News Release:
UNE helps plan Australia's cricketing future
| Date 3/12/03 No 225/03 A national survey conducted by the University of New England has alerted Cricket Australia to some problems and challenges for the future of cricket in Australian schools. The survey of schoolteachers revealed the need for new measures to maintain the popularity of school cricket, and its pre-eminence as a summer sport. "There is already evidence that the popularity of cricket in schools is not as widespread as it's usually supposed to be," said the leader of the survey team, Dr Scott Dickson from UNE's School of Education. "Cricket is now competing in a bigger sport marketplace." Dr Dickson said the purpose of the survey was to assess the value of Cricket Australia's investment in school cricket. He said the organisation was mindful of the state of school cricket in England, where cricket at the national level was facing problems that could be traced back, in part, to its decline in schools. Another challenge is the low levels of interest and participation among girls. The survey revealed that lack of role models was a contributing factor. "Ask a girl who her favourite female cricketer is, and she'd be hard-pressed to give an answer," Dr Dickson said. "This is despite the fact that Australia has one of the world's best women's cricket teams."
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Focusing particularly on primary schools, the survey highlighted a lack of confidence among female teachers about teaching cricket. "This is of some concern, as women comprise the great majority of teachers in primary schools," Dr Dickson said. The report recommends that Cricket Australia should focus teachers' in-service training on women teachers. It also recommends that State cricket associations should form stronger links with teacher-training institutions in an effort to reach more children through enthusiastic teachers. The competition structure is another factor the survey highlighted as needing attention. "Particularly in rural areas, the only competition a school might get is in a knockout series," Dr Dickson said. "If it is eliminated in the first round, that's the end of its competition for the season." He also said there should be a place in competitions for composite teams, made up of students from schools too small to muster a cricket team of their own. UNE won a tender earlier this year to carry out the school survey, which, along with parallel surveys of cricket clubs and individual participants, is providing future directions for Cricket Australia's education program. "As well as surveying schools around Australia, we ran focus groups in Armidale, Gunnedah and Tamworth as well as at several locations in Queensland and Sydney," Dr Dickson said. Media contact: Dr Scott Dickson, School of Education, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 5092 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3049. |
