Teachers of all subjects can contribute to promote sport at school
Back to the Teachers Toolkits
How to Motivate Students Only Interested in Sport to Improve their School Performances
Teachers of All Subjects
1. Stay realistic regarding school results
Require rigour, work and assiduousness at school as well as in sport. In lessons, this is all the more necessary because – in particular in elite sport sections – students may have to skip some classes to participate in competitions, and have therefore less time to dedicate to their studies. Students will need to prove autonomous and serious if they wish to succeed.
On the other hand, remember to also be flexible and try to understand the requirements and restrictions that the sport may set to the student. Be aware of the legislation of your country on athlete students’ rights and obligations regarding school attendance (in some countries, even if the student is not recognised as an athlete student, they can be entitled to a certain number of justified absences due to practices or competitions).
Encourage the students to talk with the study counsellors, or any relevant person of your school, whenever they feel to be lost or in difficulties with their studies and school performances. When there are absences due to the sport activities or for other reasons, make yourself available for extra explanations and make sure that the student receives all the missing information regarding the tasks in the classroom, coming exams and tests and also some options of how to work out for the compensation of the missing tasks. Even though they need a lot of help and support from their teachers, students also will need to prove autonomous and serious if they wish to succeed
Learning Objective
The learning objective of step 1 is to make a clear connection between the elite sport and studies. The schools should provide the students regular study guidance also then when there are sudden or expected absences. A constant interaction and communication between school and sport team should be guaranteed.
Online Resources