that. There is a lot of evidence worldwide about that.

''At the end of the project, we will have a road map on how to do this and compelling evidence to convince other schools to take a similar approach.''