Critically Evaluate the Role of Organisations like NGBs, County Sports Partnerships - Research Paper Example

Critically Evaluate the Role of Organisations like NGBs, County Sports Partnerships Table of Contents Introduction 2 A Brief Overview of the Challenges Faced by the Schools and Partner Organisations 3 Examples of Good Practices 5 A Brief Overview of the Topical Issues 8 A Brief Overview of the Challenges Faced by the Organisations 10 References 13 Introduction The continuous influence of globalisation as well as modernisation throughout the globe has led towards considerable changes in social as well as cultural practices. It is in this context that in the current phenomenon, the socio-cultural beliefs are becoming increasingly inclined towards health consciousness. In this regard, the educational institutions have been observed to play an imperative role in enhancing the well-being as well as the health of their students encouraging their participation in sports, physical education and other various recreation programs. The perception of Physical Education (PE) is principally represented as an academic discipline which crucially focuses upon the science and art of human movement with a major concern towards sports, outdoor recreations and fitness habits (UNSECO, 2008). It has been apparent from the fact that quality based PE activities can deliver an exclusive prospect for the students in order to attain knowledge as well as abilities which are required to create and preserve dynamic lifestyles throughout their childhood. Conversely, the aspect of school sports provides opportunity to the students in order to prolong their social, personal as well as physical skills education by supporting them to take part in different sporting competitions at various levels. The idea of school sports also plays a chief function in increasing the degree of physical competency amid the youths and ensuring a radical enlargement in their participation rates in physical activities. Moreover, the notion of school sports also emphasises upon revaluating the issue of declining health as well as fitness levels among the young people. The facet of school sport is viewed to be an affiliation between the school and the local community-based organisations which work collaboratively for the purpose of developing the abilities of the students in relation to physical activity (GAO, 2012). With due consideration to these aspects, discussion henceforth will emphasise on the different challenges faced by the schools and the partner organisations due to recent policy changes and various instances of good practices which were introduced by the organisations like National Governing Bodies (NGBs), Country Sports Partnerships (CSPs) and other voluntary organisations in order to promote PE. Moreover, considering topical issues relating to London 2012 games along with the challenges faced by the aforementioned organisations while looking for working with different schools will also be discussed in the essay. A Brief Overview of the Challenges Faced by the Schools and Partner Organisations According to various reports, it has been viewed that the factors of budget cuts as well as insufficient facilities are a few of the crucial challenges faced by the different schools along with the partner organisations in order to deliver PE opportunities for the students. The officials belonging to several districts and schools further revealed the fact that the issue of budget cuts have broadly affected into their capability to employ the teachers associated with the field of PE. Moreover, the officials of the schools affirmed the fact that the issue of budget cuts also imposed a considerable effect towards maintaining adequate class sizes along with procuring sufficient equipments relating to the field of PE (CIH, 2012). Furthermore, due to the consequences of budget cuts, it has been observed that most of the schools were forced to lay off several teachers of PE replacing them with part-time instructors. Besides, the influences of budget cuts also affected the quality as well as the accessibility of valuable equipments by a large extent. Consequentially, the part-time employed teachers of PE, belonging to various schools were found to discontinue their coaching services concerning several sports due to the reason of inadequate facilities as well as equipments linked with the respective sports (GAO, 2012). Apart from the challenges in relation to budget cuts, insufficient facilities and lack of funds, the schools also faced the issue about allocating time for developing PE associated programs during the school days. This can be explained with reference to the fact that most of the schools made deliberate efforts to raise instructional times especially for the subjects including science, mathematics and English among others rather than concerning the subject of PE for the purpose of enhancing the standards-based grading of the students. Thus, as a result, the classes associated with the subject of PE and activity are often attempted to breakdown as well as reduced or discarded throughout the school daytime (CDC, 2010). In relation to the major challenge about deficiency of adequate PE facilities, it has been viewed that most of the schools possess insufficient indoor space in order to conduct the required lessons offering adequate time. Additionally, the schools also faced the challenge of recognising experienced as well as