Having looked at the work that had been produced by the groups, along with the sorts of discussions we were having in class, something obvious hit me — and hit me hard — I had no benchmark to work with in terms of prior learning, or established knowledge, as school leavers don’t do esports at school! None of them can wave a GCSE certificate showing that they’ve achieved a grade 9 in esports, in fact there is literally nothing they can give me, there is no baseline! 

But that’s not just the students... With the brand new BTEC, as educators we’re in a very similar boat in that we haven’t delivered it before, so where on earth should we start? In my years of experience in education I’ve found there’s usually two sorts of teachers when it comes to delivering completely new courses and curriculum.    

Firstly, you have those with a ‘I don’t want to do it’ attitude – this can be a dangerous tactic when considering your career in teaching, everyone likes familiarity and even better if that familiarity brings with it the option of using previously prepared resources. However, it’s also important that any resources that are being re-used are updated. Far too often I see teachers delivering material that hasn’t been refreshed in years, case studies are being used that are out of date and at times no longer even relevant! 

Then, you have the ‘let me at it’ attitude which usually (not always) results in a far better learning experience for the student. When delivering the BTEC in esports you only have one option and it’s this one! You will struggle to find pre-existing resources; you almost definitely won’t be able to ask a colleague for what they used last year so you have to start from fresh. To me, and many others, this isn’t seen as a problem but more of an opportunity – an opportunity to shape the way you teach and the content and strategy you use. Over time you will of course be able to re-use resources which is why it’s so important to do it right from the start! 

"To me, and many others, this isn’t seen as a problem but more of an opportunity – an opportunity to shape the way you teach and the content and strategy you use."

So, going back to my opening paragraph, what had I missed when I had prepared for teaching the BTEC? Why did I choose to change my strategy so early on? Quite simply, the lack of a baseline of student knowledge and a very clear indication from initial work produced and group discussions that the focus, the topic at the front of students' minds, wasn’t esports but was clearly gaming! I needed to re-shift their thinking which is where the ‘welcome to esports’ sessions were born. 

So, time to bring it back to reality: “How many of those games are esports?”

The looks on faces changed from ‘look at me and how many games I know’ to ‘hhmmm.. is that an esport? What about that one? Arrrggghhhh I’m not sure!’  At last! For the first time you could see the students really starting to think and beginning to deconstruct their perceived concept of gaming and esports in a bid to separate the two. What followed were some fantastic discussions on games and esports and the obvious relationship between them along with clear differences. Many were surprised with the outcomes but either way the cognitive wheels were most definitely in motion.

After discussing a few specific games, I was delighted when the students identified the question, I was waiting to show them on the next slide; “what makes a game an esport”. The foundations for the answer to this question had already been facilitated for this discussion, and in the space of an hour there was a clear shift in thinking to understand the differences between ‘games and gaming’ and ‘esports’. Student motivation at this point was visibly high so time to throw in the ‘Name that Game’ quiz! Very straight forward – I cut together 26 short clips of video games and the task was to name as many as they could – how may can you name?

None of my students got all 26! This is essentially a bit of fun, but it also acts as another clear indicator of the group's games / esports knowledge.

Having now drawn a clear line in the sand between gaming and esports it was time to reinforce this concept through a range of research tasks. Over the following two weeks students were asked to produce work and present it beautifully around subjects like genres of games and the most common genres in esports, research a range of esports events, competitions and tournaments both in the UK and globally, identify a range of top esports players and create player profiles and finally to pick a few teams from the UK and globally and produce a case study on each. What the students didn’t know is that they’re already undertaking research into some of the key topic areas of Unit 1 which should serve them well when it comes to their assignment.

In undertaking this process, it reminded me of when I started university all those years ago and also more recently, delivering lectures to students in their first year of university. In more ‘traditional’ subjects there is a distinct benchmark of achievement that can be considered, the esports BTEC doesn’t equate to this. When undergraduates arrive at university, they generally have an acquired level of subject knowledge but the curriculum they have studied will vary from college to college, therefore at Level 4 it is often about ensuring that all students are brought up to the same level and have an equal footing ahead of progression to Level 5. On a significantly smaller scale the ‘welcome to esports’ section of delivery of the BTEC achieves a similar goal. But this goal is an important one as it is quite possible to disadvantage learners or to leave learners behind at the start of the course which is so critical for retention and achievement.

Oh, and as another bonus, the walls in my classroom were bare at the start of the new course, I now have some lovely student work to display!

Next up – time to launch the BTEC in its fullest form!