In this blog we take a look at the promotion and organisation of sports and games in 19th century Public Schools.
Below is an extract of an audio tutorial taken from my online course – Teaching A Level PE – Influence of Public Schools on Sports and Games.
“Here we are looking at the promotion and organisations sports and games in the public schools and it is important that we make sure the students are aware that we are talking about what was going on in the public schools themselves. So this isn’t about what was happening in society, this was what was happening internally within these public schools, post 1850.
A key point to establish before you start teaching this area and to avoid potential pitfalls that I have fallen into in the past, is the assumption that your students understand what we mean by public schools. So it’s a good idea of course it take the time to make sure that they do understand.
Often students will know of Eton and Harrow and it’s useful for them to do some background research on one or two famous schools, such as Charterhouse, Shrewsbury, Winchester, etc.
So, let’s look at the characteristics of what was going on in the public schools which promoted the organisation of sports and games in schools.
Space
The first thing we need to be thinking about is that the schools had space and they had facilities. I draw your attention to the word specialist and that is because the exam board in the past has been very picky about this point and will not accept just facilities or just space on its own. In this case, facilities and space on its own is not acceptable, therefore we need to make sure we teach our students to use the qualifier ‘specialist’ or ‘high quality’ before facilities.
We then have to ask the question ‘so what’? If students just identify characteristics on their own they are unlikely to obtain marks (depending on the question asked). So we need to coach and train our students to answer that question and that, for me, is with the linking phrase ‘which meant that’. So for example, if students identify specialist facilities and space they would then have to develop that with which meant that ….. the boys had the opportunities to participate in sports which lead to skill levels rising and the growth of the cult of athleticism.
Specialist coaches
The next point is that the schools had specialist coaches. And again, students would need to develop this point by saying that this meant that this enabled the boys to become proficient at sport, which also promoted the growth of the cult of athleticism.
Character Development
The games themselves promoted the idea of character development. Here, we’re talking about values such as honesty, integrity and courage, leadership, teamwork, for example. All of these values which the public schools at the time espoused as being great attributes of a Victorian gentleman.
Time
The boys had plenty of time to play sport and in most of these schools during this era games was compulsory. This meant that the boys probably played five or six afternoons a week. This would have lead to the growing popularity of sport and reflected and developed the cult of athleticism.
House matches and School matches
The boys played house matches within the schools and they played fixtures against other schools. Both of these points reflect the growth and popularity of sport and the start of how competitions were set up.
6th Form Role Models
The games were organised and promoted very heavily by the sixth formers who acted as role models to the younger boys. This point links back to character development and meant that the senior boys were developing organisational and administrative skills, which would be used later when, as ex-public school boys, they codified the games and established national governing bodies of sports.”
To find out more about the promotion and organisation of sports and games and to develop your teaching on all areas of the 19th century public schools, including the promotion of ethics and the cult of athleticism, head over to my online course here:
Teaching A Level PE – Influence of Public Schools on Sports and Games.