quality coaches for their sports teams due to lack of funds. The challenge of budget deficits also affected the transportation factor as the enrolment of students in certain sport competitions are likely to engage travel which often requires by the schools to offer the required facilities for the athletes (Jenkinson & Benson, 2010). In this context, many of the schools as well as the district officials have argued that due to the major factor of budget cuts and lack of funds, they had to face a difficult time while delivering transportation to the students in order to participate in any school sport activities. A few of the smaller schools thus had to face the challenge of insufficient facilities as well as equipments such as sufficient field space, which are essentially required to provide the facilities of PE. Due to the lacuna of sufficient space, most of the schools made attempts to utilise off-site positions for the conduct of practices or events connected with PE (Diego, 2008). Thus, on the basis of the discussed factors, it can be stated that the challenging factors such as budget cuts, lack of funds and the availability of insufficient facilities and equipments have imposed considerable impact upon the different schools to promote PE. Examples of Good Practices The various organisations such as the NGBs, CSPs, Local Authority Sports Development Units, along with other related voluntary organisations play an imperative role in guiding as well as supporting various schools to deliver PE related services by encouraging school sports. The active participation in PE proved to lay significant advantages especially to the young people. Moreover, a superior quality of PE along with school sports tends to considerably improve the educational benchmark by a significant extent. Hence, participating in PE activities along with possessing a superior quality in relation to the PE programs can be examined to deliberately support the youths to become more dynamic and healthy. Furthermore, the aforementioned factors also play a decisive role in advancing the self-esteem as well as the confidence level of the young people which ultimately helps them to develop effective team working and also broadening their personal abilities (UNESCO, 2008). NGBs play an important part in supporting the different schools by offering them with adequate assistance in rendering effective PE activities and by encouraging the students to actively participate in school sports. The good practice of the NGBs in relation to PE as well as school sport lies in the fact that the schools are entitled to receive a substantial amount of funding from the NGBs for the development of various sport games. Moreover, the funding from the NGBs is also envisioned to raise the participation of the schools in different sport competitions at various levels by a larger extent. The funding would be delivered to the schools at the end of every academic year which is quite likely to be highly beneficial for them to spend more on the classrooms, coaches and relevant equipments associated with PE (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010). In the similar context, CSPs are regarded as a strong association of local agencies who are dedicated to perform together in order to raise active participation in PE activities along with sports. In their recent operations, CSPs have formed a group of expertises in order to develop school sports along with encouraging physical activities with the intention of raising the well-being as well as the health of the youths. The best practices of the CSPs include encouraging programs which intend to facilitate PE and school sport activities as well as raising substantial amount of funds particularly for the young as well as talented athletes in the current day context of 2012. Moreover, the other practices include supporting various festivals as well as events to involve sport competitions and continuously developing the basic infrastructures in relation to school sports and PE actions. Besides, the CSPs closely work with the valuable partners as well as other business agencies in order to support nationwide school games or events at large (CSPNETWORK, 2012). The Local Authority Sports Development Units as well as the other voluntary organisations also play a major role in supporting the schools to deliver PE activities. These organisations attempt to broadly enhance the subject matter of delivering PE as well as school support to various schools by developing huge awareness about the significance of being physically energetic. Furthermore, these organisations strongly believe that the PE activities prevailing in different schools contribute towards delivering practical education to the youths by involving them in various physical actions which include indoor as well as outdoor games along with adventure activities and athletics among others. It has been viewed that a few of the Local Authority Sports Development Units have deliberately adopted initiatives to form various developmental plans as well as policies in relation to PE activities. Moreover, the local authorities also established an inclusive variety of programmes which were designed for the purpose of coordinating as well as encouraging opportunities in supporting schools to deliver PE and school sports related facilities (Houlihan & Green, 2011). A Brief Overview of the Topical Issues The ‘London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’ delivers a thrilling opportunity to develop broad assortment of sports as well as physical activities. The event intended to inspire the people belonging to various ages towards actively participating in the physical activities and sports. Moreover, it also developed crucial pathways for talented as well as young athletes in order to attain their desired objectives to attend the future Olympic events or other major world events. On the basis of the aforementioned aspects, it can be stated that the event broadly motivated the young people in order to become more dynamic along with enjoying significant health benefits. The various partners include the NGBs, CSPs, Local Authority Sports Development Units, School Sport Partnerships (SSPs) and other various voluntary organisations, which remained much committed towards working together for the motive of encouraging greater participation in school sports as well as PE activities by a larger degree. With this concern, the aforesaid organisations came to a standpoint that both the aspects of school sports as well as PE activities play an imperative role in enhancing the living standard of the people belonging to all ages in the worldwide context (Hampshire County Council, n.d.). In relation to the ‘London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’, which offers an exciting prospect to advance broad array of sport as well as physical activities, there lay certain important visions of the organisations like NGBs, CSPs, Local Authority Sports Development Units and other voluntary organisations. In common, the vision of these organisations majorly concentrate on motivating as well as preserving greater participation of young people in the physical activities as well as sports. The organisations also envision supporting the activities through the introduction as well as development of quality workforce comprising of experienced instructors, coaches, administrators and volunteers among others. Moreover, the visionary concerns also include generating sustainable arrangements for making active participation in the physical activities and sports, maintaining the operational standards as well as the efficiencies of the physical activities and most importantly widening the continuum of superior quality sports as well as PE related opportunities. The organisations further tend to believe the fact that the aspect of PE activities might pose a considerable impact upon the quality, health as well as the well-being of the individuals thereby augmenting the overall sustainable growth of the community by a greater extent (Hampshire County Council, n.d.). According to scientific evidences, it has been noted that the enlargement in physical activities is quite likely to ultimately lead towards reduction in the risk of obesity, enhanced mental health, educational accomplishments and enhanced immune system. In this regard, the NGBs, CSPs, Local Authority Sports Development Units and other voluntary organisations have been apparently observed to deliberately attempt towards delivering financial supports to the talented dynamic athletes who have competed or participated in the event of ‘London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’. The aforesaid organisations targeted that by the year 2013, a considerable increased number of youths, in comparison to the already engaged population, will be engaged in PE activities along with commercial sports. Apart from focusing upon the participation level, the organisations also emphasise on encouraging PE activities within schools and local communities by rendering adequate assistance to the educational institutions. In order to promote the physical activities, the organisations also lay emphasis upon supporting the various actions which lead towards the development of a quality workforce that include the coaches, volunteers, administrators and the instructors among others (Hampshire County Council, n.d.). A Brief Overview of the Challenges Faced by the Organisations NGBs, CSPs, Local Authority Sports Development Units and other voluntary organisations had to face major challenges while working with schools in relation to PE and school sports programs. The major challenges which were faced by the different organisations mostly related with meeting government linked education targets. In this similar context, due to the significant factors of budget deficits as well as inadequate facilities and equipments, the organisations had to witness difficulties to tackle the key issues concerning the development of PE related programs. Moreover, the organisations also have to face the challenges when rendering various valuable life-skills which include decision-making, teamwork, problem-solving, communication, leadership and strategising the process (ContinYou, 2007). The primary objective of the NGBs, CSPs, Local Authority Sports Development Units and other voluntary organisations is to deliver every student belonging to different schools with quality as well as standard education facilities relating to PE activities. The organisations in this regard tend to render due consideration to the fact that the idea of PE is the only topic which largely emphasises upon the learning as well as the physical development of the students. According to various reports and evidences, it has been learnt that a quality as well as a standard physical PE can facilitate the self-esteem along with the confidence level