Esports are being taught in schools. Could they give students useful workplace skills?
Esports are being taught in schools. Could they give students useful workplace skills?
Esports are being taught in schools. Could they give students useful workplace skills?
By Ian Shine
March 21, 2023
Summary
Japan has just opened its first esports high school, and education publisher Pearson has worked with the British Esports Federation to develop the world's first esports qualification.
"Esports is not [sitting] in your bedroom playing on your own in the dark eating crisps; it's teams of people playing against teams of people in a competitive environment," Tom Dore of the British Esports Federation told website Which School Advisor.
"Through that, you can develop all the same holistic character development skills that you would in any other school extra-curricular team activity such as traditional sport, music or drama. Teamwork, leadership, communication, problem-solving and strategic thinking can all be developed by playing esports as part of a team."
Japan's Esports High School is mixing traditional school work with intensive video game training.
The esports school is fitted out with large monitors and high-spec PCs. It is run with support from gaming company NTTe-Sports, and the lessons cover genres from first-person shooters to real-time strategy and multiplayer online battle arenas.
In the UK, the British Esports Federation has teamed up with the College of Esports to develop a degree programme.
The institution offers degrees in areas from games design to international esports business and esports coaching and management.
Reference
Shine , I. (2023, March 21). Esports are being taught in schools. could they give students useful workplace skills? World Economic Forum. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/03/esports-on-educational-curriculums-teach-skills/