Engage key stakeholders
Your esports environment isn’t just about a space or a place, but rather the community of people that supports it. You don't have to be a gamer or an IT professional to start your esports program. More than likely, you have colleagues and IT support staff that are willing to provide support as needed.
Research and evidence for esports in education is strong and sound. By scoping out interest for esports among your colleagues, you'll be able to identify adults who have experience in playing video games (and potentially in playing esports). Look for people who have a passion for game-based learning, or who have coached or delivered health and wellbeing activities.
As you speak with your colleagues, you'll identify concerns about esports within the school community. Note these concerns or ask about them specifically in a whole-school survey (including staff, PTA, IT support, and others). It's important to tackle fears and misconceptions head on. Hosting a parent’s night is a great way to foster engagement, answer questions, and connect with the larger school community.
Key stakeholders you'll have to influence in your school:
- Head teacher / principal / senior leadership team
- IT or network manager + technical support
- Parents
- Students
What are they going to want to know?
What are they going to be concerned about?
How can you address any concerns and influence them positively?
Head Teacher / Principal / Senior Leadership
Issues / concerns
- We don’t want to promote or condone video gaming.
- More screen time
- Unhealthy
- Online safety
- Cost
- How will people react?
Solutions
- Benefits of playing esports
- Holistic / transferable skills
- Balance + moderation
- Controlled environment facilitated by adults
IT or network manager / Technical support
Issues / Concerns
- Risk
- Time
- Cost
- Ongoing commitment
- Upgrades
Solutions
- Provide a list of servers and ports to be unblocked.
- Only in certain rooms at certain times.
- Adult facilitation and supervision
- Plan and schedule patch updates where possible
- Outline costs from start
- Include in planned upgrades to PC rooms
- Involve them – a lot of techies in schools are players themselves.
Parents
Issues / Concerns
- Unhealthy
- Too much screen time
- Online safety
- Selection for team
Solutions
- Be proactive
- Provide reassurance
- Balance and moderation
- Link to benefits and transferable skills
- Highlight education and career pathways
- Adult facilitation / supervision
- Rules / behavioral expectations / code of conduct
Students
Issues / Concerns
- Too much interest
- Age-appropriate games
- Equipment
- Friends
- Selection
Solutions
- Rules
- Code of conduct
- Wider leadership roles and involvement
Thought task
As an esports leader in your institution, how would you answer the following questions from other education stakeholders?
Esports leader questions
- Students play too many video games at home. Why should we allow them to play at school as well?
- What is it going to cost?
- What will the parents and administration say?
IT manager
- I don’t want to open our firewall to online video games. It’s too risky.
- My team and I are busy. It's going to be difficult for us to fit in time.
Parent
- Is it safe for them to play? What about online bullying?
- Why isn’t my child playing in the team?
Student
You announce the new esports club in your school and ask for expressions of interest from students. You have 145 students sign up. What are you going to do?