Photo Credit: Poppie Terblanche
"I have had a rant for a while. But wanted to comment on this podcast. Interesting topic - hope you have watched the podcast. Just sending you some spam to read; hopefully, it can entertain you for 5 minutes and create a debate."
There has already been plenty of discussion around Eddie Jones’ recent High-Performance Podcast. If you haven't watched it - click on the link below. He briefly alludes to an issue in school sport which is a very interesting topic.
Eddie Jones is the current England rugby coach, and South Africans will obviously remember his role within the Springbok camp after winning the 2017 Rugby World Cup. Jones was an educator himself and is probably best ‘qualified’ to comment on the modern trend in schools. In the podcast, he speaks about a ‘fundamental flaw in education’ - that being the fact that kids in sport, are not being taught (coached) by teachers, but rather by ex-professionals. He goes on to say ‘kids need to be taught, and they don't need to be coached at an early age.’ But he also mentions his concern around the approach where we are trying to turn high school teams into high-performance teams.’ And hence the controversy and debate within South Africa. When he was asked to explain the difference between teaching and coaching, Jones said the following:
“In teaching - educators always just try to get the best out of people. Get them to fulfil their potential.”
“In coaching - the emphasis is often based on the result.”
Jones spoke about the current currency in coaching being winning’ and the ‘currency in education, being building the child up.’
It is an amazing statement from one of the most elite/ professional coaches in the world. I think at first glance people might misinterpret his comment and put all ex-professionals in the same box. It is easy to agree with the sentiment from the outset, but it is not about a different ‘qualification’ that separates coaches from teachers. It is about the philosophy within their coaching context. The accountability should not be limited to who is actually doing the teaching or coaching but rather who is actually appointing them. And of course, maybe even more importantly - what is the reason or motive behind the appointment of an ex-professional. Of course, they would also decide on the type of ex-professional appointed. In South Africa, we have possibly got this more wrong than most other countries in the world. This is easy to recognise, once you look at the significant salaries paid to ex-professional coaches at schools. There is no doubt that this is a symptom of ridiculous competition between schools. Sadly, that also leads to disrespect and conflict between schools. How can schools start to justify some of these salaries as being educationally sound? Of course, a lot of the funding for these coaches doesn't come from school budgets which raise even more concerns.
We have moved away from philosophies where schools were focussed on their product being the best possible all-round learner. These days that focus has shifted from an internal to an external approach, where the ‘product’ must be better than what another school is producing. We then see schools marketing their achievements in a business-style approach to get one above their competitors. The most obvious sphere where we see this within South Africa is by comparing sports results and achievements. Don't get me wrong, while reading this, most friends will identify that I am the most competitive person on the planet, and wanting to win is of paramount importance. But it is always within the most stubborn educational philosophies. Winning should never be the criteria that schools sport should be judged on. Male adults in South Africa often define themselves by the school they attended. And in some cases live vicariously through their own children at the same school. Obviously, there is pride in supporting your alma mater, but this can also be bizarrely out of balance at times. Heads of schools are then held accountable for sports results, and if the results aren't to the satisfaction of old-boy or parent groups there is a problem. That then takes us all the way back to the appointments of ex-professional coaches appointed to school teams and to Jones’ concern. We could keep addressing negative symptoms or consequences of this model, but that would get us trapped in the usual conversations about performance-enhancing drugs, ‘poaching’ athletes from schools and the poor culture or behaviour of athletes in competitive environments. Of course, parents are also sucked into this model and have completely unrealistic expectations of schools and their sports programmes.
I obviously agree with Eddie Jones’ concern about ex-professionals in school sport but still think many ex-professionals have exemplary philosophies regarding their coaching and the development of the potential of learners in their care. I can think of many examples of superb ex-professionals who have incredible value systems with regards to coaching/ teaching. Maybe some ex-professionals have a better value system than others, and maybe some are even far better than some educators. This brings me back to the people who are making these appointments and the motive behind the appointment. I am completely in agreement that ex-professionals can indeed make a positive influence in the lives of learners within school teams. But I am equally concerned that most schools have completely misguided intentions when making these appointments, and the criteria they use (in most cases) are what Eddie Jones is actually referring to as being a ‘fundamental flaw’. Sadly, if you somehow managed to get honest answers from all of the ex-professionals working at schools, they would admit that results would be key criteria in whether they were doing an adequate job or not; and I wonder how they would then correlate that answer with the fact that most of them are working within a contract with regards to the length of their tenure at their respective schools. The principles and values of professional sport just don't apply to school sport. And yet, I am sure that some would argue that they should. And that is exactly why those individuals cannot be involved in school sport. Remind me again - what percentage of school sportsmen/ women go on to play a professional sport?
So where do we draw the line with regards to the philosophies and values of individual coaches and teachers? To simply suggest that the line is somewhere between educators and ex-professionals (and linked to a qualification) is never going to suffice. So who do the ex-professionals report to, with regards to the accountability of their philosophy? Or do they only report to somebody about their results? Do our school councils or governing bodies take ownership and responsibility for this? What measure do they have in place to protect school sport from values and philosophies that are far more applicable to professional sport? Regardless of your personal views, Eddie Jones has alluded to a massive issue within school sport that needs to be addressed in South Africa - but by who?
Article by: Gregg van Molendorff