The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is to invest heavily in education
in a bid to further promote cricket amongst Primary and Secondary School
children. Over the next three years, in excess of one million pounds will
be invested directly into comprehensive education projects, which will be
implemented in schools at the start of the education year in September 2000.
Educational resource packs will be produced and distributed to pre-service
and in-service teachers at Primary and Secondary School level throughout the
country. Backed by Channel 4, the packs will comply with government
recommendations for Curriculum 2000 and will enable teachers to deliver
cricket to children across the education curriculum.
Suggested lesson plans and ideas will encourage teachers to introduce
cricket into mainstream subjects, such as Mathematics, English and Science.
In addition, cricket teaching methods will be suggested for all areas of PE
activity.
On the playing side, Kwik Cricket will continue to be promoted and played in
Primary Schools. In Secondary Schools, however, a new innovative version of
the game will be introduced, called Inter Cricket.
A total of 25,000 resource packs will be produced to cover the 19,893
Primary Schools in England and Wales, and 5,000 more advanced packs will be
produced in CD-ROM form to cover the 3,940 Secondary Schools.
Keith Pont, ECB’s Director of Development, said, ‘Cricket can be introduced
into the classroom in many different ways. In Mathematics, children could
calculate averages, run rates and work with cricket statistics, for example.
Studying contrasting writing styles of newspaper match reports could
introduce cricket into English lessons, or a Science class could look at
understanding how a ball swings or spins.’
Education specialists and practising teachers, as well as cricket coaches,
have all been heavily involved in the development of the resource to ensure
that it is of genuine relevance and help in today’s classrooms. The packs
will be highly user-friendly so that even teachers without an in-depth
knowledge of cricket will be able to benefit.
Lengthy research has ensured that education for disabled children is also
incorporated into the packs, thus underlining ECB’s commitment to make
cricket accessible to all.
To fit in with education planning cycles, details of the content of the
resource packs will be sent to schools by the end of the coming summer term,
in order to enable teachers to use the new resource in their lesson planning
for the start of the next academic year.
Distribution of the resource packs will be targeted at teachers who show a
genuine interest in receiving and using the information. County Boards and
their cricket development officers will be responsible for the targeted
distribution of the packs through a mixture of coaching visits to schools,
INSET (In-Service Education Training) courses, and tailor-made courses for
teacher training colleges.
Primary Schools
The resource pack for Primary Schools will be divided into two sections –
one for implementation into the classroom and the other for implementation
in PE lessons.
In the classroom, the resource pack will outline possibilities for including
cricket in the teaching of a number of different subjects: Mathematics,
English, Science, ICT (Information, Communication, Technology), Design
Technology, Geography, History and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health
Education).
The practical section of the resource pack for introduction into PE classes
will fit into Key Stage Two of the National Curriculum. Ideas for activity
will be presented on warm-ups, cool downs, skill practices and activity
games.
Kwik Cricket will continue to be used as cricket’s introductory game in
Primary Schools, where it has already been successfully used for over 12
years since its introduction in 1988. Over one million Primary School girls
and boys currently play the game – a quarter of all Primary School children
in the country.
Secondary Schools
The resource pack for Secondary Schools will be produced in CD-ROM format to
reflect the increased technology used in Secondary School education.
As with the Primary Schools pack, it will feature exercises for both the
classroom and PE lessons, albeit at a much more advanced level.
The CD-ROM will include computer animated graphics, photographic stills and
video footage for coaching purposes. It will be possible to download all
material for use in the classroom. In this way, teachers will be able to
custom-build their own lesson plan from a menu of suggested ideas.
Furthermore, internet hotlinks will direct teachers to cricket related
web-sites to provide additional assistance.
In September, Inter Cricket will be introduced to encourage increased
participation in the game amongst children at Secondary Schools. Supported
by CGU and Sportsmatch, this game is designed for boys and girls who, for
reasons of facility or ability, cannot play hard ball cricket and so will
bridge the gap between Kwik Cricket and the traditional game. It will
benefit, in particular, 12-14 year olds and inner-city schools.
Capable of being played in the playground or on grass, Inter Cricket will
feature a number of unique selling points such as a white, rubberised ball
with a stitched seam, numbered coloured shirts or bibs and a free hit rule
as in the CGU National Cricket League.
Notes
* The Secondary School CD-ROM will be previewed for the first time at
the Education Show, which is taking place at the NEC, Birmingham, on 23-24
March 2000
* Inter Cricket will be launched in South London on Thursday 30 March.
For further information / an invitation please contact Mark Hodgson at the
ECB
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For further information, please contact Mark Hodgson in ECB Corporate
Affairs:
Tel: 020 7432 1251. Fax: 020 7289 5619. E-mail: mark.hodgson@ecb.co.uk