of the pupils, enhance their social inclusion and deliver effective foundation skills. In this regard, the most challenging factor for the organisations has been to remain utmost focused upon the deliverance of quality as well as standard PE to every students and youths. In response to this crucial challenge, the organisations need to adopt sensible as well as realistic solutions, implementing long-term developmental plans and constantly developing different activities linked with PE and sports (Crown, 2004). Apart from the major challenges which have been mentioned above, the organisations are also likely to face other challenges who seek to work with different schools. The challenges may be related with the effective utilisation of available resources, availability of insufficient facilities as well as equipments, engagement of non-qualified training personnel, persistence of non-congenial environment of PE, reductions in time allocation and smaller class sizes. The other significant challenge that the organisations might face can be identified in terms of engaging those young people who decipher little or no interest in taking part in any sort of physical activities (Hardman, n.d.). Conclusion The continuous development of the PE activities as well as broader involvement in sports is quite essential for the individuals or the young people owing to the fact that these factors have been scientifically affirmed to contribute in enhancing their living standard by a considerable extent. Moreover, the factors also improve their health, encourage social inclusion and most importantly raise self-respect and confidence amid the young generation group. In this regard, the various organisations such as NGBs, CSPs, Local Authority Sports Development Units and other voluntary organisations play a crucial role in supporting various schools to deliver PE activities along with school sport. It has been viewed that most of the schools had to face certain challenges which ultimately restricted them to encourage PE activities or programs within the local community which fundamentally identified to relate with budget cuts, shortage of funds and insufficient facilities. It is in this context that the aforementioned organisations supported the schools in order to deliver PE activities along with school sports by providing them assistance with a considerable level of funding. Moreover, in relation to the ‘London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’, the organisations intended to deliver financial support to those athletes who participated in the global event. Simultaneously, along with the schools, the organisations including CSPs, NGBs and the Local Authority Sports Development Units also had to face several challenges. The challenges fundamentally included complying with government linked education targets, proper utilisation of resources and non-affable atmosphere of PE activities. In order to cope up with these challenges, the organisations require to implement realistic solutions, execute long-term developmental policies and to develop the other relevant supportive activities linked with PE along with school sports by a considerable extent. References CDC, 2010. Introduction. The Association between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance. [Online] Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/health_and_academics/pdf/pa-pe_paper.pdf [Accessed August 16, 2012]. ContinYou, 2007. Physical Education and School Sport. Archive. [Online] Available at: http://www.continyou.org.uk/archive/study_support/files/PE_ESguide [Accessed August 16, 2012]. Crown, 2004. The Report of the Review Group on Physical Education. Resource. [Online] Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/47251/0023740.pdf [Accessed August 16, 2012]. CIH, 2012. Physical Activity. CIH Practice. [Online] Available at: http://www.oxha.org/cih_manual/index.php/increase-physical-education-in-schools [Accessed August 16, 2012]. Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010. Positive Activities: Good Practice Guidance: Delivering Sports, Arts and Culture Activities as Part of the Friday/Saturday Night Youth Offer. British Crown. Diego, S., 2008. Physical Education Matters. Publications. [Online] Available at: http://www1.calendow.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/By_Topic/Disparities/Obesity_and_Diabetes/ASAP8.pdf [Accessed August 16, 2012]. GAO, 2012. School-Based Physical Education and Sports Programs. Assets. [Online] Available at: http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588944.pdf [Accessed August 16, 2012]. Hampshire County Council, No Date. Foreword. Strategy 2010-2013. [Online] Available at: http://www3.hants.gov.uk/shiow/sports_strategy_2010_-2013web.pdf [Accessed August 16, 2012]. Hardman, K., No Date. World Health Organization. Documente. [Online] Available at: http://www.icsspe.org/documente/PEworldwide.pdf [Accessed August 16, 2012]. Houlihan, B. & Green, M., 2011. Routledge Handbook of Sports Development. Taylor & Francis. Jenkinson, K. A. & Benson, A. C., 2010. Barriers to Providing Physical Education and Physical Activity in Victorian State Secondary Schools. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 35, Iss. 8, pp.1-17. UNESCO, 2008. Preface. Innovative Practices in Physical Education and Sports in ASIA. [Online] Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001585/158509e.pdf [Accessed August 16, 2012]. Read More