Lack of chess sets is not the problem
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:28 pm
New Year resolution #43: write something about chess in schools for the venerable ECF forum; start a new topic to avoid being slapped again by the moderator for being off-topic like my only previous post .
As a very minor cog in the machine of development of junior/school chess in England, my personal experience is that many schools have chess sets, but only a very small proportion have a chess club. As a specific example, I live in Reading where there are only 2 (state) primary schools and 3 prep/independent schools with an active chess club - and I ought to know since I am the Berkshire Primary Schools Chess League secretary. There are 32 other primaries in Reading without a chess club. Many posts ago, someone said that chess was flourishing in primary schools - I'd hate to think what moribund would be like.
Schools frequently do have chess sets that are used for indoor play when it rains. I can easily imagine that many of the free sets (should they appear) will end up being used this way. So schools will get some decent sets to replace their incomplete / lightweight ones, but it doesn't immediately follow that kids will learn chess beyond the basic moves.
The "problem" is not lack of chess sets, but rather a lack of people willing / able to run a school club. I have discussed this with fellow school chess club organisers and there was near universal agreement. If a teacher or parent offers to run a club, it may well happen - in these cases, getting hold of sets is rarely an issue. School clubs tend to come and go as teachers arrive / leave and/or parents take on running a club for a few years while their own children remain keen. Matters aren't helped by the difficulty of organising an outing for only a handful of children - inter-school matches, at least for Berks, are for teams of just 5, and school trips entail a lot of paperwork and preparation.
The organisers are often over-awed by the prospect of running a chess club, thinking that they don't know enough. I am an absolutely hopeless player, but most children of primary age are not and will never be grand-masters. Most games are decided by who makes the most one-move mistakes. Despite my lack of any in-depth chess knowledge, our school team sometimes wins matches against the best other Berks schools. My point here is simply that you don't have to a chess expert to give the opportunity to children to enjoy the game and do reasonably well. If they are really promising, there are plenty of non-school junior events to challenge them.
The free chess sets (if they happen) may act as a spur to get chess going in some schools, but we need to find a way to get volunteers to actually run the school clubs. The work-in-progress DVD pack may actually be more useful here. The most likely source of people to run clubs is the teachers. I know that I am very much the exception as a parent running a club. Chess coaches are a possibility but are expensive (most round here ply their trade in the independent sector). However, teachers are busy (at least during term time), get little recognition for running chess clubs, and, (to be blunt) at primary level are predominately women who don't see themselves as chess players.
In short, and apologies for going on so long already, how do we get more teachers / parents / chess players to run all these hoped-for clubs? Or how do we convince the powers-that-be that chess is a worthwhile activity for schools and something they will get credit for?
As a very minor cog in the machine of development of junior/school chess in England, my personal experience is that many schools have chess sets, but only a very small proportion have a chess club. As a specific example, I live in Reading where there are only 2 (state) primary schools and 3 prep/independent schools with an active chess club - and I ought to know since I am the Berkshire Primary Schools Chess League secretary. There are 32 other primaries in Reading without a chess club. Many posts ago, someone said that chess was flourishing in primary schools - I'd hate to think what moribund would be like.
Schools frequently do have chess sets that are used for indoor play when it rains. I can easily imagine that many of the free sets (should they appear) will end up being used this way. So schools will get some decent sets to replace their incomplete / lightweight ones, but it doesn't immediately follow that kids will learn chess beyond the basic moves.
The "problem" is not lack of chess sets, but rather a lack of people willing / able to run a school club. I have discussed this with fellow school chess club organisers and there was near universal agreement. If a teacher or parent offers to run a club, it may well happen - in these cases, getting hold of sets is rarely an issue. School clubs tend to come and go as teachers arrive / leave and/or parents take on running a club for a few years while their own children remain keen. Matters aren't helped by the difficulty of organising an outing for only a handful of children - inter-school matches, at least for Berks, are for teams of just 5, and school trips entail a lot of paperwork and preparation.
The organisers are often over-awed by the prospect of running a chess club, thinking that they don't know enough. I am an absolutely hopeless player, but most children of primary age are not and will never be grand-masters. Most games are decided by who makes the most one-move mistakes. Despite my lack of any in-depth chess knowledge, our school team sometimes wins matches against the best other Berks schools. My point here is simply that you don't have to a chess expert to give the opportunity to children to enjoy the game and do reasonably well. If they are really promising, there are plenty of non-school junior events to challenge them.
The free chess sets (if they happen) may act as a spur to get chess going in some schools, but we need to find a way to get volunteers to actually run the school clubs. The work-in-progress DVD pack may actually be more useful here. The most likely source of people to run clubs is the teachers. I know that I am very much the exception as a parent running a club. Chess coaches are a possibility but are expensive (most round here ply their trade in the independent sector). However, teachers are busy (at least during term time), get little recognition for running chess clubs, and, (to be blunt) at primary level are predominately women who don't see themselves as chess players.
In short, and apologies for going on so long already, how do we get more teachers / parents / chess players to run all these hoped-for clubs? Or how do we convince the powers-that-be that chess is a worthwhile activity for schools and something they will get credit for?