On March 1, 2024, MLSE LaunchPad and Ophea brought together youth, community leaders, and system-level decision makers for a collaborative session to re-imagine the purpose of school sport as a foundational tool through which to inspire feelings of belonging in children and youth. Together, we explored the current landscape of school sport opportunities, highlighting the participation barriers students currently face and the entry points to better experiences.
Our friends Visions of Science and Haudenosaunee Lacrosse were on hand to provide active learning sessions and share their thoughts on the potential of sport as an empowering, community-building activity. Facilitators helped attendees develop a comprehensive, holistic view of the potential school sport holds to encompass a multitude of experiences, actively incorporating systems of knowledge that have historically been excluded in our field. Unlearning the harmful norms that are embedded in Health and Physical Education (H&PE) spaces is a crucial step if we are to provide every student with affirming school sport opportunities.
Keep reading to learn more about the event and the outcomes we’re pursuing as a result!
We believe in the power of school sport to change lives and promote healthy, active living.
H&PE educators understand sport as an amazing vehicle to encourage feelings of belonging and healthy habits for children and youth. School sport can be a fundamental, vibrant part of the fabric of school communities, providing opportunities for students to move their bodies, find joy, and connect with peers in a fun and active setting. On March 1st, youth consistently shared that they want inclusive, accessible, and identity-affirming options for school sport that go beyond the offerings currently present in most school settings.
School sport and physical activity opportunities typically fall into two categories: interschool and intramural.
Interschool sports are defined as school-sponsored, competitive programs which involve competitions against outside teams (Ophea, n.d.); these activities often involve tryouts and do not extend participation options to students who are cut from teams.
Intramural activities are defined as school-sponsored physical/recreation activities that occur outside of instructional time and are not competitions against other outside teams/groups (Ophea, n.d.). A focus on competition, however, remains a common aspect of many intramural programs; soccer or similar games are considered ideal and standard offerings, and students are not always consulted to ensure their interests are being reflected.
Despite student athletes (those playing for competitive interschool sports teams) accounting for less than 5% of most school populations, youth at MLSE LaunchPad confirmed that the bulk of current intramural school sport programming also caters to this population; too many intramural programs emphasize competition and elite performance at the expense of student interests. Data shows that most students are drawn to school sport not for the love of winning or the desire to excel at their chosen sport, but for the opportunities it offers for fun, movement, and connection with their peers (Jumpstart Charities, 2024). School sport must reflect this; a low percentage of a school’s student body participates in interschool sport opportunities, and these students are more likely to be involved in extracurricular organized sport with the ability to pursue additional training and development outside of the school environment (Dwyer et al, 2006), further heightening the level of competition in school settings. When the emphasis on competition that characterizes most interschool sports impacts intramurals, students who are looking for a different experience have no options left to them.
Integrating student voice and choice is key to improving school sport experiences.
Intramural programs have greater opportunity to operate from a student-centered perspective. By engaging students throughout the process, from planning to facilitating activities, intramural organizers can promote student voice and choice, and encourage meaningful connections with peers. Quality intramural programs provide activities based on student input, provide multiple entry points to increase student engagement and participation, and focus on inclusive, fun events or activities that maximize physical activity participation for every student.
Integrating student voice and choice would also allow school sport opportunities to provide students with safer, identity-affirming programming that suits their needs, interests, and abilities. Historically, H&PE spaces have been dominated by racist and patriarchal Western influences, prioritizing certain body types, abilities, and identities over others. This has created longstanding biases and preconceptions within our field that must be dismantled if we are to provide identity-affirming, culturally-relevant, and engaging school sport opportunities.
Wahid Khan, Course Director at the Faculty of Education at York University was present at the event, and shared the following thoughts with us:
Colonial practices were woven into my praxis early on in my career. It’s only over the last 10 years, working with educators who shared their wisdom and learning with me, that I realized I truly had to teach from the heart. With care, compassion, love, and keeping well-being at the core of everything. That all came through during the session. Cathartic almost; those spaces, places and opportunities rarely come up, at least for me. Issues like body shaming and attire segregation are all very real practices in our schools, and many current H&PE spaces don't help to reverse that. Our conversations at the LaunchPad did.
Centring student voice and choice in school sport also paves the way to remove participation barriers for marginalized students that are steeped in harmful, outdated modes of thinking that refuse to acknowledge different identities, abilities, or ways of being. Activity rates amongst students facing identity-based marginalization such as racism, ableism, transphobia, and/or homophobia are in rapid decline (Gumprich & Hare, 2023), likely driven by the lack of appropriate programming and settings available that consider their needs, interests, and lived experiences. If we are to realize our shared vision of an Ontario where every student can value and enjoy the benefits of healthy, active living, this must change.
Changing school sport programming is only the beginning – we need to reimagine H&PE spaces from the ground up to centre joy, inclusion, and connection. As educators, our practices much shift to acknowledge the identities and desires of the students in our classrooms.
Some final reflections from Wahid:
Thank you for creating space and inviting our Anishinabek community members in to share their Ways of Knowing. Again, this is desperately needed, as the histories, cultural connections, and community connections are also largely divorced from H&PE spaces. Thank you for centering Indigenous voices and stepping aside for them. My hope is that everyone took notice… This is the right thing to do if we are to ensure more students that are active later in life and curb the horrifying declining numbers of marginalized bodies participation in sport. I know there is a ton of work to be done, inside and outside of our school spaces, when it comes to addressing all of this. But this is the work.
Wahid Khan, Course Director, Faculty of Education, York University
What’s next?
March 1st marked a key point in our journey to identify and actualize strategies to make school sport more accessible and affirming for every student. Read Ophea’s position statement on Re-imagining the Purpose of School Sport. Ophea is grateful to MLSE LaunchPad for their collaboration on this event, our facilitators for their engaging sessions, and all who were present to share their thoughts and perspectives – most particularly the youth!
Curious about the discussions that took place, and how system-leaders and youth think we can improve student experiences of school sport? We’ve put together a Highlights Reel to capture some of the key moments and themes from the event itself, as well as a Youth Speaker’s Corner that spotlighted youth perspectives, allowing them to share their school sport experiences in an unfiltered, authentic space.
Stay tuned for further developments from this event, and in the meantime consider exploring Ophea resources that can support inclusive H&PE learning environments and intramural opportunities:
References
Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. (2024). Jumpstart State of Play Youth Report, https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0122/8124/9892/files/State-of-Play-2024-EN.pdf?v=1713368242
Dwyer, J. J., Allison, K. R., LeMoine, K. N., Adlaf, E. M., Goodman, J., Faulkner, G. E., & Lysy, D. C. (2006). A provincial study of opportunities for school-based physical activity in secondary schools. The Journal of adolescent health: official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 39(1), 80–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.10.004
Gumprich, M., & Hare, N. (2023). The Canadian Non-binary Youth in Sport Report. https://ankorstransconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/non-binary-youth-in-sport-report.pdf
Ophea. (n.d.). Interschool activities. Ontario Physical Activity Safety Standards in Education (OPASSE). https://safety.ophea.net/about/interschool-activities
Ophea. (n.d.). Intramural activities. Ontario Physical Activity Safety Standards in Education (OPASSE). https://safety.ophea.net/about/intramural-activities